It's Much Harder to Earn as a Comedian than as an ML Engineer: Ayana Mussabayeva on Building a Career in Science While Doing Standup

Early Education and Research

Ayana completed her bachelor's degree at KBTU in Almaty, specializing in Automation and Control. After graduation, she decided to pursue a master's degree at Nazarbayev University (NU).

"I started my master's in MSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at NU. I also worked there as a Research Assistant (RA). It's great that they encourage research activities - it provides both experience and additional income."

Research and Academic Journey

Ayana worked on signal processing and model building for brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Her work was published at conferences, including IEEE EMBC, and in the Applied Sciences journal. Thanks to these publications and research experience at NU, she was accepted into a PhD program in mathematics at the University of Manchester.

"After studying there for a year and a half, I transferred to a master's program and completed my second master's - MPhil in Mathematical Sciences. I didn't enjoy the research direction and life in Manchester enough to stretch it out for four years. In Manchester, I worked on numerical methods and machine learning for recognizing types of kinetic mechanisms in catalytic reactions. Now I work in the gaming industry, where we use neural networks and deep learning models."

Women in Science

When asked about stereotypes and gender stigmatization of women scientists, Ayana shares that she hasn't encountered such issues.

"Yes, there are usually fewer women in exact sciences: for example, in Manchester's mathematics department, among PhD students, women made up probably twenty percent. In other departments it's the opposite, and that's normal."

Regarding the scientific community in Kazakhstan, Ayana notes that few people work in science overall. "The only university that can afford research activities is NU. There are many questions being raised about NU funding now, which negatively affects research opportunities. Other universities can't financially afford full-scale research when publishing one article in an international journal costs $1,000-2,000, and trips to international conferences cost even more."

Comedy and Performance

From childhood, Ayana enjoyed performing on stage and singing. "When visiting grandparents, I would 'perform' for them, making my mom formally announce the performance. I loved kindergarten celebrations. When I was five, we moved to Moscow as a family: dad worked there while mom stayed home with me. I didn't go to kindergarten in Moscow, but mom decided to take me to an audition at a music school, where I was accepted for violin lessons."

"I've been doing standup for a long time, but with long breaks when I couldn't combine it with my main direction. For example, if it weren't for studying in Manchester and the long departure, I probably would have taken my performances to a more serious level. But I was away from Almaty for a long time, then I returned: I started performing more actively, sometimes appearing on posters, a couple of times I was even recognized on the street."

"When I perform more often, I feel like I have to force myself to leave the house, as if it's turning from a hobby into an obligation. Of course, thoughts arose about doing comedy professionally, making it my main activity. But it's much harder to earn good money as a comedian than as an ML engineer. Therefore, I try to balance: rest on stage from office work, rest at my main job from excessive social interactions, develop in humor but without consequences for my main activity, in which years of work have already been invested."