Baby steps to open source contribution:

• Search for "good first issue" labels on Github.

• Then filter on your programming language of choice from the options available in the Languages section.

• Browse through them to see if anything looks good to you.

Beginners should start with documentation updates. My first open source contribution was a documentation update for scikit-learn. These are some of the most simple issues on Github. Here is my PR. Open source contributions don’t always have to be super complex features, they can be easy fixes as well.

It is important to start reading the contribution guidelines as it provides all the information on setting up the dev env and all the code testing/validation process. It immediately helped me understand some of the best practices for coding. I realized that I haven’t been giving much attention to coding best practices in my personal and work projects, which needs a gentle nudge.

After doing that documentation update, I decided to move one step ahead. I wanted to get my hands dirty with some code changes. So I picked up Mosec Issue#180. Mosec is an ML serving framework written using Python and Rust. The issue was related to fixing the linting issues in Python code. This would mean updating the Python files, adding docstrings, and rearranging code. It took me a day to set up my dev env, as I had to install a lot of dependencies as well. I was getting some Rust-related issues on my Mac machine.

Again this time, I took small steps and sought guidance from the repo’s author through posting queries on the Github issue/PR. The author was helpful in guiding towards the right approach and helping analyze some code errors as well. After multiple reviews from Mosec’s authors, my PR was eventually merged.

Taking the first step in Open Source contributions is always challenging and intimidating for new and experienced coders as well. Hence, taking a structured approach and making small steps is the right way to achieve it. Progress takes time and consistency.

“All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.”

- Michael John Bobak

Getting into open source contribution gives you a lot of benefits as well.

• Learning the best coding practices.

• Reading/Writing great documentation.

• It helps build your resume.

  • I have interviewed a lot of candidates for job roles in my current and previous organizations, and only 1% of the candidates have open source contributions.

  • It’s a great way to stand out from the crowd.

• Get peer recognition in the software dev community.

With a bursting ecosystem of the open source software community, adding contributions is the way to level up.

Empowerment of individuals is a key part of what makes open source work, since in the end, innovations tend to come from small groups, not from large, structured efforts.

-Tim O'Reilly

This is just the beginning, with more progress to follow.

Traditional Goal Setting

Man ventures and conquers. He needs to set certain goals so as to feed the hunger for satisfaction within him. Goals are what you need, the aspirations in your life. Things like a desire to earn $1M in next year, or to travel across the continent. Goals helps us plan our life and organise the future. Man’s appetite has been forever growing, and seems to be unstoppable in the times of insane productivity boom since the last century.

But just setting these goals is not sufficient in order to achieve it. We need to put into place a system which will inherently enable to us to achieve these goals we have set for ourself.

Systems

Our Mind is not capable of tracking multiple things going on in our life. We need to track them on paper or digitally. And we also need to evaluate the progress at specified intervals to take any corrective actions wherever needed. Some systems are basic system like a “to do” list. Some are more complex like using a Bullet Journal. It varies from person to person. Each one of us will be comfortable with their own personalised version of the system. The important part is we need to remove resistance between the system and us. The system has to become a part of our daily life. If it is a to-do list, we have to make utmost effort to look at the list and take actionable items from there. If we are not able to look at that list everyday for whatsoever reason, we need to remove the obstacles which are making it difficult to review the list.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Task vs Goals

Filling your income tax return is a task, not a goal. You need to go it, it is mandatory, but it is not something of an achievement. Goals are something you have not done before, something which is outside your comfort zone or to improve some process you usually follow.

Goals

Goals should be SMART goals. They should have a systematic format to it.

• S = Specific

• M= Measurable

• A = Achievable

• R = Relevant

• T = Time bound

In the above format, you can access your progress on a weekly basis with proper measure and against the time remaining to achieve it. This way you can easily keep a track on the progress.

Systems

Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. - James Clear, Atomic Habits

A system is a set of habit you need to develop to ensure there is nothing in between you and your goals. Looking at your goals daily and making incremental progress, until the day the goal is achieved and you get the satisfaction of crossing it off in your list is a system.

The system needs to be comfortable so you won’t abandon it. It should have low resistance from your daily activities. It can be a whiteboard in your bedroom, so you can see it daily or a “to do” list /app on your desk or a bullet journal where you track it daily. Choose as per your comfort zone. As far as my personal preference goes, I started with to do lists and then moved to Bullet Journaling method, with which I am very comfortable now.

Be adaptive

New Year is not the only time to set goals. We need to keep on adapting to factors which are out of our control and make necessary adjustments to our goals. It is our responsibility to make sure they remain relevant in current times, with a long term view. It is better to review all goals quarterly, and report the progress and plan for next quarter. On a weekly basis, it would be better to create or modify current plan to make those goals become reality.

If you haven’t set your goals yet, right now is the best time to start setting up your goals. Don’t wait for the next new year.

Objectivism is supremacy of the reason. Every decision in every walk of life needs to be made by your mind. It is practical to be selfish, for your own needs first. Work hard to achieve the production, to earn the right to consume based on your value of production. Focus on happiness, to live a fulfilled life on earth. Money is not evil, it is just a medium of exchange, my value to yours.

The men of the mind are the people who run the world. They are the motor that keeps the world running. These are other people who produce a lot of value in the world. In the book, the world has chosen alternate way of life, where it is everyone’s responsibility to every other individual. Need dictates the way of life, rather than value. In such an environment, one man decided to stop, to stop producing for the sake of others. He decides to stop the motor of the world.

There are 4 essential elements of Objectivism:

1. Reality:

Reality exists and there in only one form of reality, the one which we live in. There is no concept of supernatural in this reality.

Reality exists, regardless of whether we want it to or not.

1. Reason:

Reason is the decision making tool for the mind.

Reason is man’s basic means of survival.

1. Self Interest:

Self Interest is moral.

The individual right to life, liberty, and property allows everyone freedom to live as a trader.

1. Capitalism:

A free market for exchange of value. The productive genius of free men will bring innovation.

Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.

Objectivism is different from the mixed economy we live in today. It’s more of an extreme side involving capitalism. Every man works to create value, and exchange value for value at a fair rate. No one lives on alms received from others. Objectivism is a way of thinking. Capitalism is the economic system here. Ayn Rand proposes a Laissez-faire capitalism. Laissez-faire is an economic philosophy of free-market capitalism that opposes government intervention. This provides maximum incentive and least government interference.

The book is a worthy read to understand the idea of Objectivism. This book depicts an alternate reality where world has moved to a “need” based structure. This social structure seems disrupting the way of life. Then one man refuses to accept the principles forced down on him and starts his journey to stop the motor of the world.

After reading this book, I have moved to “Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith, which is a fundamental work in classical economics. It’s the analysis on wealth generation. The book was published in 1776, yet the concepts are still relevant. The book provides details on how Capitalism generates Wealth.

I started actively monitoring the global news from 2014, so most of the knowledge here was new to me, except obviously the Financial Crisis and Middle East wars. Obama’s involvement in support of Egypts Pro Democracy protests and his negotiations during the Climate change summits were few of the exciting stories in the book. The book also gives some glimpse of US politics and Global Politics to some extent. Obama shows us how it is difficult to get things done is democracy.

The book gave the glimpse into the life of the US president or as US media proclaims “Leader of the Free World” lives and operates. It’s also a pretty long book and this is just the volume 1 of the 2 part series.

The Book gives complete glimpse into Obama’s life till somewhere near his end of 1st presidential term. The second volume will take it from there. He also explains his philosophical ideas in life, where he decided not to become a corporate lawyer after graduating from Harvard Law, but instead worked on building a community and do work that benefits the society.

He also talked about his visit to India and his opinions of the Indian politicians, especially Dr. Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He talked openly on what he saw in the political scene in India. Some of that content was not to the likes of Indian politicians especially those of Congress political party.

He also talks about the American culture, the good and the bad things. Discussions on race and equality, and his honest views and opinions on the same.

The book does contain lot of historical facts available in public along with the perspective of Obama as he created history. I enjoyed reading his book and I will be eagerly waiting for the second part of the series.

I decided to read Michelle Obama’s memoir ‘Becoming’ before starting Barack Obama’s book ‘A Promised Land’. This book describes the personal life journey of Michelle Obama, on how her out-of-the-way decisions in life led to rewarding experiences and thus becoming her identity. Michelle’s work before becoming FLOTUS revolves around community building and development in and around Chicago. She later continued the work with National level programs to improve education, health, and nutrition. The book is inspiring, for all readers.

We all know Barack Obama and his accomplishments but rarely do people recognize Michelle Obama’s work and sacrifices. She grew up in a modest family in Chicago, earning her way into the halls of Princeton and Harvard. Then taking a high-profile job as a lawyer in Chicago only to leave it later to work actively in community building work.

Some might recognize them as a power couple, and imagine them to have all the answers to a successful marriage. This is far away from reality. The power couple is not two great people coming together, but rather two minds coming together to create great synergy and cooperation, resulting in fulfilling and meaningful lives. Michelle was brave enough to admit that they needed counseling during their marriage, which in some communities is still considered taboo, and how it helped them become more responsible adults and parents to their young kids. She describes how Michelle and Barack sacrificed, inspired, and supported each other to achieve great things.

The book also provides details on the presidential journey, moving to Washington with 2 young kids in a fortified castle called the White House, and how it has an impact on their lives. It opens up the view of a mother who is trying to adjust in the big house, and struggling to provide their kids with a normal life rather than spoiling them with all luxuries afforded to them.

I demonstrated a proof of concept code to explain the basics of using Machine Learning in stock trading.

Code and PPT is available here.

I graduated from Arizona State University with a Masters Degree on that day. It’s been 2 years since then. This is a retrospective analysis of what worked as planned and what didn’t.

And let me tell the current batch of 2020 graduates when I graduated on that day, I did not have any job offer in my hand. I was still applying for jobs all day. Remember, it’s will always be dark before the sun rises, but the sun will rise eventually and then there will be light.

My Retrospective Analysis:

Why I choose a Masters in Business Analytics?

• To learn further and get a credible educational qualification.

• To advance my career in this new promising field.

• To get an opportunity to practice my new skills in the innovative US industry.

What didn’t work:

• I graduated without any job offer in hand. It took me another month and a half to secure a job offer.

• My dream job was to become a Data Scientist, but my first job was that of a Financial Analyst.

What worked:

• In 2019, I started working as a Data Scientist at American Express.

Graduation was not the end, it was a new beginning. New success stories to be written from now. New opportunities to explore. Remember that struggle never ends, because that’s how you make progress. I believe I have accomplished what I wanted from this education, but it was not instant, it took a few years.

When I look back, I see that I have made quite a lot of progress in my career. Yes, there was a struggle even after graduation, and there will be a lot of struggle even tomorrow. Always remember to never lose hope, and keep giving your 100% to everything and every opportunity. In an independent survey conducted with the 2018 batch of MSBA Graduates, 54% said they are satisfied, and 37% answered may be satisfied with their career progression after graduation.

About the Book:

The book is a memoir of Tara Westover’s childhood and her educational leap. Tara was born and raised in Idaho in a family that does not believe in formal education. This shaped a lot of her early childhood. She then went against her own family and enrolled for college at the age of 17, her first formal education. And then this educational journey continued through the halls of Cambridge and Harvard. She went a long way ahead. This book is about her sacrifices, the hard choices she made, and she achieved an understanding of herself.

This book is not just about her story. It opens up a perspective on how hard work and sacrifices, can open up doors for you. That you should aim for the stars, and with enough dedication you can reach there as well. These are those extra-ordinary journeys of self-realization and understanding the purpose of existence in this world.

What I learned from the book:

Tough Decisions and Sacrifice:

Life is not always fair. You cannot change where you are born. However, to change where you are today, there are always tough decisions to be made. You have to leave things behind to go ahead. You will have to sacrifice somethings today, to go ahead in life.

Hard Work:

There is no substitute for hard work. No matter what your current situation is, tomorrow can always be better. And the only thing stopping you is your dedication and commitment to hard work.

Limitless possibilities:

You need to open up your mind to all the great things in this world. You never know what you might achieve. Success might just be right around the corner, but you still have to keep walking ahead towards that corner.

Embrace your past:

Everyone has a unique past. Past might be ugly and dull, but that is what shaped you to what you are today.

TLDR: We scaled the peak and but the hike took 16 hours. We were almost about to be rescued from that mountain.

The plan

Planned this hike for summer when the weather in Flagstaff town is pleasant. Had even bought Traction Cleats to attach to my hiking shoes to get a good grip on the snowy parts of the trail. The plan was to stay overnight at Flagstaff and start the hike in the early morning around 6 AM, finish the hike at 2 PM and then return to Phoenix the same day.

The ascent

Started early from Flagstaff and had a heavy breakfast (sic, mistake, suffered later because of this) at Denny’s. We started the hike around 6:30 AM. My stomach felt a bit bloated (you know why) and that made me get exhausted at regular intervals. The trailhead is at an elevation of 9,200 feet.

After 4 hours of rigorous hiking in the wilderness and struggling out way through the snowy parts of the trail, the goal seems still a long way ahead. We never gave up. At around noon, we reached the saddle point of the hike. The saddle point is where the wilderness ends and you can see some great panoramic views. The summit is just a few more steps ahead, is what we said to ourselves. At 2 PM, we reached the summit.

My stomach had been upset all this time and finally, I puked after reaching the summit point. It felt good soon after. Just look how happy I felt after the fact.

The descent

The descent was also challenging as our knees were paining. We started the descent at 3 PM and were into the wilderness by 7 PM. This is when the sun went down. Luckily, the moon came up and it was a fairly full moon night, so we had some light to help navigate the trail.

We met a guy who was going up around 6 PM, and that guy was a huge help to us. He had an extra headlight band which he gave us when he met us back at around 9 PM as he was on his way back after reaching the saddle. He gave us some company and motivation to pick up our pace going down. There was no cellular network available to inform our other 2 folks who were probably waiting for us at the trailhead.

Totally exhausted, and knees in pain, we reached the trailhead at 11.30 PM that day. The other folks who were waiting for us at the trailhead were about to call for emergency help as we had been in the mountains unreachable for an unexpectedly long time. We had to stay back in Flagstaff for the night, as we were not in a situation to drive then.

"It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary

However, first, let’s understand what the wrong way is.

Career Fairs: Attending a career fair and delivering a 30-second elevator pitch to a recruiter just like every other person is not networking. This can be the first step in some cases, but it’s not over there. Also, it’s rare for Recruiters to be someone’s boosters (The minority group of people who love their job and want to help people). Also, Career Fairs are too chaotic to be productive by any means. Those long queues and that big stack of resumes!

Networking events/Meetups: Simply attending the meetups is not enough. There is more to it. However, attending meetups is a good start. Many people genuinely come here to expand their network. You can find people that want to help you.

LinkedIn: Simply adding someone to your LinkedIn network is not networking.

Who are your networks?

Everyone. I repeat, EVERYONE.

Everyone you know is your network. Even, everyone around you who is observing you is your network.

How to use your network?

Expand your network.

• Networking Events/Meetups: Attending a networking event can be a good start. On meetup.com you can find several meetups for your profession. Attend those meetups, meet new people. Moreover, don’t directly cut to the chase on the first meet. Be genuinely interested in them, in what they do, their interests. Please have a good and healthy communication/discussions with them. Learn things from them, take help from them.

• Volunteering: Attend events as a volunteer, do things for free. Help people for free. This is a very effective way of getting free tickets for any event/conference and also helps you to connect with many professionals.

Let your network know you.

Your network is only as strong as they know you. So let your network know you personally. Let your network know what you are good at, what you specialize in and if you are an expert/master in something. Let all the people around you know how professional you are.

Start a blog, write an article on medium.com, be active on LinkedIn/Twitter, you need a dynamic personality at the center of your network.

Strengthen your network.

Make them like you. This can be tough. You have to be a good person for this. People like to work with people who are genuine and good at heart. Helping people goes a long way to strengthen a relationship. If your network is strong, they will come to you when they have a problem, because they know whom to consult. Moreover, remember each of their problems is your opportunity, to strengthen your relationship.

Nurture it well.

Great things can’t be done in a day. It needs time. Keep expanding your network and strengthening it. This is the time where you need to practice patience. So basically you have to be professional in your way. Networking is just that. Be kind to people, and they will value you. Help people and they will help you back.

Congratulations on your MSBA program admit. You have made it till here, now only nine months of intensive program experience and then you will come out as Data Science Professionals. Yes you heard it right, it is intense, but with proper time management skills, you can pull it off.

So many of you must be thinking, about preparing for the program before joining here, and that’s a great idea. So I will be sharing a few resources for you to read or learn, that would be helpful for you in the long run. But, let me tell you this is all optional, officially the program doesn’t require you to come prepared with everything. You start the course from the basics, so no need to panic if you can’t prepare in advance.

• Book “Analyzing the Analyzer”: Before joining the program, it is crucial to understand the post-degree opportunities available to Data Science Professionals. This book will help you understand the plethora of skill sets to build as per your desired profile. Book Link

• Decide on a career path, be it Business Intelligence Engineer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist or Business Consultant. Then check out the job descriptions for similar roles on LinkedIn Jobs and Indeed.com. It would give you a rough idea of what skills to built up during the program.

• Get some basic idea of Machine Learning Algorithms. This course on Coursera is presented by Andrew Ng and to my knowledge is the best course on machine learning. The course is not free, so you can either pay for it or start the free 1st month and try to go as far as you can in one month. Completing the course is not compulsory, six weeks of content should be enough to get a good idea of the concepts. Alternatively, the video lectures are available on Youtube for free at this link. However, you won’t have access to the quizzes and the programming assignments on Youtube.

• Book “Freakonomics” -Levitt and Dubner: As Data Science professionals, it is important to interpret data in a meaningful way, test the hypothesis, and convey the results in a simple format. And this book showcases this perfectly. I found this book very interesting because of the deep analysis of the authors. The authors have wonderful data storytelling skills, which automatically gives you the motivation to keep reading the book until it’s over. Must read for future Data Scientists. “Super freakonomics” is a follow-up book of this series and equally enjoyable.

• Learn programming skills in Python and/or R. Datacamp has some excellent courses in their free tier, so do check them out.

• Follow Active Data Science professionals on LinkedIn. Some suggestions from my end:

Vin Vashishta | Randy Lao | Eric Weber | Favio Vázquez | Mike Tamir | Andriy Burkov

I hope this does help you in some ways.

Best of luck.

So now you must be getting ready with packing stuff and getting ready for the experience. Check out this comprehensive list of essential things to do that will help you.

Book flight tickets:

• The early you book the flight tickets, the cheaper it will be.

• Usually you get connections from LA or Philadelphia or NY to Phoenix, so in this case, your immigration will happen at the source of entry to the USA, which is LA/Philadelphia/NY in this case.

• Another option is a direct flight from London to Phoenix. London is a global hub connected with almost all countries.

• You can also take advantage of the Abu Dhabi immigration check, which is an excellent facility started by the US gov.

• It will be good if you could avoid the busy airport JFK. Immigration lines are quite long in there.

• Also, do check how many check-in bags are allowed, two should be sufficient for all the stuff you need.

Pre Book housing at Tempe:

• Tempe provides a lot of options for budget student housing. Some popular ones are 1255 Apartments, Omnia on 8th, University Pointe, Dorsey Place, University Park, Tempe Terrace, La Crescenta, Renue on Orange, Desert Palms, Agave, etc.

• Premium housing apartments are Nexa, Vertex, 922 Place and Blvd1900.

• Almost all of them can be booked online with a deposit hold, and then you pay the deposit and rent in person when you arrive here.

• The approximate cost of living should come to around $600-$700 per room per month when you take a 2bed2bath apartment. Groceries should be less than $100 per person per month.

Arrange your finances:

• Have your loan approved and be ready for international money transfer as well. Fees can be paid via Flywire service.

• The total fee is payable in six installments, on the 25th of August, September, October, January, February, and March. After the due date, you will still be allowed around 20 days wherein no penalty will be charged to your account, but a hold will be created. For international students, each installment is about $9.5k. (This was for the year 2017-18)

• The deposit paid to ASU to confirm your admission will be credited to your account in October.

• Getting a FOREX card is a good idea. You can transfer money at par in Chase Bank (Not sure about other banks) counter. So moving your monthly expenses via FOREX card is a good option.

What to pack?

Check out this detailed list on the ISA website.

CHECKLIST

The Kitchen list especially caters to Indian Cooking needs.

In addition to the list, I would recommend:

• 14 sets of undergarments, so you can do laundry every alternate week.

• Clothes from India can shrink if not of good quality. Better quality shirts are available here; you even get some for free during the events. (P.S: I have ten shirts in my wardrobe, which I collected for free from various events and career fairs, all are good quality)

• Suits, I would recommend 2 (Super recommended if you are joining the business school), One standard black suit, and the other can be a three-piece suit(I prefer a darker shade of blue).

• Do carry some warm clothes, the night temperature in December/January can go as low as 3-degree Celsius.

• Sunglasses and sunscreen lotion are very very important.

This course starts with the necessary programming skills in Python and then building a Recommendation system. Then come to Text Mining and Network Analysis using Python. There are 5 assignments to be submitted in Python code. Towards the end of the course, Big Data Technologies like Hadoop, Kafka, and AWS is taught in brief, with some exercises in AWS as well.

Tools covered: Python, AWS, Hadoop, Kafka

SCM 519: Analytical Decision Modeling II

Using simulation techniques to perform Decision Modelling when there is uncertainty. At the end of the course, there is a team-based case to be solved, an open-ended simulation problem that requires a lot of excel skills.

Tools covered: @Risk and Precision Tree (both are Excel plug-ins)

CIS/SCM 593: Applied Project

A team-based capstone project to implement the skills learned through the course to real-world corporate problems. This course is a Semester-long activity.

MKT 591: Marketing Analytics

The course starts off with basics in the R programming language. Then moves to Marketing concepts and applying different types of analytical methods to Marketing related problems. The course ends with a team-based project where you can choose your dataset and apply the concepts learned in the class.

Tools covered: R, Rstudio

CIS 515: Business Analytics Strategy

A typical business school subject with a focus on case studies to understand the implication of Data Analytics. We learn about Ethics, Privacy and the importance of Soft Skills in the corporate business setting. The class encourages discussion-based learning. The class project includes a venture pitch for an idea that involves Data Analytics.

Tools covered: IBM Watson Analytics

The exam was at 6 in the evening. The exam was similar to the Assignment patterns. 3 hours, 30 questions, open book, open notes, coding in R and submitting the code as well. The last exam, and then the journey will be finally complete.

Skateboard group:

One of the skills I learned here includes Skateboarding. It’s not that easy by the way. Something to try and learn.

And It’s a Wrap!

The 9-month Master’s program has finally completed.

Almost all the teams had their Capstone presentations this week, either onsite or on-campus. Also, the Marketing Project Presentation and the Business Venture presentation were in this week. So this was an action-packed week with back to back presentations in all the classes.

MSBA Games:

It’s almost time for graduation and folks are busy planning for after graduation events and parties. One such includes a Sports Tournament.

Capstone Presentation:

Finally, after surpassing all the hurdles, I along with my team completed the Capstone Presentation. It was a good experience with real-world scenarios where we could apply concepts related to Analytics.

Beta Gamma Sigma:

Every year, top-ranking students get an opportunity to be a part of the prestigious Beta Gamma Sigma Society. Congratulations to this year’s candidates. Your hard work and dedication have paid off.

Exit session:

Well, we got to know that our access to Sun Devils Fitness Center will end on graduation day. 🙁 Apart from that just the regular things. Thankfully McCord access will be there for the next 90 days.

27th April: Curriculum review

This is the only time the Faculty will carefully observe the student feedback regarding the curriculum and the overall course structure. The Co-Chairs for the MSBA program and Chair of Information Systems Department were present at this session. Surprisingly, only 6 students volunteered to give feedback. Students provided their view on what went wrong in the session or what could be done better next time. I hope it was a constructive session for the Faculty, and some necessary changes are established for the next batch of students. Strong feedback was given especially to one subject, and now let’s see what changes are done in that aspect.

Graduation Ceremony:

There are 3 different Convocation ceremonies held.

• International Graduate Convocation: Applicable to only International Students. (5th May)

• ASU Graduate Convocation: ASU wide graduate programs convocation (7th May)

• W.P.Carey Graduate Convocation: W.P.Carey Master’s Students Convocation (10th May) ->This is the most important one

For one last time this spring, a general career fair from 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM at Memorial Union, and again I didn’t have many hopes from this one either. Most companies were looking for sales and marketing executives. However, my room-mate Samarth (also from MSBA) got two interviews scheduled for next day for the position of Business Analyst role and some SCM role.

CIS515 Venture Presentation:

The Business Analytics Strategy class has no final exam. Instead, 25% of the final grade depends on a presentation. A venture pitch, for an idea that embraces analytics in its core, and you have to implement some of the concepts learned in class.

Two weeks to go:

Only two weeks are pending now. Time flies so fast. Many people are getting interviews, and some are getting jobs as well. It’s high time to get immersed in job hunting. Meanwhile I am questioning myself, do I attend the career fairs for the goodies or the job opportunities.

Walmart’s Supply Chain team was on campus for recruitment opportunities for a Supply Chain Specialist. They gave a presentation with many key facts on Walmart, and at the end, there was a short online quiz to win prices. Almost 80% of my answers were random guesses, and surprisingly I won 2nd price in this. I received $20 worth of Dominos Pizza Gift Card.

CIS515 Class discussion:

We had a class discussion on data privacy concerns created by Facebook, and how it impacts analytics. The objective of the CIS515 class is mainly to understand the business implications of Analytics, related to use case, data concerns, data management, legal issues, and much more.

April 12th: Graduation celebration

W.P.Carey organized the Graduation Celebration near the BAC building. There was a massive promotion for a free insulated water bottle, on filling the program survey. The event started at noon, and there was an enormous queue, almost 20 minutes in line to enter the event. And the water bottle was worth it. An insulated W.P.Carey Alumni branded 40oz water bottle with a lifetime warranty. By the time, I entered, the food was over, but still, freebies were available.

DHL internship offers:

Many students (between 10 and 20) received the DHL 11 month internship offer this week. I knew a few students who do not have much work experience and still cracked the interview. So definitely inexperience is not a barrier for success. Surprisingly, these internship programs were first showcased in the Career Fairs, and then only people who visited the DHL booth received the application email. They also requested a 1-minute video to be submitted as part of the application process, and then followed by one interview round. So Career Fairs are useful!

Final Few days

Four report submissions, three presentations, two quizzes and 1 Final Exam in the next three weeks, and then we are ready. Ready to set sail with flying colors, with a masters degree in our hand, and eager to change the world.

It’s April now, and almost time to present the deliverable. The good thing is that this time, all students got corporate projects. Many teams are working on Intel projects as well. Many teams are putting in more efforts to get their projects on track and to meet the delivery deadline.

5th April: Data Science Meetup @ Amazon Office, Tempe

Dan Petro (ASU MS Computer Science Alumni) presented a session on his work on an AI designed to play the legacy game “Super Smash Bros: Melee.” It was a great achievement for him as his AI player was able to beat many pro players in this game. He explained the design of the AI, what challenges he faced and how he overcame them. It was a fun coding project he completed in his free time, that is after the time he gets from his full-time job as a Senior Security Associate.

Job Reporting:

By now, I have heard some students getting job offers. Most American citizens get multiple job offers, as they don’t have to face work authorization issues. So a very few of the F-1 students have received job offers. There are a total of 180 students, so it’s difficult to report actual progress.

6th April: CIS515 Guest Session: Intel Supply Chain using Analytics

The presenter from Intel talked about how they implement Analytics in their supply chain. He also described some issues that they faced in bringing about the change using analytics. Overall it was a very insightful session.

CIS515 Business Analytics Strategy

This class had some excellent sessions till now. We discussed on how analytics is changing the landscape of the businesses. We learned how companies are leveraging Analytics, and which opportunities are opening for students with such specialized skillset in Analytics.

This class has take-home quizzes, where we have to read HBR cases to prepare for the quiz. These cases cover a wide range of application of Analytics in the industry. Also in the final week, as a team, we have to prepare a pitch for an innovative idea which leverages Analytics.

MKT591 Marketing Analytics

In each class, we learn some new marketing concept and ways of implementing it in R. It’s usually Linear regression, that have been covered till now. The quizzes are take home and require a lot of R programming skills.

Phoenix Heat is back!

Daytime is getting longer from now. I think I need to switch to full sleeve shirts to avoid tanning. Noon Temperatures reach 33 degree Celsius. However, nights are at around 15 to 20 degree Celsius.

Sun Devil Rewards

Sun Devils Rewards App provides points for playing games, reading/sharing ASU news and much more. These points can then be redeemed for a reward of your choice. I redeemed an ASU Starbucks ceramic tumbler after collecting points for a few months.

30th April: CIS515 Guest Lecture: Google

The google employee presented this session via web cast from Google office in California. He described how Google is using analytics to have an edge over all its domains. We also had a Q&A session where we mostly talked about data privacy concerns.

I participated in the Cisco Circular Economy Challenge where we were given an open-ended Circular Economy Challenge, and in 1 week, we were supposed to present a case for a pilot project. I was on a team of some super talented people. Me along with an ASU 2nd year MBA, a MS in Build Environment student from ASU Design School, and one Ph.D. candidate from Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in ASU and one of my peers in MSBA formed a team.

The final competition day was an all-day event where we presented in the morning in front of the panel of judges. By noon, all the presentations were done, and results for top three finalists were out. Sadly, we didn’t make it to the final round. The Top 3 finalists presented again in front of all the audience. Every participant got a CISCO backpack at the end of the event.

It was a great learning experience for presenting a case. I learned a lot from my team-mates, like how to use critical thinking to form an argument using 360 degrees perspective of the subject.

Graduation Shopping:

Graduation is now almost a month away, and it’s time for some shopping. The whole gown and cap basic set costs around $100, just to wear it for a day. A discounted price is offered only during the Bookstore Grad fair which is a 3-day shopping festival in the ASU bookstore.

ASU MS-BA Employment report:

The Career Services at W.P.Carey School collected data on alumni jobs and based on that they published an Employment Statistics of the 2017 batch. Some notable statistics are as follows:

• 17.39%(20 students) of the total students received a job offer before graduation, out of which 10 students received sponsorship.

• On a cumulative basis, 60% of the students found a job within three months of graduation, and 80% within six months of graduation.

• The peak time of receiving job offers is May to July.

• 52.63% students reported their source of the job as Internet job search.

• Median salary is $70k, and max salary is $120k.

• 25% of the job offers are in Analytics Consulting domain which constitutes IT/Tech consulting, Management & Strategy and Process Management.