Khushi Gupta, who completed her studies from IIT Guwahati last year, is today successfully placed with Adobe Software, Bengaluru. She takes us through her journey from being a student with the prestigious IIT, to getting placed in one of the leading IT firms, her goals in life, while also giving a piece of advice to the juniors
One minute you are a carefree student at IIT Guwahati and the next you are a responsible software developer at Adobe Software, Bengaluru. All thanks to the magic spell cast by the words ‘Campus placement’. Essentially, I’m still trying to be a fully functional, well-adjusted working adult and while there are many life lessons I am yet to learn, one lesson I will never forget from placement time is that you have to plod on, give your best day after day, and stay strong in the face of rejection.
Growing up in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, I was privileged to attend some of the best schools in the country. Always a decent student, I never thought much of it and it was only during high school at Delhi Public School Pune that I first felt that maybe I was inherently smart. Maybe it was the people I met or my teachers, but I felt impelled to prepare for the IIT-JEE.
What was just a whim soon morphed into a sincere goal, thanks to the support and encouragement I received from friends, family and teachers. My incredibly supportive parents even made sure I had enough fun while I was preparing for it.
The efforts paid off and soon I was at IIT Guwahati, a wondrous new world, where I was exposed to people and ideas from all over the country. After Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, Guwahati seemed almost rustic. Separated from the main city by the Brahmaputra, getting to the campus was an adventure that included some walking, taking what is called a ‘trecker’ (a glorified, often overstuffed auto-rickshaw), crossing the river via a ferry, walking some more and then taking a bus. The faint of heart took a direct bus from the campus to the city that usually meant a two hour wait. Good non-canteen food and the occasional movie were the only draws.
Our campus gave a Yash-Raj movie set a run for its money with lakes and mountains in the backdrop and apart from a couple of months in summer, it was heavenly
It was the perfect place to introspect and I was forced to confront, accept and embrace so many different things. I learnt to not judge a book by its cover, literally and figuratively -the thinnest of textbooks were the hardest to go through, got rid of my stage fright, learnt how to understand an entire semester’s worth of course material in one night and realized just how good a cook my mom is. I debated, joined the swimming team, participated in multiple clubs and societies and had the time of my life.
I even switched my major from Electrical Engineering to Maths after my first year. The Maths department had a brilliant faculty and I enjoyed every course in my curriculum. I never felt pressured or overworked, except maybe when assignments were due midnight and bugs were found at the last minute. I never experienced the bitter heat of competition and more often than not, relied on my batchmates for all I needed.
I never felt pressured or overworked, except maybe when assignments were due midnight and bugs were found at the last minute. I never experienced the bitter heat of competition and more often than not, relied on my batchmates for all I needed
Undergraduates are encouraged to take up internships in their junior and pre-final years to build their research profile and gain a little work experience. Also, many corporates extend pre-placement offers to interns in their pre-final year. Should you accept the offer, you are allowed to apply to just one other company as per the official policy. I secured an internship with Adobe and was offered a PPO that I eventually accepted.
The placement phase itself is gruelling mentally, physically and emotionally. Corporates are provided slots to interview students and the ones offering the best packages get the first slots (Day 0 or Day 1) and the pick of the students. The slots are highly confidential, but to put it into perspective, my initial offer fell in the range of 20 – 25 lakh per annum which would be equivalent to a Day 0 or a Day 1 placement.
The jobs on offer during campus placement at Guwahati are split between the coding/software development profile and the non-coding profile. The interview process too then varies but all corporates set a base CPI (Cumulative Performance Index) as a pre-interview cut off.
The coding profile has an initial screening test where you have to solve 3 - 4 standard coding questions within a certain time. Typically 3 - 4 elimination rounds of technical interviews are followed by one with Human resources which may culminate into an offer.
The screening test and technical interviews test standard concepts and algorithms in Computer Science while some ask logic / probability puzzles. Corporates with the non-software development profile have similar procedures with more generic aptitude tests. Group discussions which sometimes replace screening tests have topics ranging from a trending issue to a very abstract ‘Houston, we’ve got a problem’.
Placement and interviews are synonymous and you not only give back to back interviews through the day but at times through the night as well. There is no time to mope over rejection as you have to come back the following day and go through the entire harrowing process again.
Fierce competition vies with great solidarity as everyone is united by their effort to bag as many offers as possible. Students with firm offers help with interview questions or ensure that those still in the race eat and sleep right. The ones with PPOs become points of contact for their respective companies, ensuring the maximum number of people get hired.
By Suchismita Pai
