Ayush Vij – MSIS 2021

Ad Ops Analyst – InMarket Media LLC

I applied and got accepted to the MSIS program at Cal State Long Beach in early 2019. I still remember the entire process vividly, I was still back in India and because I was the first one in my family to pursue education outside India, I used to have a lot of questions. The staff at the university were very patient and helpful during the entire process, whenever I had any questions. The main reason I applied for this program at California State University Long Beach was the professors and the curriculum consisting of a wide variety of courses ranging from their concentration in computer programming to databases, to Business and Information Systems. After coming to the United States, I faced new challenges as an international student, which were maintaining my visa status by being enrolled as a full-time student and, finding an on-campus job to ensure my financial stability. The biggest challenge I personally faced was when the pandemic hit work and the university went totally online with remote learning. It took me a little getting used to the new normal but really ensured that I gain this skill as well. Both online and in-person, the faculty and staff were really responsive and supportive and they made sure that there was no negative effect on our learning. The curriculum consisted of relevant and new technologies and not only did we take a deep dive into those technologies, we learned how to be adaptable and learn any technology in the future which was one of my biggest takeaways from the MSIS program. I would like to mention Dr. Mohamed Abdelhamid who has been a constant motivation to me and drove my interest in research, side projects, and most importantly - critical problem-solving. As my graduation inched closer, I started applying for full-time roles in the United States and with recommendations from the faculty and, support from GBCS, I was able to land a job at InMarket Media LLC as an Ad Ops Analyst. InMarket is considered to be the best-in-class location-based advertising service provider. Recently, the secured spot #280 in Deloitte 2021 Technology Fast 500 winners list. This role didn't align with any one of my coursework by 100% but bought together various important parts from several courses (Databases, Management Information Systems, and more) which in my opinion, made me a suitable candidate for this role. Even though the company has had offices in Los Angeles (HQ), Chicago, and New York City, my job is fully-remote, and to be onboarded, making relationships, and producing results all remotely was only possible because of what we learned as the university went online in early 2020. While I think, the in-person experience at the university is amazing, I certainly think that remote collaboration and working are crucial skills that the future workforce needs to acquire.