STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Akshey Singhal- Master’s in Computer Science – Data Science Trinity College Dublin

My graduation in Computer Science made me aware of the advances in rapidly growing computing technologies
such as IoT, smart devices which generate huge amount of data for the companies to leverage and take informed
decisions. Given my strong background in statistics and mathematics, I was instantly interested in this idea of
deriving insights from data and decided to pursue a career in this domain. My current role as an analyst has
equipped me with sound programming and database knowledge. I now want to work in a data driven domain
which specializes in extracting knowledge from huge amount of data to provide insights that organizations can
apply in taking effective decisions. I thus seek to do an MS program in Computer Science with Data Science
which I believe will provide me a specialized focus in the area of data science and help to manage smart data
enabled applications for organizational need.
I have always had deep interest in new and creative activities since childhood. I moved from playing cricket to
badminton, and then to playing video games that fired up my imagination. I vividly remember my fascination
with the game play screen with real life like characters and elements. The best part of this experience was that I
could control these activities with a press of a button. Later, I discovered that all the game development is done
by computer programming. Programming is an interface by which one can make the machine do their bidding.
This made me feel incredibly powerful and left me wondering what else can I do with this ‘super power’. This
interest in programming never left me, and only grew more profound and passionate with every new discovery I
made. From creating algorithms to seeing the wonders of the Internet for the first time, computers have
steadfastly gripped my interest and curiosity with just how much power they hold. More than ever now,
computers along with machine learning has opened up new avenues to discover insights from data. One of the
most prominent examples of this is recommendation systems, successfully being used today by e-commerce
giants like Amazon.
Moving on, I was in the 8th grade when I was first introduced to a computer. At first, I enjoyed dabbling and
experimenting with different computer applications. To explore more about computers, I learnt DOS and
Microsoft Office in summer break. Although memorizing DOS commands was little bit uninteresting, but I was
amazed with the results I got after executing commands. In addition to this, I also helped my father digitize his
business records and transactions with MS Excel. The appreciation I got from him rejuvenated my interest
towards computers. By this time, I was sure of pursuing a career in this field. To explore more, I decided to join
an institute after my high school where I learnt C and HTML. Owing to my strong passion for computer science I
managed to secure admission in undergraduate program of one of the top universities of India.
As an undergraduate student, I acquired the overall perspective of using a computer to build software. I
particularly enjoyed programming with languages like C and C++. To apply and evaluate my knowledge I built a
"Matrix Operations Calculator" in C which allows a user to perform different mathematical operations on an
entered matrix. Even though it was a simple program to write I learnt a lot about Object Oriented Programming
and dynamics of building a project. I also realized how series of magical words (code) can help us do anything we
want.
I was keen to research all facets of Computer Science and find an area which appealed to me the most. I have had
the opportunity to look into different facets through various projects and courses during my undergraduate course.
A major part of my sophomore year was spent on an IoT (Internet of Things) enabled project titled "Smart
Letterbox”. The objective of the project was to reduce the workload related to unnecessary visits of a vacuous
letter box by counting the mails and developing a communication between mailbox and nearby post office with
the use of Wi-Fi enabled microcontroller - ‘Intel Galileo Board’. These projects have inculcated in me a strong
sense of team spirit and have helped me balance my temperament while working with different kinds of people.
Along with my academics, I contributed to a research paper titled "Energy-Efficient Half Adder" which got
published in a renowned journal "International Journal of Research". Also, I participated in numerous workshops
and seminars such as Linux Security, Augmented Reality, and SAP Techniversity etc. to keep myself up-to-date
with the current trends in technology.
Having understood the power of computer technologies, I started exploring advanced fields of computer science
i.e., Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The elemental knowledge of Machine Learning along with the
article published in Harvard Business Review in 2012 titled “Data Scientist: the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century”
Century”, had a prodigious impact on me.

Having had the seeds of data analysis sown in me, I now wanted to grasp more knowledge in this field - so I
selected Data Analytics as an elective subject in my junior year. I learnt various methods to analyze data and got
familiar with basic SAS programming on SAS software 9.0. during the Data Analytics program. My ardent
interest in the subject resulted in me receiving an A+ grade in Data Analytics.

Because of my exemplary academic standing, I was offered a full time internship in my senior year and
eventually a full time job in a leading cloud computing payment processing company ‘Finxera Private Limited’.
My job responsibility was to provide expert level troubleshooting and analysis methods for new issues that would
enable the seamless running on Production Environment. In addition to this, my job role also included writing
SQL queries, PL/SQL stored procedures, and reconciling financial data.

Apart from academics, my active participation in extracurricular activities has helped with the all-round
development of my personality. Right at the beginning of my junior year, I joined IEEE Society, which is a
professional association. I organized various events and workshops to disseminate the knowledge of advanced
technology to my juniors. My hard work and dedication was appreciated, and later I was elected as the Vice
Chairperson for IEEE WIE (Women in Engineering) society and DVP Advisor of IEEE Society. Along with my
daily duties and responsibilities, I wanted to do something that directly served the society - so I started teaching
underprivileged children at an NGO - 'Udaan-Giving the Wings' (without charging any tuition fees). This
experience brought to the fore my leadership skills, while also assisting in honing my social mobilization skills.

My first job instilled in me a profound understanding of how to work with data and accumulate knowledge from the
vast spread of information in the industrial world. Although I liked the job, but the technical aspect of the work was
getting monotonous and I was not being challenged enough in my current role - so I decided to join a startup where
I can continue to learn and grow. Currently I am working in a startup named 'Momenttext' (formerly ‘Viewoolabs’)
where my work focuses on projects based on the implementation of machine learning techniques like Logistic
Regression, Random Forest, Neural Networks and data mining methods for analysis and utilization of complex
large-scale time-series datasets. I have also been a part of projects where I have developed the end to end scalable
backend using Python Framework (Django) for the clients. I have had extensive experience with various libraries
like Numpy, Pandas, Scikit-learn in Python. I also possess the ability to coordinate with end users for designing and
implementing analytics solutions as per project requirement. In addition to the job responsibility, I utilize my free
time by taking up additional coursework to strengthen my understanding.

At this stage, I yearn to achieve required expertise in order to transcend in my professional career by pursuing
Master's in Computer Science with Data Science. An MS program will allow me to learn how to clean, organize,
analyze, and interpret unstructured data, deriving knowledge and communicating the outcomes and information
clearly to stakeholders using sophisticated visualization techniques and other means. I will also learn to identify
and assess the needs of an organization for a data science task, collect and manage data to devise solutions to data
science tasks and effectively communicate data science-related information effectively in various formats. I thus
believe that the MS program is the nest essential step towards my goal. As data science advances the way we
interact and explore our world, the algorithms and applications of Data Science have immensely grown across a
multitude of industries including finance, energy, travel, and government. I hope this trend continues as Data
Science has an increasingly subtle effect on humanity as well.

I would love to be a part of this advancement and in the future (maybe 10 years from now) start a company of my
own based on data analytics. I have a strong desire to join “Trinity College of Dublin” in view of its
internationally acclaimed faculty and the data science program which is perfectly tailor-made according to my
interests. Courses such as ‘Machine Learning’ and ‘Optimization Algorithms for Data Analysis’ offered by the
program are in my area of core interest. Also I am confident my exposure to such courses would augment my
knowledge base and add tremendous value in enabling me to realize my professional goals. I look forward to
mutually benefitting interactions with peers from culturally diverse backgrounds that would serve to broaden my
perspective. To conclude, with my background and strong grasp of fundamentals in Computer Science, I feel I
can contribute immensely and will be a great fit for your institution.