Jacquelyn Blain

Shah Miah- An Introduction

Hello all! My full name is Shah Jahan Miah. I am named after Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor of the Mughal empire. Shah Jahan is revered as creating, what is often described as, “one of the wonders of the world”. Shah Jahan created a white marble mausoleum in remembrance of his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz Mahal died tragically, after giving birth to their fourteenth child. Mumtaz was finally laid to rest in what is known today as: the Taj Mahal.

I don’t believe in my lifetime will I do anything as epic as creating the Taj Mahal. I am however working towards a computer science degree, while working full time as a pharmacy technician with NYU langone hospital. The long term goal is to become a software engineer and work towards building applications that would help automate some mundane tasks in our government. One example would be: to create a better way to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine. One would think it was already easy to do so from your smartphone. Although, it is not as user-friendly. The website was down for many days, and would crash frequently. A software engineer, of his own volition, created a website that worked over a million times better than, the government funded website. That is crazy! But it explains the need for software engineers, to help streamline the process of our ever-evolving problems.

Becoming a software engineer was a new found interest, while sitting at home through this pandemic. I learned about the importance of machine algorithms and how it affects our behavior, inward and outward. This to me is the most interesting aspect of computer science.

I was previously a student of NYCCT in the radiology and technology program, before entering computer science, many years ago. I unfortunately could not finish my last semester due to some familial emergencies. It is an unsettling feeling not being able to graduate college, when you were so close to the finish line. There were many years of regret and guilt.

But I am happy to say, after those long years, that I was able to overcome adversity and now back to step one. I am thankful I was able to come back to the college. And am excited to improve upon my critical thinking and writing skills.

3 Comments

  1. Natalie Mercado

    Nice introduction welcome back to collage life!

  2. Jacquelyn Blain

    You’ve had such an interesting life so far! I think all those disparate skills will serve you well as a software engineer because you’ve gotten a glimpse into a lot of different worlds. And, I have to say, I know what it’s like to not be able to complete a degree — I have a sad tale of politics and personality conflicts that kept me from getting my dissertation written for my PhD. I did go back and get an MFA, however, and that felt so good! So good for you, doing this now. You’ll feel so happy when it’s done. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

    • Shah Miah

      Thank you for sharing your experience as well and your words of encouragement 🙂

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