In our new Q&A, SC&I senior Anish Gupta ITI’23 describes the ways the Information Technology and Informatics major’s courses, instructors, opportunities for hands-on experiences, career preparation training, and other SC&I resources have prepared him to pursue a career in data analysis after graduation.

Gupta’s goal, he said, “is to work for the federal government in Intelligence Analytics - the field of intelligence with a strong focus on data analysis. Our nation faces cybersecurity risks every day. I find the work to identify and mitigate these risks extremely interesting and fascinating. More importantly, working in this field would enable me to serve my country and help keep our citizens safe. I am passionate about working with data analytics. I have a deep interest in working with data of varied size and type. In my projects at Rutgers, I have solved complex problems with data, provided predictive analytics solutions, and generated user-friendly visualizations.”

Below, discover the many ways the ITI major has benefitted Gupta and the advice he provides other ITI students and those considering the major, including his recommendation to take internships as a means to break into this competitive field while still a Rutgers student.  

SC&I: How did you choose your areas of concentration within ITI?

AG: I am very much interested in the fields of Data Analysis and Cybersecurity. I was fortunate that the ITI major offered guided pathways for both these areas. They are called “Cybersecurity and Information Assurance” and “Data Management, Analytics, and Information Visualization.” In addition, I enrolled in the recommended minors.

SC&I: Which ITI classes and instructors have had the greatest impact on you and why?

AG: Management of Technological Organizations – Instructor: Kristen Luciani

In this class, I learned about working in a team and managing a project, as well as how information technology is used in organizations. I was exposed to different project management tools and techniques, and we learned about incorporating leadership skills in technological management. Under the guidance of Professor Luciani, I greatly improved my presentation skills.

Object Oriented Programming – Instructor: Mark Segal

This course gave me the opportunity to sharpen my programming skills in Python. Professor Segal presented Python programming in an easy-to-understand way. Python programming is widely used in the field that I am pursuing so this was a very valuable experience. We worked on two major projects for the midterm and the final and this gave me the confidence and the skills to pursue internship opportunities. In addition, Professor Segal provided constructive feedback on assignments and encouraged and helped students get better with coding.

Capstone in ITI – Instructor: Mike Doyle and/or Hajar Shirley

In this capstone course, we worked on a real-life project and worked with teams just like we would work in an organization. This real-world experience under the leadership of Professors Doyle and Shirley was invaluable. I got the opportunity to lead a team, which was the data team. Every week we would have meetings where we would give updates and trouble shoot any issues that we were stuck on. Working on this capstone project gave me the opportunity to sharpen my technical skills, communication skills, leadership skills, and presentation skills. Professor Doyle also critiqued our resumes and offered to help with resume reviews and future job search.

During the summer of 2022, I interned with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), I worked with raw data on environmental crimes and worked on data cleansing, and preparation before adding to the database. I also designed a relational database for the EIA from the non-relational information stored in Microsoft Power BI.

Database Technology – Instructor: Bill Crosbie

I took this class last summer and we learned about the Structured Query Language (SQL) and database principles and design. What made this class so valuable was the fact that for the final project we got to design a real-world database. Professor Crosbie was very helpful throughout the course and offered great tips and suggestions when I built a relational database for the Environmental Investigation Agency where I interned for the Summer of 2022.

In addition to those classes, I also feel the following classes and professors have prepared me for life after graduation: Information Security – Instructor: Niloufer Tamboly; Information Visualization – Instructor: Alex Flinsch; ITI Internship – Instructor: Connie Pascal; Network & Internet Technologies – Instructor: Jon Oliver; and Aresty Research – Principal Investigator: Shagun Jhaver.

SC&I: How has ITI prepared you for off-campus internship opportunities?

AG: I have been able to participate in a variety of off-campus internships because the ITI major allowed me to explore my area of interest in Data Analytics and Cybersecurity. The ITI major classes, along with all the different hands-on projects, have given me a solid foundation and provided me with the needed experience for working on off-campus internships. I learned the basics of SQL, database design, object-oriented programming using Python, data analysis, information security, and networking fundamentals.

During the Spring 2022 semester, I developed a dashboard on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy for my Capstone in ITI class. This dashboard uses user-friendly interactive visualizations to help healthcare providers educate the vaccine-hesitant patient and help identify populations that are prone to vaccine hesitancy. The data analysis and visualizations for this project were done in R after researching public datasets.

For my Object-Oriented programming class, I used Python and the New York Times API to analyze data to find out who is the most written about classical music composer over the last 50 years.

During the summer of 2022, I interned with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), I worked with raw data on environmental crimes and worked on data cleansing, and preparation before adding to the database. I also designed a relational database for the EIA from the non-relational information stored in Microsoft Power BI.

Since September 2022, I have been interning with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as a Data Analysis and Survey Design intern.

Since September 2022, I have been interning with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as a Data Analysis and Survey Design intern. It has been a wonderful learning experience working with the ODNI. I am performing qualitative and quantitative data analysis. I am also generating insightful charts, graphs, and infographics for the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence Program (IC CAE). My work includes writing memorandums that address questions regarding the IC CAE program’s effectiveness and suggesting improvements to the data collection for the IC CAE program. I used all the skills that I acquired in my ITI classes and used those skills during my internships. This semester I am learning Tableau in my Information Visualization class and I am applying the knowledge and skills acquired in this class for my internship work with the ODNI.

SC&I: What advice can you share with students aiming for ITI internships?

AG: First, I think a very important piece of advice I would share would be to explore your interests within the ITI major and be open to new fields and experiences. You never know where you may discover a special area of interest. Second, it is important to take advantage of all the resources that the ITI department and Rutgers has to offer. For example, the SC&I Weekly Update email includes valuable information on resume drop-in hours. The email also includes a list of workshops and events like how to create a portfolio and provides a list of current openings for jobs and internships. Students should utilize the Rutgers Handshake where they can search for open positions. Students can submit their resumes for potential employers to review. In addition, they have the option to set up individual appointments with a career advisor.

Lastly, it is always important to develop and maintain connections with professors who will help you in the process of finding internships. It is in a student’s best interest to stay in touch with their internship managers as well as their co-workers at the internships in the event that future opportunities are available.

Learn more about the Information Technology and Informatics major on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.