Prashasti Gehalot is from a city located in Madhya Pradesh called Indore. She came to the U.S. in May 2009 after her marriage and currently lives in UTC, San Diego. She completed her engineering education in information technology in 2006 from S.G.S.I.T.S Indore, India. After completing her schooling, she worked with Tata Consultancy Services for almost three years.
In fall 2011, Gehalot planned to start her master’s in computer science at SDSU. At the time of her admission, professor Leland Beck recommended Gehalot look into the Web & Mobile Applications Development courses offered at the College of Extended Studies. “I was quite influenced by them and the fact that I could count a few of the classes toward my master’s degree convinced me to enroll,” she says.
After enrolling in several web and mobile courses, Gehalot began to advance her knowledge on the current software industry. She says there were many takeaways from the courses. “I think the Introduction (CS545) and Advanced Web Application Development (CS645) and Mobile Development for iPhone and Android (CS546) were awesome. I also found Human Computer Interface (CS546) quite interesting,” she says. Networking with fellow classmates was another positive takeaway. From in-class projects to online discussions in SDSU’s online learning system, Blackboard, Gehalot was fully immersed in the program. “Classmates were really helpful. Professor Lewis involved us in a project where all of our class was involved. It was super fun. We all communicated with each other through Blackboard to discuss our questions or any stuff that we could not understand in class or assignments,” she says.
The instructors were helpful and knowledgeable and played a key part. With the help of her instructors, Gehalot was able to better understand concepts in the industry. “I learned a lot from them. I took programming courses in my undergraduate studies but I had many unclear concepts,” she said. “Even after working in the software industry for three years I lacked proper understanding. Many concepts became clear about programming only after taking these classes.” Gehalot also noted that in addition to being helpful, the instructors were always available to clear up any of her doubts and questions.
Since taking these classes, Gehalot has secured a summer internship at Nokia San Diego. She credits these courses for her success. Her long-term goals are to excel in the field of software programming and attain a successful career. She aspires to attain a level good enough in her technical expertise to teach software programming to others.
In her opinion, “This program is needed to make students familiar with the requirements of the current software industry. Apart from bookish knowledge, students need industry exposure. This program provided excellent exposure and good knowledge about expectations of the software industry and prepared me for it.”
