"I want to help people by using technology"

Pau Fernández: 'Vull ajudar a la gent amb les tecnologies'

Pau Fernández is a very active person. He dances sardanes, he does theatre, and he has great ambitions. He has never had difficulty in understanding the most complicated of equations and this has finally led him to study Telecommunications Engineering at the UAB.

22/07/2015

"I hope they push me hard and I hope to come out of it well prepared for whatever might turn up."

Pau Fernández is the student who achieved the highest access mark in the UAB in the field of engineering: 12.560. He is going to study Telecommunications Engineering, and he assures us that this will not mean giving up his other passions: the key is to find the right combination. He hopes to learn a lot on his course: enough to be able to help people and change the world through technology.

Why did you choose Telecommunications Engineering?

On the one hand I've always been good at subjects that involve a lot of mathematics, making calculations, and problem-solving... anything that means playing around with numbers. But on the other hand I'm very artistic: I like acting and dancing. I seriously thought about going into theatre but in the end I decided I'd have a wider range of career options if I took Telecommunications.

So what tipped the balance?

Telecommunications is a versatile qualification and I think it will make it easier to find a job I would enjoy. You could end up in IT but you're capable of doing many other things too. I think someone who has done Telecommunications is adaptable enough to find his own way easily.

What do you expect from the degree you've chosen?

I hope they push me, and they present us with lots of challenges that we'll have to work hard to overcome. And I hope to come out of it well prepared for whatever might turn up.

What made you pick the UAB?

It's not easy to pick a university. One thing that helped me decide is that it's so close to home. I get on the bus and half-an-hour later I'm here. As for career options, I saw that the UAB offers a lot of placements and is in a lot of contact with companies and the world of work, and that attracted me a lot. As well as that I noticed there's a very high success rate in the first year here, which made me think that in this university they must give you a lot of good guidance, so I think this is the best place to get through the first year, which always seems to be the hardest.

Now that you've had a good look around the campus, what's your first impression?.

This is the fourth time I've been up here and I know this campus quite well, also because my sister did Psychology here, and the truth is I love it. It's got an atmosphere that makes you feel you belong to the university even if you don't. It's like a small town inside a big city and I really enjoy just walking around or going for a coffee. You feel at home.

How do you see the future?

I'd like to be a famous actor. Well, OK, but I also want to be a researcher.

And what would this research job have to be like in order to be perfect?

The perfect job would be one that lets me do research that will serve to help people through technology and leaves me time for the theatre and dance or art.

Were you attracted by the "life on campus" at the UAB: the clubs and activities?

Yes, I think it's the university with the biggest offer of extracurricular activities. I'm looking forward to getting involved.

Now that you're at this landmark moment of starting out at university, what would you say is your dream?

A dream? Well, I've got plenty of those. Becoming someone who's capable of changing the world.