Please evaluate my statement of purpose

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

In the year 2005, I first saw a mobile phone. It was the same year computer education was introduced in our school curriculum. The traditional snake game in my dad’s Nokia 3310 and 3D pinball game in windows 98 hold my attention to the gadgets during my childhood. Being an Assistant School Pupil Leader and School Pupil Leader for two consecutive years during my high school grade 9 and 10, I had a better and full time access to the computer labs in our school. Though we have been taught only the Microsoft Office tools, Keyboard shortcuts and Command Prompt commands in the school, it was a like a different world for me, entering into the computer lab and interacting with the machine which is different from the traditional classroom teaching. It was the first time I was motivated to pursue career related to computers.

From the initial stages of my education, Mathematics is the one subject which stood me out from the others in the class. I was among the 500 students selected for National means cum merit scholarship out of 60,000 students who took the scholarship test in Mathematics all over the nation. With this interest towards Mathematics, I was able to score cent percent every year during my high school in mathematics. This special attraction towards Math, adds boost to my idea of pursuing career in computer science. It later helped me get into one of the top institutes in the nation for under graduation studies, Vasavi College of Engineering, which is affiliated to Osmania University.

I have it in my mind to choose computer science as my undergrad major considering my previous experiences in school and my love towards Mathematics, but I was still in confusion before the undergrad admission. I attended a crash course in C language as suggested by my sister who was already pursued Masters in this field, who warned me to choose wisely as there was recession in the entire world during that time. I was not much into programming till that time and by the end of that training, I was fully confident that Computer science is my cup of tea. I was dumbfounded to know that games are nothing but programs. After that everything went as per plan in my undergrad. A well-structured and comprehensive course curriculum at Vasavi College of Engineering exposed me to the broad areas of computer science and gave me plenty of opportunities to develop my interest in a particular area.

As an initial step towards traversing multiple areas of computer science, I have chosen Artificial Intelligence and Middleware Technologies as my electives. The important courses of Data Structures, Design and Analysis of Algorithms and Computer Networks have given me a good knowledge of theory. The fact that these subjects form a unifying feature of all fields in computer science and their quest towards achieving the limits of what can and can’t be done, form part of the reasons for my fascination in them. It is precisely this reason which prompts me to take up graduate studies as the next step towards my career objectives. I did 5 mini projects during my 4 years of undergrad which is related to programming, web technologies, databases and operating systems. I did a major project on cloud computing which has broadened my knowledge in this major. I have worked extensively on front end and backend technologies as part of academics.

I find the problems in Theoretical Computer Science particularly appealing because of the flavor of abstract mathematics that I love so much. In free time during my undergrad, I used to teach mathematics for high school students as part time job. My limited teaching experience as tutor in high school mathematics course has been very positive and I would love to be able to teach my favorite subjects and thus get a better understanding of these fields myself.

I have done a web designer internship during my last semester in Vasavi College of Engineering for an app and web based startup Centauri Services. It has exposed me to corporate culture. I have worked in teams earlier in college for projects and technical fests, but working in corporate environment is completely different. There is a wider scope for learning here than in college as we implement what we learn rather than simply attending the classes and attempting the tests. This has motivated me to stay in this corporate sector for a while.

I got selected for Systems Engineer role in Infosys while I was in the last semester of college. After joining Infosys, it was a complete game changer for me. The training was extensive which includes 6-8 hours of coding every day. After the generic training was completed, there was stream based training in which I was allocated IBM Integration Bus, a middleware technology which is used to integrate and develop web services. I have decent experience working on front end and back end during my undergrad, but middleware is the one which I haven’t worked on before joining Infosys. I have worked on developing and integrating REST and Message Queue based services here. In addition to the technical experience I have gained, I am part of multiple team activities in and outside of our development unit which has helped me to maintain a good rapport with colleagues.

Ten years from now, I envisage myself as a lead developer or as a designer in a tech giant company. I have attained a position which has offered a great opportunity to learn new technology that too in a dynamic and diverse organization like Infosys. While my present job has helped me develop a thorough insight into project handling, the industry environment that I am currently in doesn’t encourage my desire to explore computer science further to fulfil my dreams.

I believe pursuing masters is both intellectually stimulating, satisfying and also brings upon a new challenge for me which will help me flourish in this field in the coming years. From a careful study of the department's brochures and the advice of the faculty at Vasavi College of Engineering, I have realized that University of North Carolina can provide me with a perfect environment for directing my mental resources towards independent growth in this field. I am aware of the kind of dedication, resilience and resolve I will have to show over the years and I feel that I am adequately prepared for that, both in having the technical qualifications and the right mind-set for graduate level studies. I am confident that I have the requisite aptitude, exposure and motivation to make a meaningful contribution to my chosen field.

Finally, if granted admission into your university I would perform to the best of my abilities and hope to acquire skills that will help me realize my dreams. I look forward to joining as a graduate student in your department and having a long and mutually profitable association with (UNCC).