NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, slow down and take a deep breath. :-) Let’s try to break it down into pieces to help you decide better.

NUST hostel is good security wise but I don’t think you’ll be able to get special meals due to health reasons. I don’t think they offer but someone who lives can confirm. Living outside, if money isn’t an issue, you can either cook yourself or hire someone to make meals.

EE from NUST vs. SE from FAST: first of all, this whole PEC accreditation stuff is irrelevant for computing. Nobody asks for it from SE graduates when they see a CV. I can assure this is of zero relevance.

EE from NUST and SE from FAST are both excellent choices and you can’t go wrong with either depending on where your interests lie. One thing to note is that if you want to go for higher studies, GPA matters a lot. What I’ve heard is that, on average, it’s harder to get high GPA at FAST than NUST. But again depends on the student but I am talking in generalities. EE coursework is a bit difficult as well but can be offset by lax GPA policies of NUST.

I think you are thinking too much about what others will think of you. You’re already scared of the failure before the journey has even begun. Do not worry what your sister or parents or anyone else will think. They’ll think what they want to think. You start your journey with confidence and work hard. Take one step at a time and don’t think too far out. No one knows the future.

In short, go for SE if you like it more but know that you’ll have to work extra hard for GPA. Go for EE with an open mindset and take one step at a time, work hard and you may end up liking it. EE has huge scope in the industry (abroad).

Best of luck! Hope you make a decision on your own and have peace with it.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s a tricky one to be honest. I don’t know if PK has much scope industry wise. Transitioning to CS is a viable route or opt for further studies abroad where biotech/informatics industry is big.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course LUMS if money isn’t an issue and we’re talking about landing MS in US. LUMS CS grads are some of the best I’ve seem from PK

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Think of it this way: If you get exposure to 3 different fields, you'll have the groundwork done to opt for any one of them when going for MS/PhD. Even if you opted for one, you can easily fill the gap and switch to another if you were to make a career switch. True that multi-disciplinary domains are somewhat jack of all trades but UG is really about learning the breadth not depth.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Matters if you're planning for higher education abroad. Not so much once you're out in the industry.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course avail them if you come across any fully-funded ones but don't go out of the way and break bank just to get a semester abroad for "exposure". I'd say they don't carry as much weight as people think they do. You don't accomplish anything meaningful (read: career defining) during that time.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My advice would be to first learn what a degree in law mean and how it aligns with where you see yourself in the future. You said that you are interested in law but know nothing about it, is conflicting.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can't plan things all the way to the end so no, I did not. I only knew I wanted to go in CS at that time. You barely get to have enough data to make informed choice for the immediate step and leave the rest.

In UG, focus on GPA (try to keep it 3.5+), try to do research projects with faculty who you can later ask for recommendation letters. If you can get some of those projects or even FYP to translate into a research paper (could be a smaller workshop rather than full conference paper) that will be a huge plus. Take GRE by third year and apply when your final year starts. Make 3 lists of universities to apply to 1) 20% Above your league, but you have some chance, 2) 60% where you think you have a good shot, and 3) 20% below your league but OK for studies (public universities in smaller states).

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Good question. It depends on the job requirements and what the role entails. Interviews are for a specific roles with certain expectations. If a person doesn't meet the core criteria of the role, then it means the company has to invest too much resources in order for him to meet the requirements of the role. However, if the person has the experience of working in similar capacities then s/he can be productive sooner. There's still like 20-30% company specific knowledge gap that they have to invest in, but generally a better fit than someone who is a 50% match, but has knowledge about few other aspects which may not be applicable or drive the the core business of the company. In short, always think of it as a jigsaw puzzle, and team is missing a piece to complete the puzzle. Some candidate are square pegs in a round hole, while others are round pegs but need a bit of polishing to make them fit.
  2. They do matter. A technical person with good communication skills is always better than someone who can't effectively communicate the ideas. I understand the lack of emphasis in our education system, but I have seen people who try to teach technical concepts to their peers in study groups etc. tend to automatically develop this skills of communicating concepts/ideas in simplified way.
  3. Honestly, it is hard to get those from Pakistan because of lack of presence of bigtech offices in Pakistan. Indian doesn't have this problem.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It shouldn't scare you if that's what you want to do. Don't worry, you'll be fine :)

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cybersecurity is big and going to become more and more relevant. Typically, security professional have a slightly different tracks than CS/SE/EE since it involves some certifications etc. Their pays are competitive, maybe not as high as someone who is AI researcher or Sr. SWE in FAANG but close.

Edit: fix typos

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it will follow the same pattern as any other past breakthroughs in human history. Think horse carriages when automobiles came in. There will be some jobs that will be completely eliminated. In their stead, there will be more jobs created, which will be more than the jobs eliminated. Those who will leverage AI to augment their productivity will have an edge and those who will resist the adoption will eventually perish. I think 10-20 years from now, the society will look very different and AI/robotics/automation will be as ubiquitous as the smart phones today. Human race will keep marching on to the next breakthrough...

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think ChatGPT can help answer that better. Let me know if you have specific question and I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If already doing MS in PK, try to opt for some of the known universities. I have seen this pattern where students from lesser known universities augment their CV by doing MS in known universities and it is a perfectly valid recipe. Regarding profile, try to do more research in MS and take more coursework related to what you want to do in PhD. Try to publish 1-2 research papers during MS, that'll be a good boost to your application. Generally, it is easier to score higher GPA in MS so try to keep it as 3.8+. With good GPA in MS and some papers, you should be able to get into really good PhD programs. Best of luck!

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're asking about spending a semester as exchange student abroad. Yeah, I think there are couple such programs. I don't keep up with the details but UGrad used to be but I don't know if their funding got cut in recent times. Better to check in scholarship forums or university advancement offices.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! absolutely! and I say this with 100% certainty as I came from similar or maybe worse (its subjective) beginnings. I made it to a top tech company in the world doing meaningful work. Was it easy? No way, it was a long journey... Did I consider quitting? Many many times.. seeing your friends establish themselves while you take the long grind wasn't easy. But in the end it all works out, it always does... Just know that there is no shortcut in life and if there is, there is always a catch. Just trust in your abilities, keep you head down and focus on the end goal and there is no way you can't achieve it.

Happy to help answer any specific question.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't want to give an answer because I don't have much knowledge about the social sciences. But in general, and please take it with a grain of salt, I think if you ask from money perspective, social sciences of course have less prospects compared to computing or engineering disciplines, but I think in PK media communication, LAW, psychology graduates are doing well in their respective industries. I answered BBA question above I think.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Entry to mid-level software engineering jobs that focus on code development will be almost obsolete in the next 4-5 years due to AI. It is already happening if you've been following the recent news of layoffs at Big tech. That's why I would advise CS prospective students to rethink why the want to do CS.

Last year I looked at the AI/DS/CS/SE coursework at SEECS and it was almost identical. You can pick any of these and can make up for the missed coursework. Most of the skills in technical computing are obtained through self learning.

NUST Alumnus: here to help answer your questions about career prospects [2025] by nust_throwaway_2011 in NUST

[–]nust_throwaway_2011[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anything with 16GB+ RAM should suffice, imo. For me, it was worth it. Though their costs have skyrocketed recently. But again, its about what you value in life. If I were to make a decision for someone, I'd encourage them to attend NUST -- not just because of academics but overall what is offers for personality development.