From academia to the industry : Fabien Teytaud
💖 The purpose of The Allyance is to help both companies and candidates: companies wanting to reach excellence in hiring and candidates wanting to find the perfect companies.
Let’s meet Fabien Teytaud, a Senior Data Scientist, who landed a job at CybelAngel thanks to The Allyance!
———
Who are you? Tell us everything!
😊 My name is Fabien Teytaud, I am 40 years old and I was born in Limousin, in the center of France. I now live in the North of France, near Calais.
After my Bachelor's degree in cybersecurity, I moved to Paris to pursue a Research Master’s degree in AI, and then followed up with a PhD in machine learning. I then worked as a Post-Doc at Paris Dauphine University and spent 10 years as a research teacher.
It has now been 2 years since I switched to the private sector and began working as a Senior Data Scientist at CybelAngel. I’m finally applying my AI knowledge to cybersecurity!
👨👩👦 In my free time, I love to ride my mountain bike, go out with friends, spend time with my family and play video games - well yes, I’m a geek after all!
How did Caroline help you find your current job?
In 2022, I wanted to make a switch from academia to the private sector. I then contacted Caroline, so she could help me adapt my academic mindset to the corporate world.
From there, everything went very fast. First, she reassured me and helped me realize that I really wanted to quit academia, which I was not 100% sure about at the beginning. She taught me how to highlight my teaching and research experience for the jobs I was aiming for. She immediately found companies which fitted my profile as well as my demand to work in full-remote.
Her positivity was a true delight in this process! During the sessions, I was able to share my doubts, my wishes in all sincerity. Between the job interviews, she did a very close follow-up of my situation.
After 5 interviews with CybelAngel, I got an offer quite quickly, which confirmed the crush I’d had for this company since the beginning!
What made the coaching sessions with Caroline unique according to you?
At the very beginning, my very academic profile seemed so far away from engineering to me. For Caroline, it was never a problem: she immediately grasped my career aspirations.
The step I took was difficult and she knew how to reassure me with her kindness and availability. I realized that I did not have to change my personality to make this change. I was so surprised by how quick I got confident in this process!
She also strongly felt that I wanted to join a team where people matter, and that’s what I found at CybelAngel.
Do you like working remotely?
Very well! It’s even better than what I thought it would be! I first experienced working remotely during Covid and liked it at the time.
CybelAngel’s whole team tries their best to meet at least every 6 weeks in Paris. We also organize social virtual meetings to compensate for the potential isolation of remote workers. Fortunately, and thanks to my manager Marie Sacksick, working remotely does not mean working all day-all night: I can even enjoy my weekends again!
On a personal level, I love being able to spend more time with my son and wife. In order not to lose contact with the outside world, I also play sports in a club.
Why do you like working as a Data Scientist?
At CybelAngel, I also get to work in data science and machine learning, which I really enjoy. I love data, statistics, and creating learning models from complex data.
We recently decided to hire a CIFRE pHD candidate from Centrale Supélec and make me their tutor. I feel like I gave up all the drawbacks from academia while keeping up with the best advantage: research.
You came from academia and are working in a company today. What would you advise those wanting to follow your steps?
Don’t be afraid, go for it! A lot of companies have an R&D angle where a research experience and a pHD can be very helpful.
However, I would like to warn about the differences between the public and private sectors. This jump obviously comes with effort and adaptation, but is far from impossible.
🧑🎓 As I said, my academic experience is a true help in my job at CybelAngel. I have a clear vision of the pipeline regarding algorithms, I know how to present and clarify results to people from other departments… So yes, it’s all about balance: some reflexes from the academia have to go, a lot of useful ones must stay!
Name a well-known person you admire. Tell us why you admire that person!
Well, I think Marie Curie was brave enough to be a woman in science at a time where it was really not funny to be one.
🗣 Not sure how true this story is, but I love that when asked “how is it to marry a genius?” she answered “ask my husband”... How cool is that?
How do you know Caroline? The Allyance?
😘 A few years before me, Olivier Teytaud, my PhD tutor left academia as well and got to know The Allyance at that time. He was convinced that Caroline was ideal for my profile and career choice and well… I fully agree!
———
A few words from Caroline, The Allyance’s CEO:
“✨ Supporting people from acedmia to join companies is one of the things I know best. I’ve always worked with Machine Learning experts and their skills are precious. It is important to me they are guided towards caring teams. When I met Fabien, I knew I would succeed. It was matter of time. Fabien is the kind of colleague everyone dreams to hire : listening, technically excellent and kind. I am grateful he trusted me to support his job search. ”
✔️ Want more?
➡️ If you are interested in knowing more about The Allyance Coaching Offer and the prices, feel free to read this complete piece on the matter or read the feedback from our coachees! You can also get in touch with The Allyance team and book a free conversation below.
———
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
✒️ Léa C, The Allyance Contributor: “I joined The Allyance after Caroline and I met at a ionnalee’s concert! I am a freelance translator and content writer (French, English, Spanish and German). I also work as an administrative employee in the health and data science sector. So, I am not far from Caroline’s core topic! I am very active as a volunteer in social and environmental NGOs, where I always try to put intersectionality at the center of actions because I am convinced that every cause is linked to one another. It is readily apparent that Caroline and I share a lot of common interests, which is why we as friends decided to work together!”