Abhishek Maddheshiya is a graduating Y17 student from the Department of Material Science and Engineering. In the final edition of As We Leave, he shares his journey from being the “lowest benchmark” to achieving what he wished.
Disclaimer:- The views presented below are the author’s own and are not in any manner representative of the views of Vox Populi as a body or IIT Kanpur in general. This is an informal account of the author’s experiences at IIT-K.
How many times are you ready to fail, learn and come back with no regrets? My journey from CPI 4 to placement isn’t for toppers or losers. It is for learners only. The earliest you get all the downs from this, the earliest you write your own story.
This story is an insight into my journey as a Materials Science and Engineering student at IIT Kanpur.
I came from a village and was a basic Hindi Medium student. After schooling, I prepared for JEE and came to IIT Kanpur for my BTech journey. Then I had no idea about or concern for placements, as I had heard, “You will get decent placements after getting into IIT.” That one cr. Wala package. But you know the reality.
I was very interested in cricket, so in My first semester, I devoted a lot of my time to it, at least 3-4 Hrs every day. At that time, I did nothing in terms of study. So my first semester ended with me getting SPI 4.2 with all D’s. The scenario was that if my marks were 50 & someone else was getting 49, he’ll fail. It happened in every subject. The mindset of my classmates was,” If you want to pass, you just need to score above Maddheshiya”. I was At the Bottom of my class… the last person to pass, the lowest benchmark.
I wasn’t worried about my academics thinking that placement to lg hi jayegi”. This thinking was my mistake, taking Academics lightly. One should never do it. Hereby, I passed my second semester with a 4.5 CPI.
In the third semester, I left cricket to focus on my studies. It was so difficult for me to concentrate due to a lack of consistency. This time I ended up with a CPI of 4.8. At the end of the third sem, I worked with SPO. It gave me a reality check. There was no one below 7 CPI with resumes filled with various projects. I had done just a TA project till that day and realized I had to do something.
Fourth Semester
I started coding, but I didn’t find it interesting.
I got a SPI of 3.6 and failed in one subject because I did not attend classes. I had a course with a D grade in the second year of summer. At the end of my second year Summer, I had a CPI of 4.7 with zero skills. I wasn’t fluent in English either.
Fifth Semester
It was time for an internship, but my marks were too low to be shortlisted. I started coding seriously and learnt Python and other languages. This semester I also did some online projects.
For 0.2marks in ESO208, I got a C, though I was expecting a B. That day I literally wept because, at that point, every grade was a deciding factor for me. I passed with a 6.3 SPI, which was much lower than expected.
Sixth Semester
At the end of January, a company came for an internship. They called everyone in formals who applied for that, and I was also there. From 10 am to evening, they were calling people alternatively, but they didn’t call me. I waited till 5 pm. It was pretty demeaning and shouldn’t happen in placements. So I planned to try my best and focus on getting shortlisted.
During the sixth semester, I realized it isn’t easy to code. I planned to go for a Dual Degree because I knew I wouldn’t be able to prepare for placement that year.
I really worked hard that semester. A very unpopular opinion, but for me, luckily, Covid arrived, and they prorated our marks based on mid-sem. I got 8.3 SPI and CGPA 5.5; for Dual, one has to score at least 6 CGPA.
Dual Degree
So, this time I planned to choose six courses for a Dual degree. And luckily, at the end of the 7th Sem, I got 9 SPI, and my CPI was 5.99.
It shows on Pingala as 6. I Converted it into a dual. After conversion, I just focused on coding this time.
In the Eighth Semester of PG, I had two Courses. I got A’s and B’s consequently. I got 9 CPI.
After that, I went for placements. I had really worked hard on coding and was confident in my coding skills. Overall my UG CPI was 6, and my PG CPI was 9.
Placement Journey 🙂
As you’d all know, it started in August. There was no interview on Day 1 because I hadn’t targeted any company of that day. I didn’t even give their tests seriously. So all my interviews were scheduled from day two onwards.
I can share the story of my interview, which I think is one of my best memories. Myntra took my First interview. After the first round, They asked,” Would you like to come for the 2nd round?” and I refused.
My coding was thorough enough to be confident about placement this time. I knew my worth and skills. The second interview was for Meesho & Samsung parallelly.
The moment the first round of Samsung ended and I clicked the red button, I got a message from Samsung to join for the 2nd round. At that point, I also had to go for the 2nd round of Meesho. So I went for that first. I noticed that they would try hard to get you if you are good at what they need.
I went for the 2nd round of Samsung. At first, they said, “it would take hardly 30 minutes,” But my interview went on for 75 min.
One of my seniors has already told me that if interview timing exceeds its limit, the interviewer will most likely hire you for that job opening. I took a screenshot of that moment.
As I had only coding skills, I didn’t know about the fundamentals of CS. Whenever they asked any question from that part, I just replied,’ I don’t know.’ At last, he said, “Abhishek, this is not enough. On what basis do I judge you ?”
I said,” You can ask anything from DSA. I will leave the panel if I can’t answer your questions.”
After that, he asked some excellent questions, and I answered all of them. The interviewer asked, “How many offers have you got till now ?” I replied, “I rejected one, completed all rounds for one company, and this is my 3rd one.” At this moment, he ended this round with a smile:)
After an HR round, they contacted me on 2nd December 21 at 9 am to confirm my placement. I was beyond ecstatic, and my joy knew no bounds.
During this journey, I found gems in IIT KANPUR as my Friends Rithik Anbarashu, Sajal Chaurasia, and Albert Linda. They’re more than a lifelong achievement for me.
Takeaways:-
🙂 You won’t ever get anything like this elsewhere as your life right now inside the campus. And success only comes to those with the spirit to keep fighting till the end.
Thank you so much for your precious time. I hope it added some value and positivity to your life.
Written by: Abhishek Maddheshiya
Edited by: Tanuja Kaleli, Bhavya Sikarwar
