Delwar Hussain
10/11/18
Decoding the life of a computer engineer:
Life and experiences of Md. Islam
“Never think you know enough. Because in the ever changing and improving world of technology what you know today might just be obsolete tomorrow,” said my interviewee Md. Islam. A recent graduate from City College of New York and the current software engineer at a startup company. As I sat in the quite New York public library and listened to him talk about his life experiences, one thing became very clear to me; This was not just an advice he had for me but a rule that he himself follows. Mr. Islam has always loved working with computers and through determination and patient he was able to turn his love into a career.
His love for computer goes back to his high school years. Md. Islam went to a New York high school. He loved spending time in the computer lab. Learning about different functions in the computer and what it can do was always fascinating to him. Right after high school he enrolled in City College of New York. One of his favorite aspect of college was the internships he did. One of his first internship was in a research institute, where he worked with other engineers on designing and programming Python based front-tend software. He has also interned for companies such as JP Morgan Chase &CO. and Gleam Inc. As an intern most of his job involved working with other engineers and developing different software. According to Mr. Islam, Internships are important for all students regardless of the major they study. Because even though sometimes doing these internships can add long hours and extra stress on the students academic life, experiences and the life skills that are acquired through these internships are well worth it. He believes that college play an important role in building a successful career and life. But some of the skills that are needed in the real world to be successful cannot be learned in a classroom. Mr. Islam credit a lot of his life success to the knowledge he attained from college and the experiences he acquired from internships.
His first official job was with IBM. When asked about the application process his answer was “Long”. The process started with an online application, then a 4-hour technical interview over the phone including an online coding and language portion as well. Followed by an on the job training/interview. According to him, the whole process took about a week before he was offered the job. As it turns out lot of the responsibilities of a software engineer includes working with other software engineers in a group, on different projects within a specific time frame. Many of these projects consists of team collaboration, daily or weekly meetings, writing reports, and emails to the supervisors or project managers. A lot of these projects also included a big presentation in front of the boss or the board at the end.
Now IBM isn’t the only company Mr. Islam has worked for. He is currently employed at a startup company called Gemini. Not to confuse with the Zodiac sign. As defines in their website: “Gemini is a next-generation digital asset exchange and custodian headquartered in New York City. We are fully-licensed and fully-regulated. We allow both individual and institutional customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets (e.g., bitcoin, ether, or Zcash). Gemini.com is a firm that deals in storing and exchanging cryptocurrency and digital assets. According to Md. Islam the application for this job followed similar guidelines as IBM.
A lot of the work Mr. Islam did for both IBM and Gemini were group projects. To get an idea of his day to day responsibilities and communications, he gave me a little peek into the duties of a software engineer. At IBM most of the communications were done through email. About 5 to 6 emails were received and sent in a day between coworkers and project managers. Along with daily or weekly meetings depending on the complexity of the projects. At Gemini the process is a bit different. Engineers usually meet daily to discuss their projects. A lot of the communications at Gemini is done through a platform called Slack. Mr. Islam and his group messages each other from within the app about any progress, questions, or confusion they might have on the project. Slack is a messenger-based platform primarily design to work in office environment. It follows the same principle as modern-day Facebook messenger or WhatsApp. Slack is mostly used as a mean of communication between peers and colleagues. When it comes to project managers or the boss emails are still the best form of communication. According to Mr. Islam at Gemini about 3 or 4 email is exchanged in a week but within slack an average 10 to 15 messages are exchanged in a day. At both jobs completion of a projects often times required either a written report or a presentation.
In a world where technology influences all aspects of our life. Sometimes choosing computer science as a major become a logical choice for a lot of students. I went into this interview thinking it was just another project I have to do for my class. But after doing this interview, talking to Mr. Islam, I realized why I chose computer science as my major. We may lead different lives, but our love and passion to learn about computers and its impact on our life is the same. Listening to him talk about his experience and his obstacles with the changing world of technology, has reassured me of my choice. Because one day I hope to be in a position like Md. Islam and be able to encourage an aspiring engineer to follow his or her goal and give them the guidance, that I have received from Md. Islam.
Source: (https://gemini24.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204732945-What-is-Gemini-)
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