ABOUT ME / A FEW LONGER ANSWERS
the lore.
From growing up in Lebanon to choosing engineering, moving to Paris, and the books and games I still think about.
life
Where did you grow up?+
in fanar, a small town close to beirut. lebanon has the best food, the best weather, and the most welcoming people. i carry my mediterranean roots wherever i go.
What made you choose engineering?+
nothing very specific, actually. in high school i was interested in both tech and the humanities, and i seriously considered studying philosophy alongside engineering. i'd loved math and programming since i was little, and i liked computers and figuring out how things worked, so engineering made sense. i went for it, and i’m glad i did. i still make time for the books and questions that first drew me toward philosophy.
How did you end up in Paris?+
i've loved french culture and literature for as long as i can remember, and france has felt familiar to me since i was little. then i got the chance to study at école polytechnique and hec paris on scholarship and spend two years living in europe. the french literature i’d grown up reading suddenly had a city around it. evening walks along the seine are a lovely bonus.
research
What got you interested in machine learning?+
the unknown and the randomness of it. i love that a model can learn patterns from data and then try to make sense of things it's never seen before. what interests me most is what happens when that learning meets new data: which patterns hold, which break, and how we can tell the difference.
Why quantitative research?+
financial market data is notoriously noisy, and that's precisely what makes it interesting to me. finding anything meaningful in it takes solid statistics, machine learning, and a real understanding of markets. i like developing that expertise, looking for an edge, testing ideas, seeing what holds up, and iterating.
What do you want to learn next?+
right now i want to sharpen my ml coding and data structures and algorithms for interviews. i also want to learn the whole quant research process: how to spot a potential signal, test whether it is real, backtest it properly, and eventually deploy and monitor it. i want to understand what it takes to go from an idea in a notebook to something you can actually trust.
outside code
Which video game has stayed with you the longest?+
cyberpunk 2077, including phantom liberty, and the last of us part i. both stayed with me long after i finished playing. they made me think about the future of technology, the state of our societies, and the choices people make when everything gets complicated.
What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?+
la nausée by sartre. there is something so universal about the human condition, yet so personal in how we experience it. sartre puts words to sensations i didn't quite know how to describe, and there's something freeing about that.
What song or album have you had on repeat?+
'don't stop 'til you get enough' by michael jackson. it’s hard to sit still through that one.
What is something most people would not guess about you?+
how much i love being alone. i'm friendly and sociable, but i'd almost always choose my own company. i can happily spend a concerning amount of time by myself and never get bored.
/ a few things from home
