Interview with Sophie Schrøder

Sophie Schrøder is a Data scientist at Hofor.

Where did you graduate from and with which degree?

I attended Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen for my bachelor, master and PhD and then did one year as a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA.

Please give a description of the work you do in your current position.

I work as a data scientist in the IT department at Hofor, a company that provides water, district heating and cooling, wastewater management, energy, and gas to the greater Copenhagen  area. I am involved in shaping Hofor’s AI department, and work on two projects being i) predicting future water supply and ii) analyzing heating consumption patterns in buildings. Further I research and decide on technical requirements for running machine learning models and advanced statistical analyses. 

Though my official title is data scientist I am also involved in organizing and structuring data (similar to a data engineer’s job), analyzing and interpreting data (a data analyst’s role), and designing systems that connect different parts of our work (like a solution architect would). Hofor is still new to using machine learning and data science, which allows me to try working on many aspects of data storytelling. As someone who has just started in the industry, I really enjoy this aspect as I get to explore what I like most in the data field.

What motivated you to study physics or engineering in the first place?

I was always drawn to the STEM fields throughout school because I enjoyed understanding how things work, and in physics you combine the sort of practical, real-world applications I found compelling in science with the logical, problem-solving aspect of math. Being able to describe physical phenomena using math made physics feel concrete and the fact that you can derive everything from basic principles rather than memorizing is very compelling to me.

What made you decide to pursue a career in the public sector?

The next step in my academic career would have been to apply for positions as a professor. While I enjoyed doing science, a significant amount of a professor’s work involves administrative tasks, securing grant funding, and teaching large groups all of which would take me away from getting to do scientific work myself. Additionally I value job security, which can be very hard to come by even in tenure-track positions at universities today.

Working within science, I was also missing the link to the immediate, practical applications my work would have and how I could contribute to a team rather than always working individually. I was drawn to the public sector for its commitment to projects that directly impact society — like promoting environmental sustainability — and I wanted to work somewhere with a strong emphasis on work-life balance. 

How do you use the skills you learned as a physicist or engineer in your work?

Math, coding, and problem solving, I learned during my bachelor and masters, and they are the basis of my work still. And my time as a PhD student and postdoc taught me project management skills, as I had  to break down complex projects into smaller, manageable steps to deliver practical solutions, and help junior students do it too. I also had to do a lot of communication to explain my work to different audiences. These experiences helped me plan and structure projects, communicate well with different people, and understand how all the parts of a project fit into the bigger picture.

What does being a physicist mean to you?

This is a pretty philosophical question. To me, being a physicist means having the ability to describe and understand the world using math. But I don’t think physicists are the only ones to do this. Fields like applied math, energy engineering, and even finance often involve similar training, since they all use math to solve real-world problems, though physicists probably focus more on understanding the basic principles of nature and how everything is connected. It’s about using math and logic to describe the world, which can apply to many different areas.

What advice would you give to young people (in particular women and minorities) with a background in physics who would like to pursue a career in the public sector?

Finding my first industry job took a while, and I had to learn how to write applications for a completely different community, which can take time and requires a multitude of applications.I recommend taking courses on Coursera, especially those taught by Andrew Ng, which I’ve personally benefited from. It might seem odd to take additional courses, but if you’re struggling with writing job applications, these can help you understand the “buzzwords” that employers look for, even if the concepts are things you have already learned.

Your first job might not be what you expected or in a company you have even heard of before, but it may end up being exactly what you were looking for. And you can always apply somewhere else also internally, which is much easier. I have found that careers are long, uneven roads and not necessarily straight highways.

Finally, transitioning from an academic career to the public sector or industry can be difficult psychologically. It is like leaving behind a community that feels very tight-knit and supportive. It can feel weird and scary, but the new experiences you gain will help you grow, both professionally and personally, and there are many intelligent and great people working in the industry too.