The Intern Spotlight: Biraj Ghimire
How Biraj Ghimire Shapes his Path in Life by Constantly Adapting to the Uncertainties
“What if we chose to have a minimal life? What if we chose to walk away from all the wealth and glory of the world and live a simpler life instead?” Those are some of the questions that Biraj Ghimire asks himself sometimes as he reflects on the humanities. As a summer intern in the Technology Operations team within the Technology Business unit at American Express, and he spends his days exploring new ways to creatively solve problems, grow in knowledge and adapt solutions to novel problems with the goal of helping others in the future. But that is not the only goal that Biraj has in mind as he explores this path. In fact, his aspirations go far beyond the end goals of success. His path to computer science and subsequently American Express was never predetermined, but his resilience through the uncertainties in life are what got him to where he is today.
Biraj was born in Nepal but moved to New York City with his family when he was just eight years old. And ever since, his life has taken on a completely different path, with constant adaptations to new situations along the way. His upbringing in Nepal is at the forefront of what really shaped his humble and exuberant personality, and constant strive in life. “My Nepali upbringing really shaped my personality and work ethic. It gave me a culture that I love and resonate with daily” he states. Moving to the United States also gave Biraj a completely new perspective of things, especially related to life. His experience living in both Nepal and the United States enabled him to see the parallels between the two distinct cultures, which played a pivotal role in shaping his very way of thinking. “It has made me more open-minded to the various perspectives that life has to offer” he states as he reflects on his upbringing and subsequent move to the United States.
As a high school student at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, Biraj kept the same open-minded nature he grew up with. In his early days in high school, he aspired to become a medical professional. Although his friends had told him about computer science and the potential opportunities in the field, he did not fully explore any of those options until later in life. As a “naive freshman” — his words — he questioned if he would ever be able to succeed while studying computer science and was fearful that the path may not lead him to success. Instead, he chose to go with something he was already familiar with at the time. He notes: “At the end of high school, I wanted to pursue either pre-med or pre-dental. It was a path that had a clear structure and was already laid out for me, and I knew exactly what I needed to do to secure an amazing job in life.” He had a plan: study Biology and/or Psychology in college and hopefully progress into medical school or dental school by the end. However, midway through sophomore year, “I started questioning if this was the right field for me” he states. Deep down, he knew he wanted to at least investigate the various opportunities in Computer Science, so he reached out to some friends, professors, and advisors for advice. But at the end of the day, it was a leap of faith that led him on his current path. After spending winter break thinking about his career choices, Biraj decided to jump ships into computer science. He is currently a rising senior at Stony Brook University, with a double major in Computer Science and Applied Math & Statistics. These uncertainties in career orientation led Biraj to where he is today, but for him, this is only the beginning of the story.
Biraj enjoys creative thinking, an aspect of his character that radiates through every conversation and interaction with him. An outside-the-box thinker, he always strives to develop solutions to problems that challenge the status quo. And his family is the driving force behind this motivation, especially his 11-year-old sister. Speaking passionately about his family, Biraj recounts when his parents moved here from Nepal with him; “My parents barely spoke any English, and although they could never really help me with school or homework, they were always there for me” he recounts. His family plays a crucial role in his life, and he most especially wants to give back to them as he climbs the ladder of success. His parents’ story serves as a source of inspiration, but his biggest motivation comes from his little sister whom he always strives to provide for. Taking on the responsibility of guiding his little sister through life. “It was very hard navigating life as a curious kid, but I want to make sure my sister doesn’t feel that way,” he says. “I feel inspired knowing that I can be there for her to resolve her curiosities.”
Biraj also draws inspiration from sources outside his family and sister. He enjoys reading and studying the humanities. In fact, he is challenging himself to read a 1200 pages novel this summer titled War and Peace by Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, a novel that explores the realism of human conflicts. And even when he is not reading historical non-fiction books, he enjoys reading a variety of genres as it helps expand his perspective and knowledge of other fields. When asked which novels have had the most impact on his life, Biraj immediately mentions two novels: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Both books explore the intricacies of the human experience of life, with Sapiens focusing on human history since the Stone Age and Walden focusing on living a simple life on Earth fully immersed in nature while prioritizing spiritual discovery and self-reliance. “Walden is one of my favorite books,” he notes. “It is very antithetical to the way we experience life today, and it answered a lot of the questions I always had about life, opening my mind to new ideas that I had never really thought about before.”
Biraj did not always have AMEX in his sight as a potential internship opportunity for the summer. Having switched majors sophomore year of college, he felt he had to do a fair bit of catching up skills-wise before he could apply for an internship at AMEX. When junior year of college rolled around, Biraj was ready to spend this summer honing his skills in computer science, diving deep into algorithms — his favorite topic in CS — and earning the necessary skills for when he graduates. However, his close friend, Aidan Furey, who had interned at American Express the previous summer encouraged him to apply regardless. Although doubtful and hesitant of rejection, Aidan remained persistent telling him, “The worst they can say is ‘no’.” After sending his resume, Biraj received an interview shortly after and subsequently an offer for the summer. “I completely froze when I got the call from the recruiter, and I could barely respond to them out of shock. It was one of the happiest feelings I have ever experienced” he recounts with joy.
As a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Intern at AMEX, Biraj spends his days learning about the tech stack utilized within the SRE teams. This summer, he is working on a project to build a global notification portal for the SRE teams which will be used for sending out notifications about planned system maintenance. The project is split into three phases: building the notifications backend APIs in Python, tracking all this information in a database, and finally, building a front end using the JavaScript React library. He fully understands the breadth and scale of the project and hopes to complete a huge chunk of it by the end of summer. But most importantly, he uses this internship as a learning opportunity to grow his skill set and gain exposure to innovative technology and tech stacks used at American Express. He also enjoys his time at the company, especially praising the open work culture at AMEX that prioritizes its people and social connections, a core component of the AMEX Blue Box Values. An important lesson that he has learned so far at the company is “to not think you cannot do a task because you do not know. You do not know because you have not learned it yet” he notes. Biraj believes this lesson will stay with him even after his internship and as he continues to pursue a career in software engineering. When asked if he could ask Steve Squeri, the CEO of the company any question, he says “I will ask him: hey Mr. Squeri, if you could go back in time and fix any mistakes you made in your career, do you think you would be in the same position today? Or do you think those mistakes and lessons are what allowed you to get to your current position;” a truly profound question that we can only hope Mr. Squeri answers someday.
Biraj’s story started with doubts about the future, from moving across the world from Nepal to doubting if the medical field was truly his calling. But by staying driven and constantly adapting, he has learned to shape the world around him to account for the uncertainties that often come with life. If he could describe himself in three words, “driven, curious, and thoughtful” would be the three words he would use. And in fact, this drive shows through his current path in computer science and the path he paves for himself and his little sister for the future. “I have an internal drive to always strive to be the best person I could possibly be; to maximize happiness in my life,” he says. His family and friends are at the center of the internal drive that keeps him going and constantly striving for the best in life. And for him, success is not about being the wealthiest person alive, but rather making the best use of time. “The most important commodity in life is time,” he notes. Hence for him, success truly is the ability to maximize the time spent with loved ones and friends, doing the things he enjoys.
