How industry-aligned curriculum helped this student bag an offer from Samsung

Harshit Joshi, who pursued B.Tech. with a specialisation in Cloud Computing and Virtualisation Technology, got placed at Samsung. He credits his success to the advanced curriculum, approachable faculty, R&D labs, and placement cell at UPES

The knowledge, skills, attitudes and standards that enable people to succeed professionally must be developed through education. Today, employers value students who have industry knowledge so they can start delivering as soon as they join while continuing to learn on the job. This is where an industry-aligned curriculum helps students stay ahead and meet the expectations of the world of work.

For B.Tech. student Harshit Joshi, who got placed at Samsung, the advanced curriculum at UPES prepared him thoroughly for the industry. He says, “The curriculum followed by UPES has played the most important role in my academic journey. The subjects taught to me right from the first semester – be it Operating Systems (OS), Database Management Systems (DBMS), and Object-Oriented Programming (OOPS) – are helping me now in the industry. I will always be grateful for that. Knowledge of OOPS concept especially has been the most crucial aspect in making a career in this industry.”

Apart from subject-matter expertise, the key to success lies in learning how to set clear and specific goals, collaborate with people who have different perspectives, identify untapped opportunities, and find numerous solutions to challenging issues. Harshit believes that participation in student chapters and societies can prepare an individual for more than just the workforce. “There are many student chapters in the college. I was part of the UPES ACM and UPES ACM-W student chapter, which helped me tremendously to grow my leadership and technical skills. I would suggest everyone to join a student chapter in their college lives. It gives them the tools they need to be engaged, active and responsible members of society,” he says.

From practical career-related support to a more realistic view of the workplace, assistance for implementing ideas into real-life projects to psychological benefits such as increased self-efficacy, UPES’ industry-focussed education has benefitted students in many ways, especially during placements.

Elaborating upon the placement process at UPES, Harshit says, “The placement cell starts training us at the end of the third year. Each student is provided with multiple training sessions that help us later in the interviews for the companies that come to recruit us. The curriculum usually refines your aptitude and skills and trains you in coding practices. There is a special career department with the most talented faculty, which helps each student with everything required to crack the recruitment procedure of a company, starting right from resume-making skills to communicative assessments. We are also provided with mock test series and mock interviews, which give us a sneak peek of what lies ahead for us.”

He adds, “Right from the beginning of my fourth year, multiple reputed companies started arriving at college. While cracking the various rounds of the recruitment procedures of different companies, I realised the training that I had earlier with the placement team had already refined my skills so much that with a little bit of determination, I was able to crack them easily.”

Recalling some of the interview questions asked during the interview, Harshit says, “The questions were mostly related to my technical skills. It was a one-hour-long interview consisting of two coding questions and questions on concepts of ADBMS, OS and OOPS. Coding questions included how to implement a circular queue and a real-life-based question.”

The thing Harshit enjoyed the most about his education at UPES were the interactions with the “most approachable” faculty. “They made my college life a cakewalk by helping me with conceptual learning and being always available in time of need. Other than that, I reaped the benefits of the Research and Development (R&D) labs and the equipment college provided for us,” he says.

What skills does he hope to gain working in this job? “I want to hone my interpersonal and technical skills, which will help me solve problems and empower people,” Harshit quips.