When you realise that the career you are in is going nowhere, you can either give up and leave it to the fate or take charge and make efforts transition into more demanded roles. Brahadeeswaran chose the latter when he realised that his career as a Software Quality Engineer was going to be obsolete in the coming years. This is when he joined Great Learning’s PG program in Data Science and Business Analytics to transition into Analytics job roles.
What is your professional background?
Being an Electrical Engineer, I started my career in the IT industry and worked with Cognizant for about three years as a Software Quality Engineer. Initially, I gained experience in both Manual and Automation Testing. After two years, I felt the job which I was was doing was monotonous, and I was aware that testing profiles would gradually become obsolete. That’s when I joined Great Learning’s PGP-DSBA program to upskill and stay relevant for the next few years. I was advised by many Great Learning alumni to take up the DSBA course, which would help me to do a better career transition towards the field of Analytics.
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What did you like about the course structure and curriculum?
I liked the intensive curriculum that covers different tools and domains. I enjoyed the faculty interaction during the sessions and peer learning, where there was excellent scope for knowledge sharing. I started exploring various tools like Python, R, Tableau, SAS and had hands-on exercise with all assignments conducted during this program. Every concept followed discussion questions, a quiz, and an assignment. Guidance from the Great Lakes faculty Dr P. K. Viswanathan, Raghav Shyam, Vivek & Gurumoorthi helped to learn faster and better because of their style of teaching that involved extensive examples. I will be using tools like R, Python, SAS, and Tableau extensively at my current job.
How was the Capstone Project helpful?
Even though I was an outsider to the world of Analytics, my capstone had changed everything. Our project guide Dr. D. Narayana helped us in approaching the problem correctly and guided us at every step. Initially, we were sceptical on how to proceed with our capstone project, but he exceptionally motivated us to go ahead with it. I gained skills while exploring a new concept called NLP (Natural language Processing). Since its a research project, we have published our project in a well-reputed Journal. Interviewers asked about my capstone project in every interview I attended, and it helped me in getting overall positive feedback. Even in my Genpact interview, the capstone played an essential part in getting me hired.
What helped you most in your career transition?
Great Learning’s PGP-DSBA program helped to leverage my skills in Statistics, Machine Learning, and Data visualization. I was technically sound with different Machine learning concepts before giving my interviews. All the interaction with industry mentors and faculties helped me deal with real-time business problems and find solutions using Analytics. Great Learning’s Excelerate Program has bridged the gap between the right skill and the right job opportunities for my next role. I got selected at Genpact through Excelerate for a Business Analyst role and helped me to make a better transition.
What is your advice for the aspirants looking for Analytics role?
As long as you have your eyes on the goal, you don’t see obstacles. Goals lead to purpose in life. It is the starting point for success. It doesn’t matter where we are today; what matters is the direction we are heading in.
Consistent self-paced learning is required by practising more problems to a greater extent apart from academics. This course will make our statistical foundation secure and will provide a great experience. Learn it in a structured way and try to implement it into a few projects which will help you gain confidence before applying for jobs. If your fundamentals are strong with some hands-on project & relevant experience, that will help you crack interviews. I am from a Software Quality background, but I leveraged my skills in R, statistics, and machine learning concepts, which helped me to clinch my interview. The interview process was somewhat relevant to what I had studied in the program about statistics and machine learning fundamentals. You don’t require any coding experience or prior knowledge before you start. I did not have enough understanding of analytics myself. Still, after joining this program, I was delighted with the way the gurus taught and provided exposure to the world of Analytics.
Learn more about Great Learning’s PG program in Data Science and Business Analytics.
