“I was a student of IIT Roorkee earlier, and the quality of teaching in Great learning is at par or even better than the one I experienced in my IIT days.” says Ravikiran, PGP-AIML alumnus. Read further to know more about his experience with Great Learning’s PGP Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Course in his own words.
How has Great Learning helped in your career transition?
I successfully transitioned into a Senior Data scientist role in my firm in late November last year.
I joined the Analytics COE group of our firm and am currently working on hands-on development in ML and DL areas. I have also been assigned responsibilities to reach out to potential customers across different geographies on how different complex business cases can be solved through AIML applications. I have successfully been able to convert some of the opportunities into POCs and potential projects as well. I am doing pretty well in my peer group of senior Data Scientists who have been in the Analytics field for a much longer duration than me. I have never felt uncomfortable even for a moment that I am a new entrant into this field or while talking to my peers on Analytics topics. All this has been possible due to Great Learning.
Tell us about your professional background.
Before joining Great Learning’s AIML course last year, I had around 14 years of IT experience and was working as a Senior Project Manager in the Banking domain in our firm. My technology skillset was Mainframes. I have had the opportunity to work at an onsite location in the USA in a customer-facing role for 8 years. I am a Permanent resident of the USA and moved back to India last year to stay close to my parents.
Why did you choose to upskill?
I was doing good in my earlier role as well but decided to come out of my comfort zone and upskill with next-generation digital technologies. My firm and most of the IT industry as a whole are going through a digital transformation.
I started with my research and very soon realized the PGP-AIML course offered by GL was the right one for me. I came to this decision based on the course curriculum, testimonials, and also looking at faculty profiles. Today when I look back, I feel it was one of the best decisions I took for my career advancement! I was a student of IIT Roorkee earlier, and the quality of teaching in Great learning is at par or even better than the one I experienced in my IIT days. All thanks to my mentor Sriganesh who has been outstanding in his teaching, guidance, and knowledge. What makes him truly special is his passion for the subject. In the course of my last year’s AIML journey, he has become my friend, philosopher, and guide. Thank you, Ganesh! You are an inspiration to me.
What did you like the most about your experience at Great Learning?
I admire the program much more for another reason. The greatness of a program is not just measured by the quality of course materials, reputation of the faculty, but more on how the program management interacts with students on regular basis to understand their needs, identify ones who are struggling in following the curriculum or submitting assignments, talk to them, handholds them in times of need and helps them to catch up with the program again and complete the course. This is important as many of the students are working professionals and have to deal with the challenges and deadlines that suddenly pop up as part of their work-life. In this aspect, Great learning program leads the industry by a huge margin. The flexibility you offer truly makes a great difference to your AIML course concerning other programs in the industry. Successful completion of the course by > 95% of students in GL speaks about the extraordinary efforts you put in to help students succeed!!
Pooja, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for being such an outstanding program manager. I remember all the follow-up calls you made to take my feedback, remind me about the upcoming class schedule and assignments, know my difficulties or constraints when I missed a couple of my assignment submission deadlines. I have had a personal loss in my family last year and struggled to cope up with my office work and the course, and if not for your guidance and constant support, I would have faced difficulties in catching up with the pace of the course. Our batch requested for a few additional learning modules or teaching sometimes and you always arranged them going out of the way. I do not remember a single instance you said NO for any of our batch requests! You are a perfect people manager.
When I reached out to you for additional help during my transition phase in November, you went out of the way and supported me. You were on vacation at that time, still were constantly available, and helped me out. Cannot thank you enough for that.
For students like me, Great Learning is all about the learning and support we receive from mentors like Sri Ganesh and Program managers. You are the strong pillars on which this great organization stands on. I am sure GL will continue to have a great future with people like you and Sri Ganesh.
Advice for future AIML aspirants.
I will recommend GL as a learning partner to all my colleagues and friends who like to upskill themselves in digital technologies. I may happily come back to GL again shortly for further learning due to the amazing teaching provided here. GL is transforming many students’ lives with the learning it imparts, and it is the best at what it does. Once again a BIG THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to Great Learning.
