What's your job about?

I’m a data scientist under the AI and Machine Learning (AIML) Division of the Data Science and Analytics Group (DSAG) of RCBC, and I create ML models as requested by the business units of the bank. On a daily basis, I always get a hot cup of coffee before working. This was a habit I developed when I worked on my first project which was to create a credit scoring model for cross-selling personal loans. This project was quite challenging, as a fresh grad back then, since I had to familiarize myself with the business product(s) and the data we have in the bank. After months of being caffeinated and understanding the business, I finished developing the model and it was implemented to generate the cross-selling leads. Currently, I’m developing a model that appraises a repossessed vehicle’s price based on its condition. That means I’d repeat the same habit of getting caffeinated and working.

What's your background?

I grew up in Dipolog City and lived there for 13 years. When I passed the entrance exam for the PSHS scholarship, I moved to the nearest campus which was at Argao, Cebu. For 6 years of high school, I lived in a dormitory within the campus. Although, I occasionally went to Dumaguete City during the weekends since my sister studied college there. This made Dumaguete my second home. When I graduated high school and passed UPCAT, I moved again to Quezon City and studied BS Applied Physics at UP Diliman. There, I lived in a dorm again for 2.5 years in total (since the COVID-19 pandemic happened mid college). I don’t know how, but I graduated as a Summa Cum Laude. Maybe it was just luck, because I believe 2023 was my luckiest year. During our college recognition, sir Esa, the CEO of RCBC, happened to be our guest speaker. So, I had to get out of my introverted shell and introduced myself to him and asked him for his business card. I emailed him, got redirected to a technical interview with Ms. Pam Cabudoy, the head of DSAG, got hired, and have been a data scientist for 14 months now. I guess I could say I’ve had many lucky opportunities throughout my life, and I thank myself for taking them and not shying away.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, definitely. Our team consists of people with different college backgrounds, from electrical and chemical engineering to economics. But what we all have in common is our analytical skills and our ability to code and understand statistics, which I think can be learned.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

I’ve always been amazed with how insights and accurate predictions can be derived from data, like predicting for example the probability of a person to take a car loan based on their spending habits or from where they live and work. Specifically, it’s figuring out the right data to use and developing the model to figure out patterns.

What are the limitations of your job?

The lack of available data has always been a limitation to us, data scientists. It limits the potential of the projects we could make, and thus prevents us from creating impact for the bank. Personally, as someone who’s curious or insight-hungry, I sometimes get disappointed when a certain type of data does not exist.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student …

• To always get enough sleep. Sacrificing rest will not always give good quality outputs.
• To always be humble and open to criticism. You can’t learn and improve with an ego ahead of you.
• To take opportunities when given and to (occasionally) go out of your comfort zone. You’ll never know how far you’ll get when you always keep yourself in a bubble.