Hamza Azam

Academic

Career

Verbatim text

Hamza Azam (i16-0163) 
 
Let’s start over from the beginning. I chose CS as my career choice because I liked the idea of 
building games and apps. Next step was to get admission in any of the top universities of Pakistan.
Like every college grad, I gave multiple entry tests. I gave the infamous NET and got decent marks
(139 to be exact). So now, I was pretty chill. I knew that I’ll easily get admission in SEECS, NUST. I
didn’t need to give any other test but I gave the FAST Test anyway with zero preparation. After a
few weeks, to my surprise, I got admission in FAST and joined because the merit list for NUST
wasn’t announced yet. Two weeks later, the merit list was announced and well, of course, I got
admission in NUST too. I went to their orientation, even attended a few classes, but, the time had
come. I had to choose. FAST OR NUST. I discussed with countless people including alumni and
friends. Most of them recommended FAST and many of them said something like this “The life in
FAST is unforgiving but totally worth it in the end”. I asked myself how hard can it be. I can work
hard for four years. So, I ended up choosing FAST over NUST. 
Prior to joining the university, I had zero knowledge of programming. I had never written a Code,
and well I only knew Python was a Snake. The semester system was also totally new to me (like
everyone) and I never imagined it to be so rigorous. Adding more salt to this, the faculty and
seniors were scaring everyone about how tough it is to survive here. But my goal was simple. Work
hard, act smart, be consistent and have faith in Allah. It worked. I was able to maintain 3+ GPA
throughout my degree. I even managed to get a Gold Medal in one of the semesters which I never
expected. Not all have been great though. There is also an F in my transcript because I fell short in
attendance in one of the courses. That F haunted me for two years because I had to take classes
with junior batches and manage the clashes. That time also passed. 
I would like to conclude by saying that FAST life is certainly tough. You have to work hard, be on
your toes all the time, because you are flooded with back to back Quizzes, challenging Assignments
and Projects. You cannot rest. It can be exciting and exhausting at the same time. If you are not
willing to learn or don’t have a passion for coding, then this place becomes a nightmare for you. But
in the end that doesn’t matter. These four years pass very quickly. What matters is how you grow
as a person and the relationships you build along the way. In the end, you will always miss your
university even if it has given you a really tough time. As for me, it has been a great journey with
zero regrets!