My Motivation to Pursue Undergraduate Studies in Computer Engineering

Being a 90s kid, I have been lucky enough to witness novel ideas manifest themselves into real life products. As cliché as it may sound, technological advancements have helped us take strides forward as a race. Computers have always fascinated me since an early age owing to their utilitarian nature, at the crux of it, it deals with solving problems. I as an individual could relate to it due to the shared characteristics of reasoning and problem solving. My expedition in computer science beganduring my high school where playing around with Java in NetBeans in programming labs and various workshops helped me find my passion for CS. After identifying my interests, I chose to enroll myself as an undergraduate major in Computer engineering.

During my 4 years at college I studied a breadth of courses like Data Structures, Programming Languages and Design and Analysis of Algorithms which helped in making my fundamentals strong. After strengthening the core, I turned my attention to the courses that fascinated me the most, Database Management Systems and Web Technology. Being an ardent football/soccer fan, and a savvy CS enthusiast, I volunteered to build something for my local football team that would be useful in their match-day preparation.

I started working on my final year project ‘Performance Analytics – Trends and patterns’ which used a lot of gathered data and visualized it on a web application to provide actionable insights. I used Microsoft ASP. Net stack in integration with Power BI for the front end, normalized tables in MS SQL were used to store the data. At Cognizant, I worked on multiple technologies - ASP. NET, C#, JavaScript (Angular, jQuery), Siebel CRM and OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition). For my first project I was tasked with the creation of a desktop application that performed health checks on different remote servers. I had used the Windows Forms applications coupled with various libraries to achieve this feat. This reduced 4 hours of weekly effort. The project team was also rewarded by the client for the initiativetaken to innovate.

Currently, I am working on OBIEE system of a Fortune 50 company. Designing ad-hoc visual reports for 100+ critical users that help them make informed business decisions Such exposure to huge amounts of data and managing day to day operations has made me proficient in the design and maintenance of large application software. I have developed a broad appreciation for the power of BI, and the visualization that it offers. I see a long term career in the database management field. After college, pursuing a grad degree was meant to be the next step, but I chose to get some professional experience to bolster my programming and analytical skills, which could in turn multiply my prospects of getting into a fantastic graduate school. Having garnered ample experience in the IT field, I think the time is ripe for me to make a re-entry into academia. In view of this, I wish to apply for the Master’s in Computer Science program at your reputed university. The research centers and facilitiesare top-notch. Northeastern University stands out for me due to its famed co-op program that encourages students to go get real world experiences. After perusing through the curriculum I found that there are specific courses like Data Mining Techniques, Machine Learning, Information Retrieval which will enhance my knowledge which is wanting in these areas. I have a clear vision of what I want to achieve, my goal is to become an IT Consultant. The knowledge and skills that I will gain during my tenure at the university will prepare me best to fulfill my potential. I assure you that I will live up to the higher academic standards of your university.

To conclude, I would like to request the admission committee to consider me for admission and thank them for providing me this opportunity to express myself.