A Little Name Game

Let us play a little name game.

1. My name is Samuel Wade Wang. In person, I look like the photo above (supposedly).
2. From the photo above, you might have figured out that I am an Asian. In fact, I have a Chinese name - written as 王偉, which can be romanized as Wang, Wei.
3. If you know some Chinese, you might notice that this name is written in Traditional Chinese - if written in Simplified Chinese, this name should be written as 王伟.
   Reveal Random Fact

   This name was once ranked #2 among the most common names in mainland China (based on 2013 data; things have changed since then).
4. Based on this info, you might guess that I am from either Taiwan, Macao, or Hongkong, some of the major areas¹ in the North East Asia that uses Tradititional Chinese as their official language.
5. From the romanization, you might further guess that I am from Taiwan, by the pronunciation. Truly, I grew up in Taiwan, now living in U.S.A. though.
6. By the fact that I have a two-syllable name instead of three, you might even guess that my family constitutes mainly of Waishengren. Yes, you are correct; and yes, we are proud in our beef noodles skills and recipes.
   Reveal Random Detail

   My maternal grandfather was of Shandong heritage, and my paternal grandfather was of Shanghai heritage.
7. You might have suspected that the “Wade” in my English middle name is an indirect translation of my “Wei” in my Chinese name. That is in fact true!
8. I have a brother and a sister - their names are Daniel Jay Wang, and Stephanie Ann Wang. Following the similar naming scheme. Let’s guess their Chinese names:
   Reveal Hint 1

   They both have two syllable names
   Reveal Hint 2

   Their names are common Chinese names, with famous people sharing the same name
   Reveal Answer

   Daniel Jay Wang: 王傑(杰), Stephanie Ann Wang: 王安
9. My brother (resp. sister) is older than me by 8 (resp. 10) years. From this age-gap info, you might infer that the “Samuel” in my English first name might arise from the fact that my mother gave birth to me at a relatively older age, which relates to some biblical stories of mothers giving birth at relatively later age². You might also figured out that I was raised in a Christian family. These are all true, and I would be genuinely surprised if you figured this out 🤯.
10. Based on these 9 points, you might have guessed that I am a nerdy person that likes to spend time on weird details, and have a weird sense of humor. I would neither deny nor admit that these assertions are in fact true.

Short Bio

My family moved back to Taiwan from U.S. before I was 1 year old. Afterwards, I grew up in Taiwan, went through education and mandatory millitary training, and came to the States after I completed my B.S. and M.S. degree in math³, pursuing a M.S. degree in Analytics and Georgia Institute of Technology from Aug. 2023, ultimately graduating in Dec. 2024.

I was once a math person, wanted to have a career in academia, doing algebraic geometry (mostly in moduli spaces). After years of self-isolation and struggle, my views and interests gradually changed, and I finally made up my mind to make the transition to applied math.

My Goals

Currently I am in the process of job / internship search. After graduation, I realized that there are so many kinds of jobs in the “data field” - business intelligence, business analytics, data management, data analytics, data engineering, data scientist, machine learning engineer, statistical programmer, statistical analyst, research roles, data architect, … so I am still learning new tools, relevant technologies, related theories during the mean time, as well as building projects demonstrating data-related skills.

The short-term goal is to obtain work experience, know as much thing in different areas of the data field, and get good at least in data analytics. As for mid-term goal (say 5-10 years), I am still open to all kinds of possibilities - whether it being a transition to a data scientist role, or even doing a PhD in optimization.

However, I would envision an ideal life to be something like⁴:

divided among waking hours (~16hrs), where “Relationships” entails families, friends, business relationships.

My Interests

1. Anime. The CGDCT, SOL, or Iyashikei genre are my cups of tea.
   • You can also find me on MyAnimeList.
   • Some of my favorites among these genres would be things like: K-on, Bocchi the Rock, Aria, Mitsuboshi Colors, Ichigo Mashimaro, Gal to Kyouryuu, Azumanga Daioh, Joshiraku, Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku, Yuru Yuri, Nichijou.
   • Some more “serious” ones would include Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Sakurada Reset, Haibane Renmei, Mawaru Penguindrum, Dungeon Meshi.
2. Music.
   • I listen to anime bgms, op/ed, and used to make some 8bit covers of it using FamiTracker - it’s a hobby that I no longer have much time doing it though, although I might pick it up again in the future.
   • When I drive, I mostly listen to worship songs (a lot of them being songs by New Heart Ministries) for road-rage prevention.
   • I used to spent a lot of time listening progressive metal, jazz (mostly Bill Evans, Red Garland, McCoy Tyner, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell), as well as psychedelic rock.
3. Tech. I am interested in Linux - currently daily driving with EndeavorOS - as well as frontend development using React. I am also interested in maths related to machine learning / optimization, and typesetting things with , refactoring proofs are also some nerdy hobbies of mine.

My Belief

I grew up in a Christian family, but went through years of wandering and searching for meaning, as well as going through stages of existential-crisis.

It is through the help and guidance of other good brothers and sisters, as well as events that reshaped my view of life, I finally went back to the realization that nothing - including career, interests, relationships - surpasses the importance of a meaningful relationship with God and knowledge in Him, and such is the true root of joy and sense of fullfillment.

To end this informal introduction, I would like to share a Scripture that resonated within me recently as I reflected upon my past life: