A Bright Future Ahead

For recent graduate Hedao Tian, engineering is a family affair. Growing up in Xi'an, China, both his parents were engineers. “I had an interest in computer systems ever since I was a child,” he says. “My parents have always valued my education and I couldn’t achieve what I have without their support, as well as that of my wife, colleagues, and friends.”

Since graduating from NYIT-Vancouver, Tian has been working as a database developer intern for the software company SAP. “My responsibility is to develop business intelligence systems and data warehousing, including dimensional modeling, schema design, and ETL processing,” he explains. “I’m working within the Maintenance Go-to-Market area to develop database systems to meet business requirements.”

Tian credits the great training he received at New York Institute of Technology for helping him get this far at such a prestigious company. “Vancouver has so many great job opportunities,” he says. “New York Tech gave me the chance to continue my studies in a great location.” He also had support from his professors. “[Assistant Professor] Tokunbo Makanju gave me the chance to work on a project on machine learning, something I am very interested in,” he says.

With his master’s degree in hand, Tian felt more prepared to enter the competitive world of software design. “I learned much more about how things work behind programming, and now I’m an expert in areas I wasn’t familiar with when I was pursuing my bachelor’s degree,” he says. However, in the computer science field, there is always more to learn. “As a database developer, a technical developer should also learn and understand the business logic behind whatever he or she is developing for the client. Otherwise, it’s harder to troubleshoot when mistakes happen.”

Despite having been in Canada for five years while earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Tian has yet to see most of the country or venture into the United States. “Life was just a little bit busy!” he says. “When things are more settled, I am going to go outside of British Columbia and see everything!”