I graduated from OMSCS, the Online Master's in Computer Science Program at Georgia
Tech. I achieved my personal goal of earning a Master's degree in Computer Science
from a prestigious university. I was admitted to this program in 2014 and continued
to take one class per 15-week term. I decided to go beyond the requirements by taking
three additional classes and graduated with specializations in "Computational
Perception and Robotics" and "Software Systems."
My Journey
Pursuing a master's degree in computer science has been one of my long-standing
aspirations.
I completed my schooling and college in India but missed the opportunity to attend
a prestigious institution. Determined to pursue a Master's in Computer Science, I
made my first attempt in 2002 but failed. I started working and earning money while
continuing to take courses. I tried again in 2003 and failed, and once more in 2004
with the same result. Despite these setbacks, my passion for learning Computer Science
kept me motivated to continue taking courses and improving my understanding of the
subjects.
I enrolled in Continuing Education Proficiency Courses at IISc, which were offered
on Wednesday evenings. These courses eventually paved the way for me to contribute
to CPython development through the Google Summer of Code program.
However, I still had not achieved my ultimate goal. In 2007, I decided to try again.
With work experience, four patents from my job, and part-time courses under my belt,
I applied to US universities in 2007. I applied to 10 universities but was rejected
by all of them.
In 2008, I applied to 5 universities and faced rejection again. I repeated the process
in 2009, applying to another 5 universities, but was unsuccessful.
In 2010, I received one admission offer through a referral, but I decided not to pursue
it as it was not a good fit for me.
In 2012, I almost enrolled in a part-time master's program, but I chose not to continue
because it was not in Computer Science.
In 2014, the OMSCS program was launched, and it looked very promising. I applied
and was admitted in its second offering. I started my classes in January 2015,
and after taking 13 courses, I completed the program in December 2019 with a GPA
of 3.21.
One of my most important lessons during this course was my failure, getting
grade C, in Computational Photography due to a mistake I made. I could have been
removed from the program, but I became more careful, corrected myself, and
retook the course to earn a B grade.
The experience has shaped me well as a person. The journey was fun and eventful.
My family, especially my wife, Shalini, supported me a lot. She would regularly
check in with my plans and adjust our social outings accordingly.
We celebrated our first child, Siddhartha's first birthday, when I started this
program. We had our second child, Saharsha, while I was taking the courses.
Keeping them entertained while pursuing a master's degree was challenging. I
used to put them to sleep and then return to my computer to complete
assignments.
In terms of work, I lost a job, got a new one, and then changed jobs again
during this timeframe. I struggled a bit to balance work and study but managed
to focus on work without letting one interfere with the other. I also got
promoted twice in the same organization during this period. Overcoming this
long-pending desire and mental block was a significant achievement for me.
Finally, we celebrated my graduation with a family trip to Atlanta, and my wife
Shalini organized a party with our friends. She also requested me to give a
short speech. Here is the speech that I shared with my friends.
We can celebrate anything. My wife, Shalini, is organizing this party as she
wanted to celebrate my graduation.
I feel a little awkward and embarrassed to be honest, but I am supporting her
just as she helped me throughout this journey. And I want to thank my friends
for coming.
For sharing things that I have learned, I want to talk about the quality of
honesty because I think about it a lot.
It is challenging to keep up with the changes; it is challenging when our
desires fail; it becomes challenging to lose opportunities every day.
Given all these, I still think that our time and the journey is enjoyable, if
on any task we dedicate our time to, we do so with honesty. There is a lot of
value in doing things with our bent of mind. Learning, understanding, and then
doing things that we like to do. Failing is okay, and the number of attempts
overtime does not matter. The result might be enjoyable, just as I realized
that with my graduation.
