Victoria Chudinov

MSc in Software Development. Data Scientist at DSB

WHO?

I come from Bulgaria, from a sunny city on the coast of the Black Sea, called Varna, where I studied psychology. A large part of my studies focused on memory and learning, which made me interested in artificial intelligence. After I finished my studies in psychology, I decided to look more deeply into the technical field.

WHERE?

I work in DSB, which is a public transportation business. We try to use machine learning and data science to improve the service. I work in an open office, with data scientists, developers and product owners in one room. It works really well that you can just turn around and talk when you need to. Contrary to stereotypes about computer people, it is actually a very social work environment. We have an ongoing chili-growing competition and a foosball table in the kitchen – and, of course, a coffee maker; it is a scientific fact that data scientists run on coffee.

WHAT?

I work as a Data Scientist, and right now, we are working on two big projects. One, where we try to predict when a train might break down, so we can take it in for maintenance in advance. This will help to prevent breakdowns in the middle of the tracks, which cause delays and frustrate the customers. In another project, we are trying to predict the demand for trains. For example, we can collect a couple of years’ worth of data about when and where people travel, what time of year, or day, and then we can predict when we need to put in extra trains, or release extra tickets.

WHY?
There is an obvious link between my studies in psychology, where I studied how the human mind works, and the field of artificial intelligence, which is how my interest arose. Mine is actually not an unusual profile, if you look at some of the leading names in artificial intelligence.

I chose ITU because I wanted to study in a northern country, and Denmark seemed to be the warmest of these. Aside from this, ITU responded the fastest, and it generally struck me as a more innovative place compared to the other universities.

BEST ADVICE
My most important advice, for everyone, is to get some experience as soon as you can, from a study job or internship. It really opens doors for you. And especially for girls who want to study IT: put boys in their place, speak your mind and challenge people. Don’t be rude, of course, but be assertive.