Nafis, Who Topped the BUET Admission Test, Is Now a Machine Learning Engineer at Bloomberg

Nafis Irtiza stood first in the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) admission test in 2012. He then completed his bachelor's degree from BUET's Department of Computer Science and Engineering and taught there for four years.

In 2022 he travelled to the United States for higher education. After completing his PhD at Pennsylvania State University in 2026, he is now working as a machine learning engineer at Bloomberg, the financial and technology company. He has also formally been relieved from his teaching job at BUET.

He received the news of standing first in the admission test one dawn. At that time BUET results were hung on a wall before being published on the website. As he was in Mymensingh, he had no chance to see the results himself.

Recalling the day, Nafis said, 'I got the news through an elder brother from coaching. He was a BUET student then. At first I thought he might be joking! Then after hearing it from a few more places I became sure.'

Social media had not spread as widely at that time as it has today. But the photos of those who topped the BUET admission test appeared in advertisements and billboards of various coaching centres. As a result, Nafis became known in different parts of the country.

It even happened that he went travelling in Sylhet or the Chattogram Hill Tracts, and school and college students there recognised him too. Not only recognition — the experience of standing first also increased Nafis's confidence.

In his words, 'Standing first was not just an academic achievement; it also played an important role in building confidence in the long term.'

However, Nafis does not think the identity of 'first' gave him any separate advantage later. In his view, an admission test result only creates the opportunity to enter a specific department of a university. The path after that depends on study, skills and work.

Some people still remind him of standing first in the admission test, but he believes it has very little extra impact in real life.

Similarly, the importance of the identity of being a 'BUET student' changes with time. Nafis said, 'Standing first in the admission test is now almost 12 years ago. The importance of this identity perhaps lasts until the first semester after university admission. Similarly, the identity of being a BUET student gradually loses importance a few years after graduation.'

His advice is that every achievement should be used as inspiration and a foundation for moving to the next step. Rather than remaining stuck in the identity of an old achievement, it is important to establish oneself anew at every new stage.

In the later stages of life he has also learned to take failure and rejection naturally. To him, life is like a long race, where everyone's starting place, destination and pace of progress are not the same. It is important to find one's own suitable pace and move forward without comparing with others.

In Nafis's words, 'Standing first in one examination is a temporary achievement, but life's journey is much longer. What matters more here is learning continuously, increasing one's skills and moving forward while handling failure or adversity. My own experience has taught me that too.'

For admission seekers, Nafis's advice is not to aim at standing first, but to prepare to get admitted to the best institution according to one's ability. After that, university life should be used to focus on building mental maturity, critical thinking and values alongside study skills.

Alongside study and professional success, he also values friendship and life's experiences. Nafis said, 'I would say, life is actually a combination of countless decisions and steps, where one constantly has to balance and compromise among many things.'