From Bachelor of Vocational Courses to Becoming A Data Engineer at Genpact
By - Himanshu Kumar, Board Infinity Alumni
My Early Career Journey
I am from Darbhanga, Bihar.
Even though I was a mediocre student for most of my childhood, I scored decently in the IIT JEE exams. However, my 12th board exams weren't very impressive and they restricted me from getting any good colleges. I wanted to do engineering but it wasn't possible for me to pay the high fees of colleges/universities, so I enrolled in Bachelors of Vocational Courses at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi.
After completing my 3 years of bachelor's degree, I joined Parker Overseas Private Limited as a Process Leader, where it was normal to work 12-14 hours a day and sometimes even on Sundays. I was frustrated and desperately needed an alternative career, however, I lacked technical skills and my communication skills weren't impressive either.
One of my friends suggested I consider the Data Science field and said that it only requires a basic understanding of coding to begin. Researching the field on YouTube, Google, and everywhere else led me to enroll at Board Infinity for the January 2021 batch in the Learning Path in Data Science course.
As this was the only field that could help me gain IT experience without requiring extensive coding knowledge, I decided to pursue Data Science.
Experience with Board Infinity
Board Infinity has been a great learning experience for me. Despite my lack of coding experience, I was able to learn Machine Learning, SQL, Python, Tableau, and everything else so smoothly. Thanks to the great coaches that Board Infinity has!
Coach Prashant helped me very much. Other than making me learn the necessary skills for Data Science he also guided me to practice my English language skills since my communication skills were not at par. As a result of his guidance, I was able to improve both my technical skills and my communication skills and gain the confidence to sit for interviews.
Along with this, I had worked on several projects under my coach's guidance, which allowed me to practice my technical skills so well and help me build my resume to apply for Data Science roles. Since I came from a very different, the
projects validated my skills and helped me to get shortlisted for the job.
My Placement Journey
I was shortlisted for an interview with Genpact. By then, I had developed enough knowledge and confidence to interview with a top-notch company such as Genpact. In these interviews, I expected my unique academic background to make me a troublesome candidate, but to my surprise, they were impressed by my transition and the skills I had developed so quickly.
My interviewer asked me 10-15 questions related to Machine Learning, and thankfully I was able to answer all of them despite them trying to confuse me, I was confident in all my answers.
In conclusion, they asked me how my last job and my Data Science career would connect, to which I replied that I had experience handling teams and production, so I understood the importance of teamwork and on-time performance, which I would leverage at my new job to produce incredible results.
The recruiters at Genpact were impressed with my answers, so I was hired as a Data Engineer (Senior Associate). Through self-confidence and support from Board Infinity, I was able to overcome every barrier on my career path and landed the job of my dreams.
Data Science is a great field and I am thrilled to be starting my career in this field. Those of you wishing to change careers in Data Science, I want to tell you that I, too, am a slow learner, and that Data Science was completely foreign to me, but that I persevered with the hope of working in a position that gave me satisfaction and here I am.
Connect with Me
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