Personal Statement

Dear KLOOK

Hi, I am Monica, coming from a small town in mainland China. I was lucky enough to stay hungry and choose move out of the comfort zone all the time. At the undergraduate level, I freely chose my major - statistics instead of blindly obeying my parents' requirements. Apart from that, I determined that my career goal is to become a data analyst who understands users and the market well. Most importantly, I was following my heart: pursuing master education in Hong Kong and learning more about data analytics.

I learned a lot about mathematics, algebra, probability theory at the university level, which gave me a solid knowledge about data analysis. I also participated in some research project at that time. I lead a 5-person team to a remote mountain village which took 5 hours train. We tried to understand the local economy and culture and stayed at the locals' home. We do lots of things like chatting with local villagers, recording the scenery with photos, meeting many interesting people and measuring the current situation with data. All of these stories gave me lots of inspirations about how important data analysis in business. Recalling that experience, I still feel very hard but I don't regret it at all.

Before coming to HK, I started to take data analysis internship. Either The Shenzhen Government's Satisfaction Survey Project or SF Technology Co., Ltd.'s experience truly gave me a better understanding of career life. During these two internships, I gained a lot and realized that the ability to take responsibility and think independently is more important than other things. The difference between the workplace and the campus is very large. From a statistical point of view, the workplace has more complecated variables, thus variance is larger. Many emergencies should be dealt with in a timely manner, and no longer as stable as campus life. I also learned that achieve smaller variance is not a must choice as the book told us. As long as it is within a reasonable range, bigger variance will bring unexpected surprises too. So when I work hard to achieve a certain goal, the sense of accomplishment I got is unparalleled.

About Hong Kong's master’s life. Most of my life is occupied by lectures because of the short academic system. My major is operations research and risk analysis. Disassembling the name into two parts is Operations Research plus Risk Analysis. Specifically, the main subject about operations research is Advanced Operations Research Methods/ Financial Modelling/ Supply Chain Management. The main idea is to optimize the process and reduce the cost. Risk analysis is focused on Principles of Risk Analysis and Principles of Corporate Finance, which is how to portray risks and avoid risks. In terms of analysis tools, I studied Mysql and Python by myself. And I hope that I can improve my skills in related industry, like traveling. In addition, I systematically learn related knowledge such as user growth and user portraits in order to better understand user scenarios in real world.

For me, finding an internship or job in Hong Kong is actually a big challenge. In order to achieve my dream, I have been preparing data analysis, machine learning and python for the last few months. Also, I hope I can pass the Google Analytics Certification this week. Klook is an attractive company. It is very interesting to make travel exploration simple. I like this topic of deep travelling. (I have been thinking about how to turn my home into a homestay since I was 16 years old). Time flies when I was waiting for opportunities.I hope that Klook can give me a chance to do what I am interested in and good at.

---中文版---

Dear Klook

你好，我是Monica. 一个从小城镇来的女孩，我一直非常庆幸自己没有一直停留在comfort-zone，而是选择不断打开自己的边界，挑战自己。这也得益于几个重要的决定。首先我在大学阶段，自由选择了自己喜欢的专业-统计学，而不是盲目听从父母的要求；其次基本确定了自己的职业目标是成为一名懂用户与市场的data analyst。最后，我在不断实现自己的想法：求学香港，并且选择留在香港。

我在大学阶段主修数学分析/高等代数/概率论等知识，让我有了一个较为扎实的数理统计和数据分析的知识基础。大学阶段我也会参加一些用户调研的课题，我曾经带着自己大学的调研团队走到了偏远的山村城镇，去了很多大学生不愿意去的地方，为了解了当地的经济和文化，坐5个小时的火车到达目的地并且住宿在当地人的家里。我们和村民们聊天，用照片记录风景，用数据丈量边缘地区的现状，认识了很多有趣的人并且见证了一些乡村企业的成长。回想那段经历，会觉得非常辛苦但自己一点也不后悔。

在来香港求学前夕，我开始尝试职场生活，深圳市政府的行政服务大厅满意度调查项目和顺丰科技有限责任公司的数据分析实习让我对职场生活有了一定的了解。在这两份实习工作中，我收获了很多，并且意识到重要的并不是做了什么工作，而是愿意承担责任并且主动思考的能力。职场和校园差异非常大。从统计学的角度上看，职场面对的现实变量更多，方差更大，很多突发的紧急事件要及时处理，不再像校园生活那样稳定和安全。我也慢慢意识到统计上的“方差”并不是越小越好，只要在合理的范围内，方差大一点反而能够给你带来意外的惊喜。所以当自己努力实现了某个工作目标，获得的成就感是无以伦比的。

关于香港的研究生涯。因为学制很短的原因，生活大部分被功课占据，我的专业是运筹学与风险分析。把这个名字拆解成两个部分就是运筹学+风险分析。具体来看呢，运筹学主要涉及的科目是Advanced Operations Research Methods/ Financial Modeling/ Supply Chain Management，核心思想在优化事件流程，减少生产成本；风险分析部分主要涉及的学科是Principles of Risk Analysis/ Principles of Corporate Finance，主要学习的内容是如何刻画风险并且规避风险。分析工具方面，我自学了Mysql和Python，了解了基本的数据库知识和编程语言，并且希望在这方便能有所精进。此外，为了更好的理解市场，我在系统性地学习用户增长和用户画像等相关知识，希望自己能能够快地在实际工作中理解用户场景。

对我而言，在香港找一份实习或者工作实际上是非常大的挑战。为了实现这个想法，我一直在做准备，自学了很多数据分析，机器学习和python编程等知识，并准备在这周考过Google Analytics Certification。我关注Klook有一个月了，也在这一段时间里陆续了解Klook相关的讯息：klook是一个很有吸引力的企业，把旅行探索变得简单实际上是一件很有趣的事，我也非常喜欢深度旅行这个话题。（我从16岁开始就在想如何把自己的老家的房子变成民宿）。11月也马上进入中旬，我在等待一个时机去申请相关的工作，也感受到自己正在失去一些机会，我希望Klook可以给我一个机会，让我能够做我感兴趣并且擅长的事情。