Cameron Stephen

Profile

After completing his undergraduate studies, Cameron was disappointed in himself and felt he had not reached his full potential. During his three years abroad teaching English in Korea, Cameron was able to reflect on what he wanted from his career and how he could achieve this with a master’s degree.

Upon returning to Edinburgh, Cameron studied Computational Mathematics and Data Analysis, putting in an extraordinary amount of work to be the recipient of the AWE award for the highest grades in masters applied mathematics.

Find out more about Cameron’s story below.

What programme did you study and why did you choose it?

I chose to study Computational Mathematics and Data Analysis as it was related to my undergraduate degree in mathematics. With Heriot-Watt having a reputation for postgraduate resources, I wanted to pursue a more technical career, so I chose an applied mathematics course in the hopes of improving my career prospects.

What advice would you give to a mature student considering Heriot-Watt?

I would say, do not worry about being rusty or inadequate in your chosen field. The areas that I thought would be the hardest to return, due to my time away, turned out to be the quickest to come back. Life skills, such as time management and consistency, had a greater effect than I anticipated towards my learning. If returning for a degree is part of your plan, especially in the interest of career advancement or change in career direction, I would a say a masters is worth it.

Can you tell us about the prize you received and how it feels to be a prize-winning student?

I received the AWE award for achieving the highest grades in masters applied mathematics. I'm honestly surprised, but very proud of myself. I was never an especially high achieving student in my undergrad, achieving quite a range of grades, but I always had this feeling that I was holding myself back. I was an inconsistent student, missing classes for poor reasons, and gradually let the tide of missed work wash over me until I was drowning. In hindsight, I think I needed to take time off much earlier to understand myself better and learn how to focus. Getting this award is confirmation that I have improved and I am not the person I used to be.

Can you tell us more about your years abroad teaching English in Korea?

My years teaching English in Korea were incredibly formative for me, and it's hard to encapsulate the experience. I had heard about the opportunity through word of mouth and job boards and after a bit of searching, I signed up to an agency and was assigned a spot within a month. The first six months of the experience were intense. I had never left home before, never had a full-time job, and had never lived in a different country. And to top it all off, within a week of my arrival, the entire world was shut down because of Covid-19.

So, my initial spell was a trial by fire. On top of my new circumstances, I had to learn a lot of skills that had never occurred to me before, including how to discipline a class, how to use evaluations to plan learning outcomes, and how to communicate. The ways in which this opportunity allowed me to grow might have been a bit more intense than I imagined, but it was exactly what I wanted. After the dust settled and I had worked through the growing pains, the consistency of the job started to feel manageable, and I was able to expand my activities, which included volunteering for dog shelters and trying my hand at learning Korean.

Can you tell us about any support you received as a student?

As a student, I received a lot of support from Careers Service, particularly from Lindsay Wilson, whose support I found to be very helpful, especially the information about the different paths to attain a career.

What advice do you have for current students?

My advice for current students is to turn up to classes and make sure to ask questions about what you don't understand. It sounds easy, but there's a reason attendance falls off through the year. What we're learning takes effort, and as the year goes on, pressure can build and workloads can feel unmanageable.

What are you planning to do after you graduate?

After I graduate, I'm be looking for a job, likely in IT. I am currently making a website designed to perform statistical analysis on bus arrival times to showcase my abilities, after which I'll be applying to as many companies as I can.