Post by Sarah Anna Uffelmann

I’m more than happy to have completed my Master’s in Computational Linguistics (NLP) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München with top grades! This means a lot to me, both professionally and personally. Starting over completely in my mid-30s was one of the hardest and scariest decisions I’ve ever made. I still remember sitting in my first "Introduction to Programming" lecture as a Bachelor’s student while still teaching philosophy at the university. It felt surreal, and i was terribly afraid of failing. I knew nothing about computers. To be honest, I restarted my academic journey out of necessity. After hitting a dead end in academic philosophy, I needed a new path. Never would I have imagined that this path would lead me to a Master’s in Computational Linguistics, and to working with LLMs and GenAI every day. People often say: “Just follow your passion!” But I’ve learned that can be limiting. Instead, stay curious, keep an open mind, work hard, and allow yourself to grow in unexpected directions. For me, that journey has led to my current role as a Data Scientist, a position I began as a working student during my Master’s and will now continuing full-time as a trained Computational Linguist. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who supported me along the way, especially: 🙌 My fantastic colleagues in the Data Analytics team at WACKER, for making me feel part of the team from day one. 💼 Dr. Thomas Schröck and Thorsten Rahf for their unwavering support and effort to take me on full time after graduating. 📚 Helmut Schmid, my thesis supervisor, for his constant support and guidance. I’m also grateful to Barbara Plank, Leon Weber-Genzel, and Dr. Matthias Assenmacher for their excellent teaching and student support. I think I learned the most from you in "Vertiefungsmodul", "Deep Learning for NLP" and "Statistical Methods for NLP". 🎓 Daniel Ackermann, my internal thesis supervisor, for his invaluable feedback and mentorship during my master's project. 👥 My friends I met while studying for accepting me fully despite the age gap, and for turning this journey into one of true camaraderie. Without all of you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’m very proud and grateful, and excited for what’s next!