Usman Ramay

What did you search for and find here at Jacobs University?

To be honest, when I joined Jacobs, I was not even sure what I was searching for. I think I found a lot of things—I found out a lot about myself. When I joined, I just wanted a good education and to see where it goes. I think what I got was, I got an amazing bunch of friends, I got people I could look up to, learn from, I got an amazing career out of it, with Amazon, and I got this entrepreneurial spirit that has been bothering me for the last few years. So now I am also thinking of starting, or have started to work on something of my own at the side as well, and I am trying to see how that goes.

What were the strengths of your major?

I had quite a lot of majors at Jacobs. I am one of those people. When I came to Jacobs, I came to study Integrated Social Sciences. I decided after the first week of classes that that is not something that I was actually interested in. So I switched in the first week, from Integrated Social Sciences to Electrical and Computer Engineering, which was a 180º turn. I did Electrical and Computer Engineering for a year and a half, only to realize that that is not where my passion lies. Then I switched to Logistics, where I found, what I call “true love”. It was a good match—it was an amazing major, and I think still is, known as Industrial Engineering today, to a certain extent. I think the connections we had to the industry helped quite a bit, and the on-site tours that we had.

What is your advice for prospective students? How can they reach their goals?

I think the one thing I learned in life from Jacobs, and in general is, you should always focus on things that you are interested in. At some point, I somehow convinced myself to at least give something else a try—I went to a Logistics class. Sitting in that, I realized this is the first class I’ve been, where I’ve listened throughout because it was something that was interesting to me! I think the lesson in life that I would like students to think about is, do not go for something just because you have to. Do not go for Amazon because it’s a big name. Do not go for a major that everybody is doing. Look for something that you are actually passionate about—do not do things just because you feel the pressure to do them.