Cochin: Despite not cracking the very popular engineering entrance exam, JEE Main, a priest’s 27-year-old son Praveen Sridhar managed to bag a lucrative job at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Hailing from Kerala, Sridhar grew up in Delhi and graduated from St. Mary’s School in Mayur Bihar. He then pursued BTech in mechanical engineering at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) in Kerala.
Robotics and machine learning are the two subjects that he loved the most and that unconditional love took him to success.
“I wasn’t qualified for JEE, which I thought was a big setback at the time, but in retrospect, it’s not that big of a deal. Of course, IIT is the most popular and authoritative institution, and it’s really great learning. It would have been an experience, but in the long run, skills are more important than going to college,” Sridhar was quoted as saying by News18.
He worked as a machine learner following the completion of his engineering course. Sridhar came across machine learning during his research and interest in robotics and programming.
“I wanted to take a year off from work to dig deeper into various aspects of artificial intelligence and ML, so I immediately joined the Plaksha Tech Leaders Fellowship program. In addition, this program focuses on leadership potential. I really like the fact that both technical and non-technical courses by prominent professors around the world are excellent,” Sridhar said.
He also took some free online courses in ML and data science. “The most high-quality free online MOOCs and video lectures from Stanford University, Berkeley, etc., so I think it’s one of the most accessible areas if you’re focused on self-study,” Sridhar added.
Sridhar founded the platform TinkerHub.org in 2015 to make students aware of 21st-century skills and learn technology. “One of the main causes we found is a lack of awareness of the actual tools needed in the workplace. Universities are good at providing the basic knowledge needed to become an engineer, but the problem Students are exposed to the dark when it comes to problem-solving skills and the tools they need,” the 27-year-old explained.
Cracking the sixth-round interview of the BCG’s recruitment process was tough. It comprised a list of resume candidates followed by online coding tests. “We needed to resolve data science-related issues in a certain amount of time. Once cleared, there were six interviews, including case studies primarily applying data science to business issues,” Sridhar said.
“The most important factor in a successful hiring process is to have a solid foundation in the subject and then good practice with case studies,” he added.
Now, his immediate plan is to learn a new trade and progress with the task at hand. “My immediate plan is to learn as much as possible about applying data science to solve business problems at BCG Gamma. In the long run, at the CTO level leading the technology department of an influential company. I want to grow into this position, and I want to spend more time on TinkerHub and contribute to the community,” Sridhar signed off.
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