Guys,
Please find my statement of purpose essay below.Please help with your comments.
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"Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go" has been my life mantra so far.I was lucky enough to identify my passion and was always helped by my parents,teachers and mentors to propel forward.My decision to pursue Masters in Embedded Systems at Purdue University hailed from my relentless interest in the subject and desire to be a part of a world class institution for higher studies.
I was intially more interested in humanities,literature and arts subjects at school.Science and mathematics used to appear to me as drab and unimaginative.But this changed during one of the summer vacations;precisely, when I attended a science workshop as a part of a summer camp.It turned out that this one small decision changed my life forever.The workshop showed me the essence of science and its significance in the world.Further,I understood that I can also make things move.I still recollect the great feeling of excitement which ran through me when I made a bulb glow using a dynamo for the first time.Neverthless to say,I became interested in science particulary physics and decided to move to a technical school which teaches basic electronics and electrical in high school.I was particularly interested in doing labs because the part of making stuff work excited me the most.The same interest drew me to computer programming and helped me to ace in the subject and practical exams.The concepts of electronics,the circuits and the labs became familar to me very early.This enthralled interest in the subject in me and prompted me to take the decision about my career in high school.This would also have probably contributed to me obtaining a second rank in the state in my class 10th board exams.
My performance in class 10th board exams assured me of the righteousness of my decision on my future career.Electronics was an obvious choice for specialisation in junior college.I was a part of organising committee for seminars and electronic exhibitions in school.The exposure and interaction with similar minds hitched my interest in pursuing undergraduate studies in a good institution in state.
Hardwork and passion always paved way for me to move forward.I was ranked in top 1% in state engineering entrance exam and top 3.5% in all india engineering entrance exam.I chose to pursue Electronics and communication engineering in Model Engineering college under Cochin university of science and technology,a premier institute featured among the top 50 engineering schools in the country.My undergraduate institute played a huge role in fostering my interest as well as increasing exposure.I was a part of IEEE,IETE and other in house associations in the college.I could make up my first electronics project in college in first year for our technical symposium.This project of Object counter was realised using a 555 timer and a light dependent resistor(LDR).My interest in electronics and programming finally found fulfillment in embedded programming and this led to my choice of project in 3rd year to be Interactive Voice response system based on 8051 microcontroller. During final year at college,I got the opportunity to support juniors on their electronics projects for our annual technical symposium.This was something that I enjoyed the most in college.I was also given the privilege of conducting a seminar series on 8051 microcontroller as a part of activities of Mixed Signals,electronics department union of our college.As a part of my final year project,I thought of trying out something different and finally chose sound processing.This project of sound effects processor was based on TI DSP. College life and my projects helped me to give a better vision of the specialisation that I would take up.From college,I got placed with Wipro VLSI,where my role was that of a Verification engineer.The role opened new horizons for me in terms of professionalism.Still I was looking out for a career in my favourite field.
After completing four months in Wipro,I got a job offer from Cypress Semiconductor for the role of an applications engineer,the very same profile I had been looking for.I was put into support role for customer designs based on Cypress FX2LP high speed controllers.This role helped me to understand and debug many issues and helped me to delve into my subject of interest further.I also had the opportunity to work on Cypress PSOC,NX2LP mass storage controller and hubs.Lately,I also got the chance to work on USB 3.0 technology by supporting Cypress FX3 superspeed controller.I have contributed around 20 knowledge base articles on various common issues and their solutions to Cypress website.I have also written an article on 'Benefits of a general purpose USB 3.0 controller' which awaiting publication with EETimes.The major projects which I worked on in Cypress include Configuring Altera FPGA over USB 3.0 interface,adding high speed interface for Xilinx FPGA and DSPs.I was also given the opportunity to train many customers on the product.Cypress helped me to realise my potential and interest in the subject.I have travelled to various places in USA for knowledge sharing and attending conferences.This took my confidence to a higher level so that I can get along with international population easily.Having worked in the field for close to 2 years and understood various dimensions of my subject of interest,I feel that I it is time for me to go in depth.
Purdue university is an immediate choice for me for pursuing Masters in Embedded Systems, due to the high esteem of the institution and also because of the fact that the institute has recognised many of my colleagues and seniors .I believe that my academic and work experience along with dedication and enthusiasm would help me to get aligned with the high standards set by the institute.I am also confident that I can also contribute to the ongoing research work if given a chance.
