Jobayda Khanom Emu, a North South University alumna who moved from finance into software engineering, is now pursuing a master’s degree in data science at Texas A&M University in the United States.
NSU Alumna Jobayda Khanom Emu Joins Texas A&M
From Finance Graduate to Software Engineer: NSU Alumna Jobayda Khanom Emu Takes Her Next Step
The Department of Economics at North South University (NSU) has congratulated one of its former students, Jobayda Khanom Emu, on the next stage of an unusual career. Emu completed a dual-major degree in Economics and Finance at NSU in three years and eight months. She is now enrolled in the Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) program at Texas A&M University.
Texas A&M ranks 12th among public universities in the United States in the WSJ/College Pulse 2026 list. The department said it was proud to see an NSU graduate move on to one of the country’s leading public research institutions, and wished her success in her graduate studies and beyond.
A Plan That Changed Along the Way
Emu graduated from NSU in 2019 with Magna Cum Laude honors. Business was the field she had trained for, and she did not expect to leave it. “I never imagined that a student of Business Administration would one day become a Software Engineer,” she said.
After graduation she accepted an offer to study Applied Economics at the University of Maryland and moved to the United States. She then worked for four months as a CMA at Reston Hospital. That short stint changed her thinking. She began to see how many opportunities the information technology sector held.
The switch was not easy. She was a Bangladeshi woman with a business background and no technical training, trying to enter an industry that rarely looked like her. She decided to go ahead anyway.
Building a Career in Software Testing
Her entry into technology began with a short course in quality assurance. By 2021 she was working as a Software QA Engineer at Virgin Pulse, and a year later she moved to a larger role at PwC.
In 2023 she became Team Lead and Senior QA Engineer on a federal project for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She now works as a Software Development Engineer in Test at Navy Federal Credit Union, which describes itself as the largest national credit union in the world.
What Her Story Means for Students
For students at NSU and young professionals elsewhere, Emu’s record shows that a first degree does not have to fix a person’s career for life. She went from economics and finance to software testing, and she is now returning to the classroom to study data science.
Her career path, which runs from a lecture hall in Dhaka to some of the most recognized names in American business and technology, has now added a graduate degree at Texas A&M.