W12: practical skills
This week, along with the usual physician-interviewing activity, I've set out to try something new. I've been learning some concepts in analytical finance, with the help of a loved one who is an expert in the field and was eager to teach me, as well as a thorough use of the Internet.
Now I can solve some problems using things like the Black-Scholes framework or Nash bargaining equilibria. I've been writing a financial calculator program in Rust to get a better grasp of all of it and other things like Monte Carlo valuation. This is also a great opportunity to try out some programming stuff, like attempting to make a nice CLI interface, using an internationalization crate or introducing dimensional analysis in calculations.
If the calculator turns out good, I will surely publish it on my Github. Nonetheless, I would advice anyone up front against using it for anything other than experiments or learning; I'm not a financial advisor, just a medical doctor having some fun on my spare time (I might be lying though, so don't take medical advice from me either, or anyone on the Internet for that matter).
I've also begun taking driving lessons. The reasons I've waited for so long are twofold: I wanted to focus on studying during my university years, and I have never had a compelling reason to drive (public transport is great here). But that might change in one or two years, when I'm sent to different hospitals and other mental institutions to complement my specialized training.
I want to enroll in a Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering this month. Becoming an engineer is in some way a goal for me, and would allow me to formally claim some of the skills I've learnt along the years. I secretly feel like one day some game-changing invention will shape the way we interact with our brains; something like an improved brain-computer interface, or a revolutionary imaging technique, maybe something else entirely... And, when that happens, I want to be right in the middle of the fun! All of that medicine, psychiatry, electronics, programming, and formal verification will finally converge on something (just pipe dreaming...).