I am a cosmopolitan young man from India who is devoting his life to Internet and communication technology. My official designation in my current position with IBM in India is Staff Software Engineer and my role is that of a Software Test Specialist. I have traveled on business to Toronto, Canada in 2006 and to San Jose, California in 2008, sent to both locations by IBM. I was able to secured my position with IBM as a result of my excellent undergraduate record in computer science and I possessed the required skills in Java programming and in IBM's DB2 database Technology I now want very much to turn my full attention to graduate study in the United States and I am especially fond of the idea of attending your program since I see as among the finest in the country. Obtaining a  Masters degree in computer science from a high ranking program such as yours in the USA will provide me with the competitive edge that I need in the IT industry. It is my sincere hope to obtain funding for my masters program.

 I adore research, and I am especially interested in doing research in the areas of database systems. My long term goal is to become a Senior Technical Staff Member at one of the industry´s leading companies, such as IBM , Google, or Microsoft. I have a GRE verbal score of 450 and on my TOEFL iBT score, I scored 95 out of 120 with a score of 29/30 in the writing section. It is my sincere hope that these scores might help me to obtain a teaching or research assistantship.

I have teaching experience and serve as one of 16 trustees of the XXXX Foundation Trust in Bangalore, I have trained many students from highly reputable engineering colleges in Bangalore and I have also trained new hires at IBM on IBM's DB2 database technology. I have been with IBM for over 6 years and I am a very quick learner. I know how an IT organization works and I am well acquainted with the Software Development Life Cycle and the different tenets of software development. I have co-authored two international articles for IBM's developer works websites and another redpaper for IBM's redbooks web site. I have received awards at IBM for my good work, the highest award being the "IBM Bravo" award, given only to select few. I am also an IBM Certified DB2 Database Administrator and an ISTQB Certified Software Tester and I sat on the jury that evaluated the projects of engineering college students who participated in IBM's national level competition, Thre Great Mind Challenge in India.

 I first accepted an offer to work for Dharma Systems in Bangalore after successful completion of a three month internship. After more than a year at Dharma Systems my interest in database management systems and Java programming helped me secure a job with my dream company, IBM, where I write scripts in perl, JDBC programs and SQL, XQuery, XPath and XML Schema related activities on IBM’s DB2 database on the Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms. I work as a Software Test Specialist and I have team members working with me on my current project from across geographies that include IBM in Toronto, IBM in San Jose and IBM in China. I have always been someone with a deep and abiding passion for working with people from different cultures and geographies; this helps me understand how different people think about an idea or a problem situation. I strive on the challenge of working for a company as big as IBM, especially the cutting edge technology.

 Further education in computer science will help me become a more competitive professional since I am dedicated to constantly upgrading my technical skills, as, for example, becoming an IBM Certified Database Associate for DB2 version 8 and IBM Certified Database Administrator for DB2 version 9.1 for Linux, UNIX and Windows, the ISTQB Certification (ISTQB Certified Software Tester) has helped me do well at my job in IBM and has helped me to improve my skills as a software tester. The Software Project Management certification course which I completed with an ‘A’ grade from the Indian Institute of Science  has helped me in improve my project management skills. The Sun Certified Java Programmer training provided at IBM has helped me to better understanding the deeper concepts of Java programming and their implementation. I travelled to IBM’s Silicon Valley Labs on business in 2008, and to San Jose, California, to make a presentation to customers about DB2’s pureXML industry bundles (proof of concept) which I had developed as part of a stretch assignment out of my own interest in DB2’s pureXML capabilities. As a result of my outstanding performance at IBM, I am eligible to receive funding worth 10,000 USD from the company to pursue my masters at a research oriented university such as yours.

 Upon successful completion of my graduation I plan to return to IBM and work on the area of database management systems. I see myself as a senior technical staff member at IBM in the long run after say about 5-6 years. My dream is to work for IBM Research at Watson and contribute to solving the many problems faced by society. My dream is that the poor and those who can not afford quality education benefit from my knowledge and my resources. I dream to be a source of help to the people in need especially in the field of technical education. I believe that education for all will help improve the living conditions and help improve the well being of society. I have helped many of my juniors at IBM in preparing for IBM’s DB2 certifications, by way of presenting to them on the DB2 functionality and capabilities, and I am happy that three of the juniors that I know of have been successful in certifying for IBM’s exam 730 which is IBM Certified Database Associate. I also volunteered to judge the projects of college students who participated in IBM’s national level competition named, The Great Mind Challenge in India (TGMC) in the year 2009, I had to travel extensively across India to visit students from rural India and review and help them with them project design and implementation. In addition to education, I do volunteer work outside of IBM in Bangalore, I work with a non government organization XXXX Foundation Trust (not for profit) as one of their trustee, we provide microfinance to aged women, widows and differently able women, we also help with access to healthcare for women from lower sections of society and also provide financial assistance towards the school education of children of these women for free. I give my time twice a month on weekends towards this volunteer activity for XXXX Foundation Trust. It gives me lot of happiness when I am able to fulfill genuine requests of any of these deserving women. I believe it is the corporate social responsibility of every citizen to do try and help those people who can not afford to have three meals a day.