About Ali

(Ali Jamil) علی جمیل

Hi, I’m Ali Jamil and welcome to my GLD ePortfolio! I am a current senior at the University of South Carolina majoring in Computer Information Systems and minoring in Business Information Management, and will be graduating with Leadership Distinction in Professional and Civic Engagement. I am Black and Iranian, and a military brat. In my youth, the engineering field captivated me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wanted to create. Having an affinity for Legos and sandbox games, the natural choice seemed to be working architecture as a civil engineer. In fact, when I was accepted on early-admission in the Fall of 2019, I was registered to study civil engineering. Luckily, my senior year of high school I took AP Computer Science Principles, my introduction to programming, and I absolutely loved it. Before completion of my senior year, I hurriedly changed my major from civil engineering to computer science. Since the pivot, I couldn’t be any happier with my chosen field and feel that I truly made the right decision.

This ePortfolio consists of three key insights, which outline concepts I learned within the classroom, how I applied them outside of the classroom and how they influenced each other. My three key insights are:

• My love for computing is what drives me everyday. Arguably one of the most rigorous studies to pursue, my coursework in the past sometimes hurt my self-esteem. With lectures on subjects so granular and overwhelming, one can’t help but wonder if this is the right field for them. In KI#1: The Tip of the Cybersecurity Iceberg, I reflect on my first technical internship in cybersecurity, my introduction to the cybersecurity discipline and overcoming the anxieties and imposter syndrome that chaperones working in tech.
• In KI#2: On Privilege & Intersectionality, I assess the various aspects of us as individuals, and the social identities we have that affect our positionality, or how we engage with the world. This includes how I got more involved in various volunteer organizations in downtown Columbia, and how my acknowledging my own innate identity privileges is essential.
• KI#3: Speaking With Conviction follows six essential steps to overcoming speech anxiety, and building confidence to communicate effectively. Speeches are something I’ve struggled with for a long time. Failure runs rife in pretty much any domain. The failures I faced in giving speeches have since allowed me to grow as a speaker and polish my material to make me feel comfortable and confident in what I’m presenting. Bridging what I gleaned in my public communication class to corporate America has allowed me to become a better public speaker and speak with conviction.

Onset of the transformative phase of life where I will truly be independent is as exciting as it is ghastly– but I look kindly to what is next for me, no matter the obstacles I face. My goal is to use my knowledge of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and bridge it to database infrastructure to safeguard enterprise and (but mostly) personal data. In the Digital Era and with the influx of Artificial Intelligence, keeping our data private is more critical than ever. As I progress in my role as a database administrator, I want to assure enterprise upper management that data privacy is inalienable.

Starting my collegiate years in 2020, my introduction to young adulthood was certainly tumultuous. Moving far from home to a place where I hardly knew anyone, being on my own for the first time and constantly being wary of the coronavirus disease was a lot to digest. But oddly enough, I yearn for those days as I look back at the moments I felt to be the most trying or my lowest point. You think you know everything when you’re young. As I compose this ePortfolio, it is restorative to reminisce, and see how far you’ve come.

As the time between now and my graduation only continues to wane, I am both wildly excited and terribly sad. These four years diving headfirst into adulthood and technology have shaped who I am, and while I am hesitant to leave USC, all good things must come to an end. Thanks for taking the time to peruse my ePortfolio. I hope the many whims, musings, dreams and epiphanies I’ve conceived during my four collegiate years leave you with a sense of inspiration going forward.

-Ali