Computer science graduate turns internship experience into a full-time position

When Dhyeya “Dee” Padhya transferred to George Mason University from Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in fall 2022, he was struck by the vibrant campus life, which was far different than his first two years in college during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Coming to George Mason there were so many things happening like fairs and club events. That was definitely a very welcomed change for me,” Padhya said. “I felt like a new person and George Mason was a huge part of these last few formative years of my life.”

He is set to graduate in December 2024 with a BS in computer science and a minor in computational and data science.

During his time at George Mason, Padhya worked in the University Career Services office as the senior front desk student assistant, where he greeted students and gave them career assistance, as well as managing the career advisors’ appointments and calendars.

He also helped administer career assessments and did set-up work and guided students at George Mason’s well-attended career fairs.

For his commitment to career services at George Mason, Padhya was featured on the cover of this year’s Career Readiness Guide.

This summer, Padhya also got professional experience in his field as a data analyst intern at Capital One.

“With a computer science major, an internship is very important. I definitely felt prepared for it with the help of my [CS 450 Database Concepts] course with Professor Ping Deng and my [CS 484 Data Mining] course with Jessica Lin. Those courses were definitely the most helpful for my internship,” said Padhya.

What’s your best memory of George Mason?

Getting the call that I got the internship at Capital One was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. Part of my responsibilities were what we call “productionizing” a data set. There was a whole process of getting data from the right sources, cleaning it, and then automating that process to automatically update the data on a weekly basis.

How have you grown while at George Mason?

Throughout high school I was a straight-A student, but my very first class here was a challenge for me and I ended up getting a B minus. It took some getting used to, but just coming to terms with the fact that it’s not the end of the world if I’m not perfect was really impactful.

Best piece of advice for incoming students?

Don’t have the mindset that you’re underqualified for something. The job market is very difficult right now, but I think it’s important to understand that your GPA, while important, isn’t ALL that matters in the professional world. During job interviews for me it was more about what my personal and professional experiences were. Employers want to know who you are as a person and what experiences have you had that led you to become that person. I also think it’s important to engage with all the resources George Mason has to offer, like the Career Services office.