Undergraduate /
Computer Science - field of study and how it relates to your career plans. [5]
Thanks EF_Kevin. Currently, I'm reading "The Elements of Style" you suggested. So far, it is very informative.
Now I'm working on the second essay question. Please take a look below.
Please provide a brief Statement of Purpose that explains your interest in your field of study and how it relates to your career plans.Please provide a brief Statement of Purpose that explains your interest in your field of study and how it relates to your career plans.
My interest in computer science dates back to my school days. During high school, I was fascinated with the internet and how it works. Soon thereafter, designing and building websites started as a hobby. I took few courses to advance my hobby. To study software engineering was a natural choice afterwards.
During my undergraduate studies at the Computer Science department of Faculty of Computers and Information, Menufia University, I wanted to start my career as early as possible. I worked as Web Developer at LINKdotNET, a major software company in Egypt. There, I was part of developing many successful websites that served large number of users.
I volunteered into International Education and Resource Network (iEARN), Egypt section as IT member. We hosted an international event in Egypt where students from all over the world attended this event. We were able to provide the campus, where we hosted the event, with wireless internet connection coverage. We couldn't afford buying expensive equipment, but we were able to do it by distributing many cheap wireless components all over the campus. There, I realized that many small units can produce the same output of few large units.
At my final year in college, my colleagues and I wanted to develop a hardware device that would secure campus network cheaply and autonomously. We did a research on network vulnerabilities that can breakdown a campus network. We received 70% fund from the government. We received excellent grade and our prototype won "Best Software Project" award in Egyptian Engineering Day 2007.
Nowadays, I work as a software developer in R&D department at ASSET Technology Group. I am outsourced to Vodafone Egypt the biggest telecom company in Egypt. I was part of various projects mainly handling large amount of data and serve large number of customers in real-time. Recently, when the number of customers doubled, everything had to be doubled; time, cost and effort. I felt excited about the potential of new research in this area.
I wanted to conduct a research study to solve the problem of having large number of customers. How to serve effectively the increasing number of users, scale the service vertically by adding new servers, manage cluster of servers, distribute and backup databases, and secure the network infrastructure.
While my present job helped me develop a through insight into project handling, the industry environment that I am currently in cannot support my desire for research. I want to undertake cutting-edge research in advanced computing, with specific reference to distributed systems.
I therefore believe that I must return to the academic world for further growth. I wish to earn MS degree in Computer Science followed up with a Ph.D., and later, a career in teaching and research to help develop Egypt.
