A Powerful Combination

Ankita Pradeep, MS Data Analytics Engineering 2019, got her undergraduate industrial engineering degree in India. Back at home, she worked in the logistics industry for two years. There, she gained experience in data analysis, which drove her interest to the field and inspired her to apply to the brand-new Data Analytics Engineering master’s program at Northeastern.

“I was one of the first five students in the program,” she said.

It was difficult to find a program for someone who is new to the field, Pradeep remembered. As she recalls now, her professors were incredibly helpful and made sure everyone in the class was on track. Now that she is on co-op, those courses are even more useful, as she is able to implement her skills and knowledge at work.

“The program introduced me to the field of data analytics and taught me coding, giving me the foundation to start my career in data,” Pradeep said. “It has been an incredible learning experience, and Northeastern’s co-op program has been extremely beneficial in giving me my first job experience in the U.S.”

One of her favorite courses was data mining. Pradeep did not have much experience in machine learning before, but the way her professor taught the class really helped her to keep up. She liked that assignments required a lot of research. They were very challenging and helped her learn many new concepts in the field.

When Pradeep started her co-op, she realized that the U.S. working culture was very different from Indian, but now she really likes it. On her co-op she has been assigned several complex projects, exposing her to stakeholder management, data engineering, and extensive data analysis. It is her first technical-related position where she can learn something new every single day at work.

“It’s been a challenging and exciting journey and has helped me apply my knowledge and skills to unfamiliar tasks,” Pradeep said. “The method of combining rigorous academic classroom study with real-world experience is a really powerful way to learn.”

Pradeep graduates May 2019, and now she is no longer new to data analytics engineering and feels confident to continue her career in this field. She is hoping to get some good experience working in the United States before she goes back to her home country.

Pradeep concluded, “It has been one of the best experiences of my life and I hope to keep growing professionally and have a successful career.”

Related Departments:Mechanical & Industrial Engineering