Dinushi Jayasuriya

While doing my undergraduate degree, I received two summer scholarships from the faculty of science to work in the mathematics department as a research assistant. This gave me the opportunity to explore and research areas of mathematics I found really interesting. I developed an interest in algebra and combinatorics after I took the paper Discrete Structures in Mathematics and Computer Science (CS225). So in my first summer research I worked with Dr. Jamie Sneddon and studied the Hereditary Property of Graph Minors. In my second summer research I worked with A/Prof. Josef Siran and studied Cayley graphs of cyclic groups, and the degree-diameter problem.

With all the practice I got from my summer researches I developed an interest in mathematical research, and thought it would be great to write a masters thesis. So after completing my undergraduate degree I continued to do post-graduate study in mathematics. I took a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree and studied areas of pure mathematics such as graph theory, group theory, number theory and fractal geometry. Once I completed my honours degree, in 2008 I began a Master of Science by thesis with Prof. Marston Conder and worked on the Graph Isomorphism Problem.

Doing a research masters degree was different from anything I have done in the university before. Every other year I studied, it was about going to classes, doing assignments, writing tests and exams (and passing them!). But when you’re doing a masters by thesis, you work independently and have more freedom to do your own thing and your own thinking to come up with new ideas. Or develop your own thoughts on other people’s ideas. But at the same time you have to make sure that you’re organized and stick to a time-line, so that you submit your thesis on time. So working independently was a big part of my masters degree, in which I didn’t have much experience before. So I must say that doing my masters was a big challenge. But it is a challenge that I’m very glad I faced, and I still embrace those days very much.

After completing my masters last year, I decided to pursue a professional career rather than continuing into a PhD. I knew I wanted to get into some kind of a profession that would let me utilize the skills I gained from my mathematics degree. While studying I went to many careers presentations carried out at university and went to seminars offered by the university careers centre. This help offered by the university was very useful, and I had a pretty good idea about what sort of professions I could pursue with my mathematics degree, and also the kinds of places I should be looking for to find work.

The challenge came as I finished university in the middle of a recession. There were lots of unemployed people in the market and not a lot of jobs. Especially being a new graduate with no experience proved to be a huge challenge.

No matter how big the challenge was of finding a job, I always knew that I should be able to find a job in a profession I like, since I had the qualifications to back me up. In the middle of a recession, it was just a matter of time… But after 4 months of constantly applying for jobs, getting many rejection emails, going to a few interviews, I managed to land a job that is very much related to my studies.

So for the past 6 weeks I’ve been working for Southern Cross Healthcare as a Pricing Analyst. So far I’ve enjoyed my job very much and I can see how I’m using the problem-solving and analytical skills I gained from my degree. As a part of my job I also have to take professional exams to qualify as an actuary. So far the stories I’ve heard about the exam contents say that they contain a lot of mathematics. So I’m very glad to be using the subject I studied in the university in my career.

As a mathematics graduate who works in a field related to my education, and also as someone who managed to find a job in the middle of a recession, this is what I have to say to someone who is considering taking mathematics in the university: