This is Tejaswi. I'm from India. I'm currently pursuing a Masters from the University of Utah in Information systems. I would like to share some of my experiences which shaped my career path. Going back 10 years, I started out with a bunch of engineers from the family who helped me in having a strong desire growing need to know more about computers. But there was a huge competition to get into a good university in a computer science program. I was able to secure a good rank in the entrance exam and got into computer science and engineering. This program taught me a lot about various aspects that encompass the world of computers and how these aspects fit into various industries. Right after my graduation, I joined Tata consultancy services, which is one of India's leading service consulting company. I worked as a software tester for around 5 years and TCS has given me opportunities to explore and contribute to three different projects. So with clients such as McKesson, Microsoft, and Davita. At TCS, I learned a lot about how technology can solve real-world problems in the most efficient way. I wanted to compliment my experience by getting an in-depth knowledge of information systems, which will help me propel towards my career interest and the MSIS program at the University of Utah is the perfect choice to achieve my goals.

MSIS program is well suited to major in a wide variety of areas. It integrates both technology and business. And there are four different areas of focus, mainly business intelligence and analytics, IT Security, Software and systems architecture, product and process management. These combinations allow professionals coming from various backgrounds to pursue their related areas of interest and grow into a field they have always wanted to master. Among these courses, I personally found business intelligence and analytics to be the best fit for my interest. Using business analytics major corporations are able to use the huge data they generate and pinpoint the growth opportunities they have and leverage their strengths in most efficient way. This whole process is very fascinating and makes me thrive for more knowledge gain in this area. I chose my courses aligned to this interest. Some of them would be an intro to business analytics, data mining, statistics, and predictive analysis, and Big Data. My classes are conducted in a single stretch and they usually last for 3 to 4 hours for each class, the workload of assignments and other preparations take about 5 to 6 hours.

The courses and training in this program are very much industry focused on prepares the students to tackle the real-world scenarios which companies expect from their employees. The faculty is highly knowledgeable, and they're very proactive in engaging us with the industry. They bring in real companies as sponsors for our capstone projects. They're always ready to advise and guide us with the next steps in our careers. Coming to the alumni, MSIS has very strong and happy alumni distributed all across the country. They're always willing to mentor new students. The best part is that many of the MSIS graduates are placed in major companies in Utah and they're available to share their experience and information about the program.