More about me: I'm an Iranian-Canadian. I immigrated to Canada when I was 17 with a strong background in Math and programming. I received my bachelors in Computer Science with a minor in Psychology from University of Waterloo. Very early on, in my first year of college, I found myself to be somewhat of an entrepreneur. I learned how to write database and UI code from the scattered knowledge of a few friends. I wrote a Social Networking that I named "darxtudio.com" back in 1999. It had forums, photo sharing and user profiles. I signed up 150 of my friends, but didn't have enough skills at the time to scale it.

Since graduation I have worked at various companies either as a consultant or a software engineer. Two months before I started my graduate program in Software Management at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, I was still a Software Design Engineer at Microsoft in Redmond. I was thinking about taking the next step in my career, but wasn't quite sure what it would look like. I contacted a few universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, CMU and Berkeley, for more information about their programs. About 30 days before the very last admission deadline, Dr. Jim Morris from Carnegie Mellon called me on the phone. I was very pleasantly surprised to be contacted by someone whose textbook-standard search algorithm I had studied in college. He encouraged me to apply, and my mind was already set.

I got over my procrastination and finally wrote the GMAT exam, very successfully despite my apprehention and the very short notice. My advice: "Don't be nervous. Just do it. Now! Start with the online practice exam."

At the same time, I started listening to the other voices in my head. I applied to a few startups in Silicon Valley and before hearing back from Carnegie Mellon, had an offer from Adify. Moving to California isn't a requirement of the program, but I wanted to make the commitment an integral part of my next two years. You may be wondering if everybody in this program is financially supported by their employer. I'm not, because of the transition. And I'm proud of the fact that I'm supporting myself in my personal and career growth. I'm a firm believer that if you put growth first, success will follow.

I have a lot more to share with you, but I need to manage my time to attend to my job and studying duties as well. One major skill you learn in this program is how to be successful at playing multiple roles. On that note, please come back to read more of my writings later.

Just remember: You start going forward only when you take the first step.