IS is the BEST
Enthusiastic and ambitious individual Soumiya Roy, MS Information Systems 2018, already had decent experience in information technology when she first came to Northeastern all the way from New Delhi, India, to study Information Systems. Both heavily data-oriented coursework and a great co-op experience helped her grow professionally and get a full-time job in San Francisco after her graduation in May 2018.
Few years before that, Roy graduated VIT University with bachelors in Information Technology and then worked as a business analyst in India for a year. She wanted to gain more experience in management, so she applied to multiple information system programs in the U.S. Soon, she received three acceptance letters, but her decision was made long time ago.
“Northeastern was my first choice,” Roy recalls. “Other programs were not as flexible as IS was in Northeastern.”
Roy liked a range of coursework opportunities in the university, but also the fact that Information Systems program here is equally balanced in terms of technical and management aspects. A co-op opportunity was another huge factor that affected her final decision. When she got in, Roy wanted to get a co-op in product management, but data-oriented classes she took in Northeastern totally changed her mind. Then, she truly discovered her passion.
Roy applied for Data Analyst position in BEST Hospitality Training, a non-profit organization educating individuals in the hospitality industry. Soon after, she had a first-round interview, where she was asked about her professional background and experience. Few days later, she was invited on the site, where she was examined on her technical skills. Working with data at Northeastern really helped Roy demonstrate her proficiency in the field.
“Basically, they wanted to know if I really know much about [data analysis],” Roy said. “I was able to clear that out and I got hired immediately.”
The environment at BEST Hospitality was very warm and welcoming from the first day, Roy said, and her manager really cared about Roy’s co-op expectations. Hospitality industry was new for her, which made her first weeks on co-op a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, Roy recalls that her supervisor was so helpful that she got used to the process very quickly. Even though the work was deadline-oriented, Roy could plan her work without pressure from her manager, which was really important for her.
“I was given the liberty and freedom to work with my own pace,” she mentioned.
With all that flexibility and freedom, Roy could chose her own technics and working approaches. She heavily implemented the skills she gained in Northeastern classroom, including data cleansing, data analysis, data visualization, data structuring and even machine learning.
“Not only did the IS coursework at Northeastern University lay the foundation which I used extensively through my co-op but it also helped me identify the kind of potential I have to master the skills taught in the classroom,” Roy said.
Moreover, as she came back from the co-op, Roy realized that it has greatly expanded her data-related skills and inspired her to take even heavier data courses in her last semester in the university. In addition, in BEST Hospitality she learned how to work in a professional setting and manage your time even more efficiently, she mentioned.
“The co-op actually taught me the best professional way to show [my] findings to impress the employer, or professor,” Roy said.
Today she works as a solutions architect at Radiant Logic Company in San Francisco. Northeastern coursework and the co-op experience greatly affected her career choices and expanded her professional skills that she employs even at her current position.