Rahul Bhandari ’16
Education: MS Management Information Systems Internship: Professional: American International Group (AIG); Houston, TX ActiveCampaign; Houston, TX |
|
|
Describe your career and what led you to your current position? I’ve always been interested in the field of computers and wanted to pursue an advanced degree in this field. My undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering helped in building a strong technical foundation. Before beginning my pursuit of a master’s degree, I decided to gain industry experience by working in a performance engineering team at J.P/ Morgan. The MS-MIS program at Texas A&M inculcated a managerial and business-oriented thinking to supplement my technical knowledge. In my full-time role, it will be a challenge to continue learning about new IT trends and aligning them to the overall business strategy. What was your favorite course taken while in the MS-MIS program? My favorite course was ISYS 630 – MIS Project Management. Before starting the master’s program, I had worked on several IT projects but never had formal training on project management. After taking this course, I could see the difference in my internship work experience. IT project failures are common phenomena and the course addressed critical issues behind those failures. It was my favorite course because the professor was amazing and the course was directly aligned to certification exams like CAPM and PMP. What was the most beneficial course you took in the program? While there were many beneficial courses, if I were to name only one, I’d say STAT 651 – Statistics in Research. The course content was completely new to me. It taught me how to analyze the research data, build models, interpret numbers, and predict the outcomes using sophisticated tools. After taking the course, I feel confident and comfortable with the statistical jargon. Overall, it was a great add-on to my field of study. What advice would you give to current students in the MS-MIS program? I followed three simple rules during my graduate program: 1) Enjoy the courses. Take academic projects seriously. Don’t get pressurized by the thing happening around you. Don’t care too much about grades. It is difficult to follow this rule, but I can say that what you learn matters more than grades in the end. 2) Be proactive and keep networking. IT is one field where change is constant. Try to connect and talk to industry professionals about what’s happening in their workplace. This helps in the job search as well. 3) Most importantly, enjoy the student and campus life. We have limited time in our life as a student. Make the most of it! |
|