This series highlights Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors who achieved the Gold milestone and have recently graduated from university. Each blog features a different student and highlights their accomplishments, their experience with the Student Ambassadors community, and what they’re up to now.
Today we’d like to introduce Sawrav Chowdhury who is from Bangladesh and recently graduated from East Delta University with a degree in Computer Science & Engineering.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
When you first joined the community in 2018, did you have specific goals you wanted to reach, such as a particular skill or quality? What were they? Did you achieve them? How has the program impacted you in general?
One of my key goals was to create a connection between the local tech community on my campus and the international community so that not only I, but also all of my community members, could benefit from this program. Besides this, by being in this community, I wanted to update myself by acquiring both technical and interpersonal skills. As a Student Ambassador, I got the chance to attend many hands-on technical sessions given by Microsoft Cloud Advocates and other industry professionals. These practical sessions were really helpful. These sessions helped me to develop my skill sets on an international level. During the time of this program, I also got the opportunity to connect with many other international tech communities and made impactful contributions to those communities too.
I always tried working on building a community where every community member has access to the same space and opportunities. And without any doubt, this program truly helped me to gain practical knowledge on how to develop a diverse. Inclusive, welcoming community. I believe that this skill set will help me to be recognized as a global community person.
As a Student Ambassador, what are the accomplishments that you’re the proudest of and why?
I organized many local events and participated in many renowned international community events. One of my proudest accomplishments was speaking at Microsoft .NET Conf 2019, one of the flagship events for the .NET community. I spoke on the Apriori algorithm, a Machine Learning algorithm, and showed a simulation using .NET technology. I understand that more than a thousand people attended virtually from around the world, and to the best of my knowledge, I was the first Student Ambassador as a speaker at .NET Conf.
I was also proud of building a diverse and inclusive Student Ambassador community with the help of other Student Ambassadors in my country. I still vividly remember that when I joined this community, at that time, there were only 3 to 4 active Student Ambassadors in my country, and from my city, I was the only one. But now there are more than 40 Student Ambassadors from different institutions, and 4 of them are Golds [Editor’s note: this is the highest status level one can achieve as a Student Ambassador and can only be attained via nomination by the program’s Community Program Managers or by other Gold Student Ambassadors]. And the most inspiring thing is that other Student Ambassadors in my country are continuing to work on making our community better. They are also exploring many new opportunities through this program and sharing their experience with other local community members. I believe that this will make our Student Ambassador community powerful.
What do you have planned now that you’ve graduated? What’s next for you?
Right now, I am doing research on 3D computer vision and want to begin my career as a researcher in this field. In the future, I want to work on developing autonomous solutions for our health care industry.
If you could redo your time with the Student Ambassadors community, is there anything you would have done differently?
If I could start from the beginning, I would have tried to work with disabled students so that they can also leverage the opportunities provided by the community because I believe that if they can get the proper support, they will also be able to contribute to the community.
If you were to describe the community to a student who is interested in joining, what would you say about it to convince him or her to join?
If you are a student who wants to succeed in your future career and make yourself an international community leader in tech, this program will truly help you. By joining this community, you will be able to upgrade yourself to international standards by leveraging many international tech-based opportunities from Microsoft and the community.
What advice would you give to new Student Ambassadors?
There are lots of opportunities waiting for you, but you have to unlock these opportunities by pushing yourself and contributing to the community. Opportunities are boundless, but to leverage these opportunities, you have to always update yourself through the community. This will not only help you to unlock new opportunities, but you will also get the chance to connect with many professionals and community members in the tech industry which will make you a Global Tech Citizen.
Do you have a motto in life, a guiding principle that drives you?
I always believe that every student has to have a clear vision of what they want to do in the future. If you don’t have a vision or don’t have a goal where to go, you drift around and never end up anywhere. You have to do all of the things needed to reach your goal.
Don’t lose hope when you have a failure. Treat your failure as a lesson for reaching your goal. Fail big if you want to get big success because a bigger failure leads you to bigger success.
Don’t follow others’ passion, follow your own path and at the end of the day, you will be able to fulfill your dream which makes you happy, and the community will be proud of you.
What is one random fact few people know about you?
I love to travel and explore beautiful natural places. Photography is one of my hobbies. During any of my travels, I always love to capture the unseen beauties of our beautiful nature. You can explore some of my captures on my Flickr Page.
Good luck to you in all your future endeavors, Sawrav!
Fellow Student Ambassadors and community members, you can always reach Sawrav on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
Posted at https://sl.advdat.com/3BCOL7j
