Hamza Habib
From the start I was always intrigued to study in a foreign country and studying at an American university was something which I have always dreamt of. My decision for pursuing a master’s degree at mason was not only solely dependent on the academic perks which I will get as I progress in my degree, but the main reason I chose to be a part mason was to enjoy the American culture and get the experience of an American university. Mason not only will equip me with good skills academically but will also help me to learn things beyond the curriculum and will help me learn how to do things out of one’s comfort zone.
In mason, I chose to take data engineering as my majors in my master’s degree, but previously in my A-Levels, I chose to study computer science subjects along with mathematics and sciences subjects. They all helped me to develop both my analytical and logical reasoning. Computer science in specific gave me a greater chance of understanding the business aspects of the computer industry and how it has the potential to revolutionize the lives of people. After I completed A-levels, I opted for computer science as a major for my bachelor’s degree. In my university period, I studied a lot of courses related to core computer concepts and the fundamentals of computer languages. I was overwhelmed to know how people
have created, and how a human mind can manipulate the magical power of a computer into something fruitful to mankind. Furthermore, along with computer-centric courses, we were taught modules like entrepreneurship, financial accounting, and psychology, etc, these subjects gave me the inspiration to learn more about business and how I can start my own software-based company one day.
My interest in computing has not been restricted to the classroom and college life. I made many projects within and outside the university with the help of my friends, we created gigs on freelance websites and made an interesting project of clients; which taught us how to negotiate and land a deal. In addition to this, I made my first project for my father’s business related to the real estate field. That gave me a new point of view on how certain things function, and how business operates. Moreover, I did my final year project in the data science field, where we took real-world data from Daraz.pk (a famous e-commerce store in Pakistan) and yelp.com. I and my group members used these real-world datasets to create a model which can predict and label spam and not spam to Roman Urdu reviews on an e-commerce site. This project enabled me to deal with real-world scenarios; how data is collected; how it is pre-processed; how we can use raw data to create a working model. The journey in creation of this product taught me many things like patience, perseverance, hard work, and consistency. And the main perk was to learn how to work as a team and how to get it done.
After completing my bachelor’s degree in computer science. I started working as a web developer for a company in Lahore. My job was no different than any other job in the market. In my job Learnt my things which cannot be taught by any university. Meanwhile, I applied to mason and got an acceptance letter from it. After getting my acceptance letter I chose to pursue master’s degree at mason because and up till now I am quite satisfied with my choice and mason is providing every facility which is required for a good learning requirement. Secondly, the presence of people from all around the world and you get to meet different people from different ethnicities, and this is where I feel the difference is within the culture of America and Pakistan. You always get to meet new people, make new friends from different backgrounds, so studying at George mason is not only about getting a degree, but I wanted to get indulged in the American system and improve my intrapersonal and social skills. Apart from the these perks the main reason I chose and to do my master’s degree in America because the effort the professors and university put in their education has no match. I was impressed with the amount of money people invest in education and research is phenomenal and George Mason is one of the best public schools in the United States, where students are encouraged to pursue their dreams and work on their skills. I would love to work in a dedicated learning environment, and I am looking forward to working with my professors on different projects related to my field of study because this will help me in the near future. I am looking forward to learning from a state-of-the-art teaching facility and excel in my career.
