From Software Engineer at Accenture to Senior BI Developer at Johnson & Johnson

Bazil Ahmed was no stranger to the coding world. Having previously worked as a software engineer at Accenture and as a senior BI developer at BMW, he had already established a diverse background in technology. But though he already had skills in the field, Bazil wanted to further his knowledge to seek new employment opportunities. 

“I had started to learn some cool stuff about predictive analytics and saw what the other people on my team were trying to achieve,” said Bazil. “That’s when I started to take an interest in data analytics.”

After doing some research about data science programs in the area, Bazil determined that the Rutgers Data Science Bootcamp would be the best fit and help him most along the way.

“When I looked at the Rutgers curriculum, it was the most comprehensive one I had seen,” said Bazil. “It touched not only on data analysis topics but also on data visualization, which was my field of work.” 

Bazil knew he had to jump right in. 

Putting in the time

Even coming in with a lot of experience, Bazil wanted to make sure he was using his time wisely, since he was juggling bootcamp and homework assignments with a full-time job. At first he was overwhelmed, but gradually he learned how to maintain a healthy balance. 

“The very first few weeks were very difficult,” said Bazil. “Trying to learn all of the new skills at once was tough, but once I got the hang of it and realized the value of what I was learning, it was easier to motivate myself and get through it. 

Bazil made sure to take time each day to prepare before going to class so that he would have some background knowledge before listening to the instructor. This played a huge part in helping him adapt quickly to the fast pace of the program. He also credits his instructor and TAs for being great resources that he could lean on.

“I was lucky to have all of them to ask when I had questions,” said Bazil. “They were all very helpful.”

Opening new doors

One of Bazil’s favorite parts of the program was the creation of his final project. Called Sentiment Analysis on Pharmaceutical Drug Reviews, the idea was to create a medication review service solution by building a machine learning model capable of doing aspect based sentiment analysis on patient reviews that would be useful not just for patients but for doctors too. This application could help in tracking patients’ experiences with a drug in a variety of different ways, like measuring effectiveness, recording side effects, and comparing it to other medications designed to treat similar conditions. This would ultimately help doctors determine the best option for each patient. 

Bazil credits bootcamp for helping him acquire the skills needed to effectively solve complex problems like those explored in his final project application. 

“It takes not just the technical skills but also qualities like endurance, critical thinking, and effective approach,” said Bazil. “Bootcamp was instrumental in achieving all of these qualities with a strong backing of the technical skills needed to solve any problem at hand.” 

The project proved especially meaningful for Bazil. Thanks to his work on the app, along with the rest of the skills he had learned throughout the program, he was able to land a new role with Johnson & Johnson as a senior BI developer. 

“I was looking for an opportunity to implement the newly acquired data science skills, and the role at Johnson & Johnson had just the right job requirements for me,” said Bazil. “I was able to get through the interviews confidently and was accepted in the very first attempt.” 

Looking to the future

Bazil is excited to continue his professional development in the field of data analytics. He hopes that others interested in this kind of work are not afraid to take the leap and sign up for the boot camp. 

“The benefit of committing yourself to classroom training for ten hours every week and the rigor of keeping up with the homework assignments and projects will teach you much more than any online course,” said Bazil. “This is going to be a very hands-on experience and you will not regret it.”