Shashank Dalmia
Can you introduce yourself with your name, pronouns, year, major, and hometown?
My name is Shashank Dalmia, pronouns are he/him. I'm a fourth year majoring in Economics, Statistics, and Data Science. My hometown is Mumbai.
How did you choose your majors?
I started off with Economics. At first, I was always doing something math related. Then I started as Economics and Applied Math, but then I switched to Statistics because it just fit a lot better with what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I like statistics a lot more than just pure math. And then I took a couple of data classes, Data 8 and Data 100, and really liked it. I like the coding part of it as well. So then I decided Data Science was the third one.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I used to work in concert promotion in high school, like concert organization and promotion. So I've worked with a few artists in terms of their concerts, like Chainsmokers, Yellow Claw, and so on.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I watch a lot of soccer. I play any sort of racquet sports like tennis, table tennis, racquetball, badminton, like anything with a racquet I like to play. And I watch a lot of TV, too much.
What is your professional experience? Can you also touch upon your professional interests and why you're interested in those fields?
In terms of internships, I've done asset management and finance, I've done consulting. In consulting, I've done both tech consulting and econ consulting. I'm also a GSI on campus, so I teach, and I work at the Division of Data Sciences as a team lead. In terms of what I want to do, it's going to be a mixture of quant, anything data consulting, and things like that, because right now, even beyond SAAS, where I'm in DC, I have my own personal consulting projects on contract that I take.
Are you involved in any other organizations on campus?
I was involved in BIG, that's Berkeley Investment Group, but not anymore. And right now, I've taken a break for this last semester, but Business Review at Berkeley.
What are your post-grad plans?
I'm moving to Houston after graduation, I signed an offer with EY for their Decision Modeling and Economics team. I'm actually very excited, Houston is going to be a completely fresh start for me because I know nobody in the city, like I know people from there, but they're not going to be living in Houston after graduation. Just a completely new city, and I feel like if I have to go to a completely new city with no base or something, out of college is the best time when I'm still young and able to move around and adapt. So I think that's pretty nice. And I'm excited with the team as well that I'm joining. I feel like inside the firm, that's the best team for me because it's so multidisciplinary, that I'll get to employ all of my majors and the skills I learned in those majors.
How did you find out about SAAS and why did you join?
I always knew SAAS existed, but I didn't join it until my junior year spring semester, so two semesters ago, which is, I know, pretty late. I kind of just joined because I wanted to do some more data projects. A couple of friends told me SAAS has some pretty good data projects where you'll get to learn and experience a lot of things. So that's why I joined it.
What did you like about the Data Consulting committee that made you want to stay?
My first experience itself was very good. What happened at that time was, I was in CS 189, and whenever I learned a new algorithm or a new model in class, the project was such that I could literally just apply what I learned directly to the project immediately. That helped me a lot itself in the class as well. I got to learn as I do and experience that. So I think that was very nice for me, just the real-world applications and because I had that experience, I was confident that I could go out and look for projects to do on my own contract basis. It just gave me the experience and confidence.
What would you say is your proudest accomplishment in SAAS?
I think the first project itself, AiLanthus. I think the proudest accomplishment is the final model we delivered. I was really happy; I was the one who led to that final model after a bunch of tries that kind of failed. I just kept on trying, waking up and doing a couple of new things and stuff that I learned in the 189 class and so on, just mixing and matching. I was quite happy with that, that I kept on trying.
Has SAAS helped you with your career and professional development?
100%. Again, because I was able to do the AiLanthus project and apply the skills, I became more confident. And then, I use that as a leverage to get my main contract work gig, like I show them that, for this client, these were the performance metrics and so on. That was among other factors, but that was a contributing factor to that. Like, okay, I've done some proper consulting work before, and now that's why I deserve to get paid for this contract work because I can deliver you the results you want.
Of the three SAAS values of community, exploration, and mentorship, can you choose one and explain what it means to you?
I'll do exploration. Exploration means quite a lot to me; how I got my majors was just exploring and so on. Someone recommended Data 8 to me in my first semester, so I took that, and then someone recommended I should do a lot more coding related work. So then I took CS classes, like 61B and so on, and things like that. And then here and there, I started exploring different things in different departments, and that's how I found what I wanted to do. I feel like I'm a person who gets kind of bored easily if I am not exploring and doing new things. Just during the pandemic, I picked up paddleboarding and skiing. So it's just like, constantly doing new things. There's a better opportunity out there, and it doesn't take a lot to explore a new thing, like not much time or anything. And if I do it, then I've got something that I wouldn't have learned without exploring.
Which semester in SAAS has been your favorite so far, and why?
It's a little bit hard, there's been three semesters. Last semester I wasn't pretty active due to some personal reasons with COVID. My first semester was pretty good, with the little in-person activities we did and so on. But at that time, my network was limited. This semester, my network has become a lot more, like I know a lot more people. So I'll go with this semester, just because now that I know a lot more people, it's a lot more fun, like when I go play Avalon, or when I go for house activities, and things like that. So I'll just say this semester.
What is your favorite class?
Data 8, because Data 8 took me to a part that I would have never thought of otherwise. That was my first introduction to pure data science. And then that cascaded into what I do right now, and that introduced me to a lot of people and helped me land a couple of gigs like the class I teach, Stat 88, as well as my job at the Division of Data Sciences.
Who is your favorite professor?
Raymond Hawkins. I took Econ 136 with him.
What is your favorite spot on campus?
Hearst Annex B, that's the Division of Data Sciences office building. Student employees go there and sit and work on something, chat, and so on. This is a very nice space to work on your homework and stuff like that. And then you have all of your Division of Data Sciences friends popping in and out. So you just meet a lot of cool random people and a lot of your friends.
In your opinion, what are the prettiest and ugliest buildings on campus?
The ugliest building is Wurster. The second ugliest is Evans. All of my three departments are in Evans and I've spent half of my campus life in Evans, and I really find the building to be ugly, but the ugliest is Wurster; Evans is a close second. The prettiest building… Blum Hall.
What is your favorite restaurant in Berkeley?
I like Cheeseboard quite a bit. I'll go with Cheeseboard.
What is your favorite Berkeley memory?
That's a tough one to pick. I'll just go with something a little bit more recent. Last semester, I went paddleboarding with my friends in the Berkeley Marina. It was just like breaking the monotony of this whole stay at home thing. And then beyond that, it was fun with a lot of friends. We just messed around so much in the water. I actually lost my glasses in the water as well. I fell in, lost my glasses. So it was a lot of fun there, just a very fun night.