Solving ~real~ world problems

27 Oct 2020

I think of one of my initial motivations for moving away from academia to industry was finally having a stake in solving “real world” problems. But I’ve come to realize that it is all relative, and all problems can be very real and impactful in their own way. However, what I have come to appreciate in industry is how fast problems are addressed; a solution needs to be innovative but not necessarily novel, and it needs to be thorough but not necessarily comprehensive.

I got a taste for this faster-paced working environment when I completed some consulting work for Lazy Lantern. You can read all about my project here, on my Medium page.

From my consulting experience, I quickly learned to adjust my pace to come up with a solution within the course of three weeks, as per the guidelines of the Insight program. I realize that the pace enforced by the program is artificial and that the turn-arounds in a workplace would likely grant a bit more leeway with time, but like I mentioned, all problems are real (and it certainly felt very real at the 11th hour!) and it was a worthy exercise in agility. I really enjoyed the whole whirlwind-like process.