A career transition can be a daunting experience for many. But given the right direction, learning, and support, it is more like a cakewalk. That’s why here at Great Learning, we strive to provide the right learning, practical exposure, and complete career support.
What has your professional journey been like?
I completed my graduation in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Amrita College, Bangalore. Then I moved to the USA to pursue my Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri, Kansas-City in the year 2014. I got placed in Reliable Software Resources as a QA Tester and worked until May 2017. I will be joining Mercedes Benz very soon as a Data Analyst.
How did you develop an interest in Data Science? Why did you choose GL to pursue it?
Previously, I was working as a manual tester for a Consulting firm. The job profile involved manual testing for a project of Banking. The role was very limited and monotonous, so I decided not to go deeper into testing. I left my job and moved back to India. As I was from a non-programming background, I was very sceptical to get into coding and related fields. I was looking into various technologies and was suggested by a friend to consider Data Science as an option. I attended many seminars and workshops on Data Science organized by various companies. I developed an interest in this field and was looking for a classroom course. On the recommendation of the same friend, I joined Great learning to pursue PGP-DSE.
Coming from a non-programming background, was it difficult for you to understand the subjects?
Not at all. As most of the students in the batch were from the non-IT background, the course is designed keeping them in mind. The faculties ensured that the basics were covered. I understood that the course is based on Logics, so I slowly developed pace and contrary to my presumptions, I didn’t find it difficult. The faculty put in a lot of time and attention towards us and even repeated the sessions whenever required.
How was your experience of the academic and career support given by GL?
The team was always available, especially Akhila as she helped us thoroughly in preparing for the interviews and gave regular suggestions and feedback for us to improve at the same. Whenever we had any issues, Akhila and the team resolved them at priority.
With Career support, I got to interview with many companies like CTS, Mercedes, etc. Based on my experience, I realized that the curriculum is self-sufficient to crack any interview. The entire course is designed in a way to help us understand the concepts, crack interviews, and guide during the projects.
What did you like the most in the program?
We were assigned mini projects on the completion of every topic. This gave a lot of hands-on experience of every topic in terms of understanding and its practical application. This hands-on experience on mini projects gave me a lot of confidence and helped me in exams as it gave a recap of all that we had learned in the course. After the completion of the course, during the capstone project, there were many remedial sessions to clear doubts.
Share your experience of the interview with Mercedes.
The interview was organized by GL at Mercedes’s Bangalore office. The interview included a total of 3 rounds; 2-Technical and 1-HR. The first round included questions based on whatever I had mentioned in my resume and basic questions over Coding, ML, SQL, etc. 2nd round involved questions related to the Business aspect. The final round was an HR round, where they gave me a confirmation after the interview.
Any advice to aspirants who wish to take this course?
They should be confident in sharing what they know and admit to what they don’t know. Give your 100% to every interview thinking that this is the last opportunity as there is a huge competition in the market. There focus should be in developing a strong foundation of whatever they are learning. The interviews are based on basics and focus to test you in your understanding of the field. So, have a stronghold of basics and you will be good enough to crack through it.
Upskill with Great Learning’s PG program in Data Science Engineering and unlock your dream career.
