Alumni Spotlight: Stefan Jansen

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Stefan Jansen has a master’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech as well as master’s in Public Administration and Business Economics from Harvard and Free University Berlin. Additionally, Jansen also proudly holds the title of CFA Charterholder.

Stefan was a partner and managing director at an international investment firm where he built the predictive analytics and investment research practice. He was also a senior executive at a global fintech company with operations in 15 markets. Additionally, Stefan advised Central Banks in emerging markets, consulted for the World Bank, helped raise $35 million dollars from the Gates Foundation to start the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and has worked in six languages across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As if that was not impressive enough, currently Stefan is the founder and Lead Data Scientist at Applied AI where they advise Fortune 500 companies, investment firms, and startups across industries. His company advises on data and AI strategy, building data science teams, and developing machine learning solutions. Stefan is also enthusiastic about teaching and teaches data science at DataCamp and General Assembly. Beyond his career achievements, Stefan has started working on the third edition of his book which will include more domain-specific models based on deep neural networks, new ideas on how to use reinforcement learning, and various applications based on the transformer architecture - both for time series and natural language. He is also maintaining open-source libraries for investment and trading, such as the back-testing engine Zipline.

The ability to study remotely with plenty of flexibility is not just convenient but a necessary condition to even consider such a program.

When asked why he joined OMSCS, Stefan stated that even though he had several years of practical experience with Machine Learning, he wanted to learn more about it from a Computer Science perspective, as well as expand on other more Computer Science-specific areas. He explained that Georgia Tech has a great reputation in the relevant areas, and the possibility to combine graduate-level classes on Machine Learning with topics like OS and distributed computing, algorithms, and cybersecurity was a great fit for him. Furthermore, Stefan reasoned that “the ability to study remotely with plenty of flexibility is not just convenient but a necessary condition to even consider such a program given my current life situation”. Stefan thinks so highly of OMSCS and all its incredible courses that he registered as a non-degree-seeking student in hopes of taking more OMSCS classes. Though COVID-19 forced Stefan to withdraw from his registered courses, he hopes that there is a possibility for him to re-register in the future.

There are many ways to create your own experience, but it will require a bit of initiative – which is itself a good learning experience.

Looking back at his time in OMSCS, the one thing Stefan would have done differently is to build more relationships with his peers, teaching assistants, and faculty. Apropos this, Stefan wisely advises current students that “you may have goals beyond ‘just’ getting the degree: figure out beforehand what these may be – networking to improve career prospects, contacts with professors to engage in research, learning beyond what’s required to pass a class - and come up with a plan. There are many ways to create your own experience, but it will require a bit of initiative – which is itself a good learning experience”. Stefan credits OMSCS in helping gain both “credibility and reputation” and also in challenging him mentally as “the need to quickly figure out and solve different problems as part of the project-centered approach is great professional training and the gains in agility and resourcefulness are at least as important as any specific piece of knowledge.” Which is why one of the things he will miss most about being an OMSCS student is the “structured learning around a modern curriculum with the accountability afforded by deadlines and grades” and “going through such a process with a community of students”.