Graduation 🎉

I’ve recently reached a major milestone in my career journey with the completion of a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in spring 2026. This is the second time I’ve walked with a master’s hood in the past two years, having earned my MBA in 2024 from the same alma mater. I wanted to take a moment, while the experience is still fresh, to reflect on what an unusual journey it has been to get here.

Leaving a Safe Career

I started planning to enroll in an MBA program in 2021, after working for eight years as a clerical worker at MassHealth. My wife worked fully remotely and supported my decision to get more education. I left a safe career and we moved to Amherst with our two cats so I could join the MBA program at the Isenberg School of Management. I had a somewhat vague idea that I wanted to do something in business involving math.

Life-changing MBA Experience

Joining an in-person MBA cohort of about 40 students was a genuinely memorable experience. I had the opportunity to work with thoughtful, motivated people from a remarkably diverse range of backgrounds. Our cohort was about one-third international students on educational visas, and I was immediately struck by the absence of anyone giving off the slick business-bro vibe I had been expecting. 😅

I enjoyed participating in our class discussions over business cases and navigating through our many team projects, but I especially appreciated learning the vocabulary and frameworks that shaped how people approached problems. I had multiple opportunities to work with local companies on consulting practica and touch real business problems.

The most rewarding experience from this time was my fellowship with the UMass Amherst Institute for Applied Life Sciences. I worked with a great mentor and got to support teams building life science startups seeded from within our university. I was given the freedom to propose my own solutions to problems we confronted and was encouraged to grow comfortable with ambiguity.

Nevertheless, I quickly realized that an MBA was not going to satisfy my interest in more advanced science and technology. I had heard about the “quant side” of business school and had enrolled in a dual program to earn an MS in Business Analytics, but I found myself jealously thinking about the students on the other side of campus learning about the latest innovations in IT (or building the foundation necessary to understand them).

The final nail came when ChatGPT 3.5 was released shortly before our spring semester. Watching the rapid spread of this technology from inside a business school was amazing. We were discussing a technological paradigm shift as it began reshaping both businesses and daily life. The decision was made shortly thereafter to start preparing to apply for the MSCS at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences.

Student Government, sure, why not?

I would be remiss not to mention my experience with the Graduate Student Government. Just as the chapter was closing on my MBA journey, a friend from my cohort tipped me off that she was overseeing an election for next year’s officer positions and the role of treasurer was currently uncontested. The role promised an assistantship with a stipend and full tuition waiver, which would make the difference between leaving school in two years with a mountain of debt.

I had no idea what a hugely positive impact that decision would have over the next two years. The race ultimately became contested, and I narrowly won. I was then part of a team with two strangers who had been elected as president and vice president and charged with managing an annual budget of close to $1M. By the end of that summer I had coordinated airport transportation for over 300 arriving international students.

I have a lot of stories to tell from my time in student government. The work was extremely hard at times, but it put me at the center of a lot of things happening in my community. It gave me the opportunity and resources to propose and execute new projects and events that had not been attempted before. If nothing else, it ensured that life as a computer science graduate student was never boring.

What the MSCS Gave Me

I’m so happy that I changed directions midstream and decided to go for the MSCS. I couldn’t be more grateful to my wife for supporting me through all of this. My education in computer science has brought out a part of me that always existed, but never had the language or tools to fully express itself. I’ll save this as content for future posts.