For more than a year, Cal State Fullerton M.S. in Information Systems grad Zain Shafi Mohammed has been a data analyst for Divinitus Communications, a communications company in Laguna Hills. In this role, he writes SQL queries for his clients, and uses Python to process data and PowerBI and Tableau to make the results digestible to corporate leadership. All the branches of his company – finance, sales and operations – gain from the data literacy and soft skills that Mohammed received through the information systems master’s at Cal State Fullerton.

“I’ve reduced reporting time and brought technical proficiency that makes me stand out in my company, cutting down on processing time and improving data accuracy,” he says.

Seeing the Numbers of Data with a Business Logic Perspective

Mohammed points to ISDS 415 – Principles of Business Intelligence, ISDS 555 – Business Database Design and ISDS 570 – Business Data Transformation as crucial in helping him understanding how to see numbers from a business perspective, since the courses provide insights in how to interpret data, make relevant business decisions and communicate these concepts across an organization.

“Coming from a computer science and engineering background, I’m used to numbers. But the M.S. in Information Systems has helped me incorporate decision rules into those numbers,” he says.

Mohammed’s journey to CSUF began in India, where he earned his bachelor’s in computer science engineering. After working for a year as a software engineer, Mohammed grew weary of the job’s introversion and sought a more people-oriented impact. He then decided to pursue a graduate education in information systems in California which would focus on integrating both soft skills and technical competence, while gaining from the insights of peers, faculty and business professionals.

Gaining from On-Campus Jobs

During his two years in the M.S. in Information Systems, Mohammed gained from three on-campus jobs: as an instructional student assistant with Information Systems Lecturer Panos Skordi, a teaching assistant role under Lecturer Mike Huang that continued for two semesters, and a graduate assistant position in the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences (ISDS) during his third and fourth semesters.

The integration of business logic to technical skills is the aspect of the CSUF program that Mohammed has found most useful in his career thus far. “I interact with many clients and stakeholders in my job and with the up-to-date coursework and soft skills integration, I’m up to the task to analyze and interpret data,” he says.

In the future, Mohammed sees himself at the intersection of data analytics, business intelligence and project management, with an added focus on AI for good measure.

“AI isn’t being emphasized enough in analytics, requiring professionals to use their brain. But using AI could help us do repeated tasks more easily and bring in new innovations,” says Mohammed.