One of the defining moments early in my career came when I volunteered to take on a

particularly complex and outdated data processing system which was a legacy component that
needed attention from a long time but remained untouched due to its intricacies and poor
documentation. Rather than viewing it as a risk, I saw an opportunity to create a meaningful
impact. What began as a debugging task soon turned into a full fledged overhaul that not only
optimized performance but also significantly improved downstream reporting for business
teams. I’ve always been drawn to open-ended, ambiguous, high-stakes challenges, the kind
that require figuring things out as you go, because they often impact real users in the most
meaningful ways.

That instinct to untangle messy systems took root long before my career began. In school, I
often found myself staying back in the computer lab, not because of extra assignments, but
because the lab machines rarely worked the way they should. Slow boot times, outdated
drivers, frequent crashes are the issues that made the machines difficult to use for most, I
began fixing them out of curiosity, learning to troubleshoot OS issues, install drivers, and even
configure basic networks. I didn’t realize it then, but that urge to dive into broken systems and
make them useful again was the start of my engineering mindset.

During my undergraduate studies in Computer Science, I was drawn towards problem-solving

courses like algorithms, data structures, and software design. I enjoyed building tools that
simplified everyday tasks, which sparked my interest in purposeful engineering. Midway through
the program, I faced an academic setback that disrupted my progress. I approached it
methodically, revisiting fundamentals in algorithms, object-oriented design, and dedicating
myself to regular coding practice on platforms like LeetCode until it became intuitive. That
technical reset, grounded in resilience and persistence, and it led to a strong academic recovery
in my final semesters. It also helped me earn a spot in one of the most competitive roles from
my cohort for contributing to the engineering team at the unicorn startup BrowserStack. There
I integrated a machine learning model into their CI pipeline to provide contextual feedback
on pull requests. The work involved navigating legacy systems and aligning tightly coupled
components, a real-world challenge that strengthened my systems perspective and reinforced
the value of thoughtful engineering.

After this hands-on experience, I joined the industry as a Full Stack Developer, working with
technologies like Node.js, React.js, GraphQL, and SQL Server. One of my earliest
contributions was optimizing data workflows and improving query performance, which led to a
50% reduction in data processing time. This earned me an internal Excellence Award and,
more importantly, boosted in me the confidence to take ownership of high-impact systems. Over
time, I was trusted to lead a team of five developers and two QA engineers, a responsibility that
sharpened both my technical and leadership skills. Curious by nature, I often stepped beyond
the engineering role to engage directly with end users, which deepened my understanding of
human-centered design and software usability.
Currently, I work at PwC as a Senior Full Stack Developer for the U.S. based real estate
client. Here, I design scalable microservices using ReactJS, NestJS, and Azure services. My
contributions include improving application performance, reducing turnaround time, and building
a robust data migration pipeline that processed over a million records with near-zero
downtime. These experiences have given me confidence in system design and architectural
thinking, but also made me realize the limits of what I can achieve without a stronger academic
foundation in areas like distributed computing, systems design, and data-intensive architecture.

In this context, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s MSCS program stands out as an
ideal next step. I am especially drawn to Professor Tarek Abdelzaher’s work in real-time and
distributed systems, where reliability and responsiveness are achieved under tight constraints.
His research into adaptive, resilient architectures directly connects with my professional
experience optimizing large-scale microservices. I’m also inspired by Professor Laxmikant V.
Kale’s work in parallel computing and performance scalability, particularly through Charm++
and adaptive runtime systems. These contributions address many of the same challenges I’ve
faced in optimizing data pipelines and distributed workloads, but at a depth and scale that I
aspire to master. The opportunity to learn from such work would provide me with the tools to
design systems that are inherently scalable and robust from inception.

In addition to my technical experience, I bring strong collaborative and mentoring skills that I
believe are valuable for a teaching or research assistantship. At work, I have actively supported
onboarding and mentoring new developers, conducted internal knowledge-sharing sessions,
and broken down complex concepts for peers. During my undergraduate years, I informally
tutored classmates, particularly in algorithms and object-oriented programming, after going
through my own academic challenges and recovery. These experiences sharpened both my
technical depth and my ability to explain difficult topics clearly. I would be excited to bring this
mindset to a research lab or classroom setting at UIUC.

In the long term, I want to apply my skills in domains where intelligent infrastructure can create
large-scale impact in logistics and civic systems. I envision building backend systems that help
organizations harness large-scale data without requiring equally large teams tools that
quietly but powerfully improve people's day-to-day experiences. The MSCS program at UIUC is
not just a stepping stone for acquiring deeper academic foundations; it is an environment where
I can refine my technical thinking, gain exposure to cutting-edge research, and collaborate with
peers and faculty who are passionate about solving problems that matter. I am excited by the
prospect of contributing to and learning from a community that values rigor, innovation, and
impact.