Addepalli Srilekha from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering is excited to step into a new phase of life with her incredible marquee offer of CTC 26.50. She is placed at Paypal, an American multinational fin-tech company that operates an online payments system that supports online money transfers. She is selected for the position of data scientist, where she will work for the Resolutions and Protections Team.

She had the assistance of the Directorate of Corporate Relations and Career Services at every stage of her placement journey. Constant support and guidance were given to the students and different sessions were held in an organised manner which covered various aspects such as coding, interview handling skills, Resume building sessions, etc. One-on-one feedback sessions were also conducted by the placement panel, which was extremely helpful for the students.

Srilekha always wanted to work in data science, so she began her training with Python, SQL, Excel, and a few data visualisation courses. She has consistently learned all the fundamental concepts of computer science, such as data structures, operating systems, and database management systems. She also participated in Competitive Coding Contests from the beginning, which helped her develop an interest in coding and problem-solving. To learn the fundamental concepts, she used to refer to University materials and a few online resources. She has also done much hands-on coding and regularly applied the theoretical knowledge she gained.

The training received at SRM University- AP was highly relevant, timely, and beneficial for Srilekha. For students at various levels, various types of training were provided. “There is always the possibility of starting from scratch here. Daily technical assessments helped us understand the industrial standards and requirements”, said Srilekha as she recollected her training days. Company-specific tests were also administered, and regular alum connect sessions were organised to assist students in understanding the organisations’ recruitment and operations.

She is thankful to Dr Jatindra Kumar Dash, Dr Murali Krishna Enduri, and Dr Priyanka S for their excellent teaching, which was a great help for her during the placement season. “Dr Jatindra Kumar Dash greatly aided my understanding of Machine Learning Algorithms. Because of his guidance, I was able to answer every ML-related question in the interviews”, said Srilekha with gratitude. The classes she took helped enhance her subject knowledge and gain hands-on experience.

She studied FLAT and Compiler Design for two semesters under Dr Murali Krishna Enduri. This subject helped her understand the insights of Automata theory and the structural workings of compilers. These two subjects are Srilekha’s favorites solely because of Dr Murali Krishna Enduri. Dr Priyanka S taught her two crucial subjects that played a significant role in the placement season: Introduction to Python and Operating Systems. Her classes were very organised, and the teaching strategies were very effective.

Srilekha aspires to come up with new ideas and innovations at her workplace and climb up the ladder of her career with determination and hard work.

Mani Saketh is beyond happy to get placed with a Marquee offer of CTC 21 LPA in his third year of under graduation at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He is placed at Western Digital, the company that introduced hard discs to the world. An immense commitment to obtain a Marquee offer was the driving force of his placement journey. He believed in keeping hope, persistence, and perfection alive at heart as they procreate the momentum to learn anything.

The company he got placed in basically works on HDD’s, SSD’s, Pendrive, NAND Flash-based Storage devices, etc. It is a hard disk drive manufacturer and data storage company. It is also the parent company of SanDisk. It was his internship that led him to this enormous placement offer.

He is in awe of the robust support system that the Directorate of Corporate Relations and Career Services is. “They helped me a lot by bringing many Marquee companies at the beginning, which made me work faster on my skills. The way they helped us by conducting various training sessions, responding very quickly whenever we have a single doubt or concern is commendable”, said Mani Saketh with most gratitude.

He was part of the Marquee Training Batch, where he got the freedom to practice whatever he wanted. But at the end of the day, all he wanted was to show some progress. Students who attended the Marquee training session used to solve coding questions, and if anyone failed to find the solutions, they had discussions in peer groups. This helped the students with the benefits of self-learning. The interactions among students during the problem-solving sessions encouraged their communication skills and improved their efficiency in resolving any coding question.

Mani Saketh thanked Mr Laxmanan Angu Raju, one of the senior managers of the Directorate of CR&CS, for having hope and confidence in him. According to him, getting placed at Western Digital wouldn’t be possible without the help of Ms Akhila, CR&CS executive. The mentoring and training of the placement team stayed with him throughout the placement session. He also thanked Dr Jaya Lakshmi Tangirala, his placement mentor, who made him realise the importance of CSE core fundamentals in the initial days of placement training.

As of now, Mani Saketh wants to convert this internship offer to a full-time offer and would like to work in the organisation for at least three years. Later, based on his interest, he wants to study further and grow in the company.