Mandeep Singh started college in the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, as the commercial Web was taking off. Learning to code seemed like the best way of finding a job in the U.S., where he knew he wanted to be. So, Singh studied for a computer engineering degree at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in New Delhi. After graduation, he was hired by the Mumbai-based consulting firm, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, and within a year, was working in Houston implementing an SAP module for Reliant Energy.

In 2006, Singh took a project management job at Bloomberg and finished the first of two professional degrees—an MBA at NYU. A few years later, he changed his focus within Bloomberg to become a stock analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Recognizing that data science was becoming increasingly relevant to his work, he enrolled for a second professional degree — this time at Columbia. He graduated with a master’s in data science in 2015 and recently took some time to talk about his experiences so far.

After college you worked as an IT consultant. What made you decide to get an MBA?

Mandeep Singh, a 2015 graduate of our M.S. in Data Science program works as an equity analyst at Bloomberg.

I joined Bloomberg as it was replacing its legacy systems with SAP software. As a project manager, I learned the business side of Bloomberg, working with its sales, accounting, billing and contracts departments. I got to understand the revenue and costs associated with Bloomberg’s equity, fixed income and alternative investment products. Also, my father had worked in banking so a career in finance had always appealed to me.

Why did you continue on for a degree in data science?

In 2011, I started working for Bloomberg’s new equity-research group, Bloomberg Intelligence. As I started covering the software industry, I realized how critical data science was becoming to the tech and finance fields. Columbia’s program provided core training in machine learning and statistics, so I enrolled in the Certification program and then the master’s program.

What projects did you work on at Columbia?

For my capstone, I worked on a project with Synergic Partners to develop an interactive tool for analyzing international legal precedents. The experience taught me how to look at unstructured data and ask questions to extract value in the data.

In my Big Data analytics class I developed a tool to match news posted on Twitter with time-series company financial data, Stock signal generation using real time news analysis. I was able to improve the accuracy of product reviews by assigning more weight to Twitter users with the highest number of followers. 

What’s the most important thing you learned in our program?

Organizing and analyzing structured and unstructured data, and attending the events, guest lectures and hackathons that Columbia hosted, which allowed us to meet people in the field and apply our data science skills to real-life problems.

What you do as an equity analyst at Bloomberg?

I analyze the financials of public software and Internet companies and the industry as a whole to predict sales, earnings and cash flows. Investors use this research in deciding to buy or sell these stocks.

How does data science come in?

As an analyst, I’m constantly making assumptions to come up with forecasts for key performance metrics such as product sales growth. Data science techniques allow me to validate my assumptions and use a probabilistic a framework to deal with uncertainties. It gives me confidence to question the consensus market views because I can back my analysis with data.

You appear on TV and radio often to discuss company growth forecasts and the influence of major news on stock prices. What makes a good interview?http://www.bloomberg.com/api/embed/iframe?id=WMdyq9CaTDu59ytY~~DIyg

I’ve learned to be precise and to the point in expressing my views. This has also helped me become a better conversationalist. I also read a lot — TechCrunch, Barron’s and WIRED to stay abreast of the latest technology trends. While I always try to prepare well before my media appearances, I often have to improvise using my experience and industry knowledge.

What do you do in your free time?

I’m an avid runner and love watching tennis, especially Serbian tennis pro Novak Djokovic. At some point I’d like to try and predict how many Grand Slams Djokovic will win over his career. He’s won 12 out of 20 Grand Slam finals and is currently favored to beat Roger Federer’s record of 17.

I also wake up early, at 4:00 am, to meditate. I follow the Sikh practice of closing my eyes and silently reciting the Punjabi word for God, “Waheguru,” to center myself. It helps me keep a high energy level throughout the day.

— Kim Martineau