Lindsey Zuloaga
Director of Data Science
HireVue
Salt Lake City, UT USA
“A lot of what makes a career really rewarding is going down a path where you’re interested in it but you also get good enough at it to really contribute.”
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By Roadtrip NationLindsey Zuloaga
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
I grew up in Utah.
It wasn’t until college that I became interested in math and science—I got my undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Utah.
After doing undergraduate research, I decided to go to graduate school and pursue my master’s degree and Ph.D. in applied physics.
After graduating, I went to Munich, Germany, to work as a postdoctoral researcher.
I eventually decided to transition into the business world because academia is competitive and my heart wasn’t fully in it.
I initially struggled to find a job—my Ph.D. made me overqualified in a way, but my lack of professional experience made it challenging.
Cultivating my networking skills made the difference for me and I was able to find a job in industry.
After starting out as a data scientist, I now work as the director of data science for HireVue, which builds products to help make the hiring process more efficient.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Director of Data Science
My team builds algorithms to make the hiring process more efficient and fair.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Science
Helping People
Day to Day
I sit between very technical and non-technical people. A lot of my time is spent understanding the technical details of what my team is doing and communicating the important parts to the rest of the business to make big-picture decisions on how we spend our time and what products we want to build.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Network! It sounds icky if networking isn't one of your strong suits, but I very much underestimated the power of human connections in getting opportunities. Try your best to connect with people, go to talks or meetups, ask people in the field you are interested in if they can give you 10-15 minutes of their time to chat, etc.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"You aren't smart enough."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
Work Stress
Interviewed By
At Your Fingertips
Computer science from new perspectives
