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In this 40th edition of As We Leave 2024, Shashwat Gupta, a Y20 student from the Department of Computer Science, shares the stories and lessons he has gathered from his time at IITK. He reflects on the challenges and triumphs of juggling academics, ambition, and adventure.
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.
[Author] Disclaimer: the timeline of some events might be messed up, especially in 1st and 2nd year, since I don’t specifically recall the exact dates of events.
This article was originally published here :
https://medium.com/@shashwat.gpt/iitk-chartering-unknown-my-journey-end-to-end-at-iit-kanpur-e748bd7d90e3
My blogs can be found here:
https://medium.com/@shashwat.gpt/index-welcome-to-my-reflections-on-code-and-capital-2ac34c7213d9
The Announcement:
Joyous atmosphere on result declaration when I got 603 AIR. Though I was a bit disappointed since I was expecting a CS rank in top 5 IITs, I was soon in revel by the merry that coachings do. Researched options and found out that the best place for higher ed and most options of studying CS in IIT Kanpur (branch change with many get 10/10), double major or even minors). Also proximity with home in Lucknow, enabled me to choose IIT Kanpur. Talked to a senior Nirmal, who really encouraged me to join IIT Kanpur. He even mentored me throughout in my journey. After a talk with a lot of seniors, I got to know that in rest of IITs, it like 1 or 2 people get 10/10 in 1st year, whereas in Kanpur, there is a better chance since 5-6 people get 10/10. (later I was able to prove my decision right).
I also finished MTH101 (Professor Shunmukharaj’s notes) syllabus and ESC101 syllabus before joining IIT Kanpur in the gap between JEE Advanced and joining IIT Kanpur. Though it was really hard to have worked for 2 years, and starting off 2 courses without rest. That really helped since these were the toughest subjects for aspirants. Being from ICSE Board, coding felt easy for me and the majority of the ESC101 thing I had already studies in my class 10th and higher classes. Both these things, along with the fact that I used to do a lot of drawing-sketching in my early school days helped me get a branch change later on.
Sem 1:
First thing I found was a message from my Senior Bhagwat Garg (my Bapu, and currently SDE @ Samsung Korea) and 5 bhais : Harbeer Gurjar, Harshit K Tiwari, Vaibhav Goyal, Vishal Meena. The mentorship and the bolding was amazing and helped me settle into the IIT Kanpur culture. Though there were challenges in interaction, online mode of interaction had their own perks : easy grading, attending no classes (putting on the meet and leaving) and enabled me to join a lot of clubs. I became a part of Entrepreneurship Cell (ECell), BCS (Brain and Cognitive Society), Student’s Opinion Society (SOS; now PPOC), Pclub. (Programming Club). Still, I always kept academics as prime focus, since I had selected IIT Kanpur for its ease of branch change.
Sem 2:
During my time at college, I matured significantly and formed strong friendships. Together, we participated in Riwayat, where I co-founded a telemedicine startup called XpertCare. We even pitched it to an investor and secured funding. However, due to low interest and tough competition from major players in the south, we eventually abandoned the project. Nonetheless, I continued to work on my entrepreneurial skills and later founded HealthPredict, a startup I ran from 2020 to early 2024, gaining invaluable mentorship along the way.
In addition to my entrepreneurial ventures, I enjoyed participating in various events such as Freshers Bollyweek, MClub music classes, and Techweek. These experiences were both fun and enlightening, helping me discover my strengths and weaknesses.
At the end of my first year, I successfully switched my major to Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at IIT Kanpur. This justified my choice of college, and I was thrilled to win the Prateek Mishra Award for the highest CPI in Electrical Engineering (EE), thanks to the guidance of mentors Nirmal and Bhagwat.
I also ran for a position in the Y20 batch elections. Out of 17 candidates, I placed 9th, just missing the opportunity to become a senator by a few votes. Although it was a slight disappointment, I eventually achieved this goal in my fourth year, crossing it off my long-standing list of unfulfilled wishes.
Despite the transition to the CSE department, which was more competitive and fragmented, I fondly remember the strong sense of community and camaraderie in the EE department. The bonds I formed there felt like family, making it bittersweet to leave that supportive environment.
Sem 3:
After transitioning to the CSE department, I felt a renewed sense of freedom to explore various clubs and activities I had set aside in my early years. With six courses on my plate, I also joined six different clubs:
- IIT Kanpur AUV Team
- IIT Kanpur Tennis Team
- PPOC (Policy Reseach)
- BCS
- E-Cell (Business Development)
- All three fests: Techkriti, Antarigini and Udghosh, serving as Senior Executive in the MnP, PR and Hospitality verticals.
Achieving the highest marks in the mid-semester of ESO207 initially gave me a sense of complacency, leading me to relax and devote more time to club activities. However, this shift in focus resulted in a B in ESO207 after the end-semester exams, breaking my streak of 10-pointers. This experience taught me a valuable lesson: no matter how well you perform initially, consistent effort is crucial to maintain your position, as there’s always someone ready to take your place.
Amidst all this activity, I received the exciting news that I had become the SG, the first in my family to achieve this honor.
Sem 4:
Continuing with six clubs while managing demanding CSE courses was a formidable challenge. Achieving high grades in CSE courses is notoriously tougher than in non-CSE subjects. Balancing my role as a club secretary with six rigorous courses proved to be difficult. Despite my efforts, I found myself only achieving average results across my endeavors. The pressure was immense, prompting me to seek support from Ms. Aradhana, the department counselor.
Through my sessions with Ms. Aradhana, which continued through semesters 4 and 5, I learned valuable lessons in time management and maintaining a humane approach to life. I realized the importance of not overloading myself and only taking on what I could handle comfortably.
One memorable course was CS253, which highlighted the significance of team dynamics and interpersonal relationships in group work. This experience taught me the importance of having friends and valuing interpersonal skills.
While applying to ECell, I faced a setback during the interview, where I struggled with questions on startups, ECell knowledge, and adaptability. Despite not succeeding, I learned valuable lessons and applied them in future interviews.
A positive highlight was my summer project with Professor Ashutosh Modi on Indian Sign Language recognition, which led to a paper published at EMNLP 2022 in Abu Dhabi. This project, part of the SURGE program, involved collaboration with S Pradeep, Priya Gole, and Abhinav Joshi. Although I couldn’t attend the conference due to a commitment to a Systems Winter-School at IIT Delhi, the experience was enriching, and I gained invaluable guidance from Professor Modi and Abhinav Joshi.
Over the summer, I prepared for internships, focusing on Adobe Research and quant roles. My preparation included DSA from LeetCode, Striver sheets, and quant puzzle books.
I also applied for a semester exchange abroad and was fortunate to be selected, alongside Ayush Kumar and Vineet Sinha. This opportunity was an exciting prospect for my academic and personal growth.
Sem 5:
Semester kicked off with excitement for Exchange at EPFL and a bit stress for internship. After giving many exams, I got 2 offers in Day 2. A systems role at APT (an HFT) and ML research role at Adobe. Though it was hard for me, I let go of APT offer to join Adobe. Later on, I left Adobe to pursue Exchange at EPFL.
This semester with core course of Operating System was a big hard. Furthermore the grading was bad for everyone doing that course. Rumours say that some events on the CSE research day led to the bad grading, but upto the juniors to dig deep into them 😊
As head of Brain and Cognitive Society (not BCS Club), I took a lot of initiatives. We had planned from day 1 to convert this to a club. I did a ‘Sentiment Analysis’ project which had one of the highest completion rate and was taken by juniors and seniors alike. There were other collaborations such as with researchers, and professors from CGS Department. There were winter projects as well as some amazing secretary level projects.
I got to explore cognitive sciences, and ended up doing a minor in it. Furthermore, a lot of effort was put in to find apt courses for which I could get a credit waiver at EPFL Exchange abroad.
Also, with Rishabh and Mohit, I started LearnHCI Group, which later on became the ACM SIGCHI IITKanpur Student Chapter. Unfortunately, I left for exchange and Mohit-Rishabh graduated, so the things stalled till my 7th semester.
I also got a chance to attend Winter School on Cloud and Security at IIT Delhi along with my seniors Shorya and Tejesh. The school was amazing and gave us deep insights into what lay ahead in these 2 domains. It was really hard to keep up with the pace of the curriculum. We also explored the Delhi and the various bizarre things it had to offer us.
Sem 6:
I started to attend 1 month of IIT Kanpur classes until my Visa got confirmed.
Another interesting update was that since December I was working on High Prep Dev Rev Problem Statement. I had worked on the statement from December till end of January; after which I had to leave for Semester abroad. Despite me not being present in the InterIIT Ceremony in February, we were able to secure silver medal in the InterIIT Problem Statement.
My semester exchange at EPFL was a transformative experience. I discovered that it wasn’t just about academics or leisure but a balanced mix of both. Europe’s focus on work-life balance allowed me to excel academically while exploring the Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, enriching my life in many ways.
The application process for EPFL was straightforward, with the Office of International Relations at IIT Kanpur guiding us. I applied for the spring semester at the end of August and received confirmation by late September. Planning my courses was crucial, as they needed to align with IITK’s curriculum to ensure I could receive credit waivers. This careful strategizing paid off, allowing me to maintain my academic trajectory.
The exchange broadened my cultural perspective as I met people from diverse backgrounds, enhancing my resume with significant research experience. Despite the high costs and challenges like cooking my meals and a housing scam, the journey was rewarding. It taught me the importance of diligence and preparation, making it a memorable chapter in my academic career.
I have covered my detailed experience of Semester Exchange at EPFL here:
https://medium.com/@guptashashwatme/research-at-epfl-my-journey-as-an-exchange-student-at-europes-leading-cs-university-280e3ebfe4db
Also, my friend Aayush Kumar, who went along with us, has shared his experience here:
https://medium.com/@ug_anc/embracing-global-opportunities-aayush-kumars-semester-at-epfl-66e0e854da3f
Thanks Aayush and Vinit for sharing the sentiment of ‘being homeless in a foreign land’.
Sem 7:
Semester 7 again started off with excitement for placement preparation. After my research aborad experience, I had made my mind to go into a brand-name MNC. I had already a good level of preparation of DSA and Quant from the intern prep, now all that remained was to revise and enhance.
Unluckily, I was diagnosed with Dengue and typhoid, and missed all tests from November 1st to November 22nd , during which duration I was hospitalised. Missing Google, Microsoft and other quant tests was heartbreaking then. Nonetheless, I managed to give and succeed in a lot of tests.
I got placed on Day 1 after 8 interviews. With 2 offers from Navi and PwC, I decided to join PwC, as Associate Product and Technology. Choosing PwC over Navi was again a hard decision, since the Navi was offering 3x the package of PwC, but after careful thought, and consulting with people I regard as my ‘mentors’, I took the plunge.
Towards my research work, I got to explore the beautiful domain of Audio and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) ML under professor Vipul Arora.
I was also the TA of the courses ESC111 and ESC112. I had always attended classes as being a student, but being on the other side helped me understand the processes, the expectations and grow in general.
Luckily I got 10/10 in this semester; which was surprising for me after all the chaos filled semester.
I continued to work on building ACM SIGCHI IIT Kanpur Student Chapter. I am writing a detailed blog on the journey of founding the ACM SIGCHI Chapter, and possible future student clubs here:
https://medium.com/@shashwat.gpt/building-the-acm-sigchi-chapter-at-iit-kanpur-insights-challenges-and-opportunities-a3f4710a1132
Sem 8:
For my peers, this semester was chill. But since I went for exchange, I had a few extra courses, including the dreaded compilers.
Towards research work, I (along with L. Gokulnath) got to understand the beautiful world of Computer Vision under Professor Priyanka Bagade.
Also, I closed my startup : HealthPredict and thought to try out my career at VC. I joined a small VC firm : Triton Ventures and got to learn a lot in the SaaS and cybersecurity industry.
Furthermore, by the end of semester, I had already established ACM SIGCHI Club. We have also completed a good number of projects.
A lot of opportunities in IIT Kanpur. Especially there is a fund of min. 50 lakh available for every idea that you can pursue. When I became the Y20 senator, I was trying to pass something related to gymkhana that all student funding be made public and 1 platform to track them. This way student’s money will be used for students. Right now what is happening is that people outside of IITK and the people in-charge of giving the money make teams to give the amount.
Closing thoughts, and learnings on the way
Always give priority to:
- Grades
- Resume & Extracurriculars
- Friends/Peers
I think 3rd should be kept over 2 because your peers define you (you are the average of 5 closest people), where as grades and resume are a subset of manifestation of who you are. IIT Kanpur made me realise the importance of friend in life; which I feel is the single biggest learning for me.
There are no right decisions. Also decisions are never evaluated based on the outcome since the importance or right/wrong is at the point where you are making it. What worked best for me was to take ample time to research and then once it is made, try to make it right, with an acceptance of possible failure in heart. Ratan Tata said “I do not believe in making the right decisions, I believe in making decision and them proving them right”
Its important to try a lot of things and also to fail early on.
On trying a lot of things, once you try something first hand, you have an in-depth experience of things, which no reading or no chat with a person can provide. In cognitive sciences, this is called degree of representation. Failure (not getting what you had started the endeavours for and/or settling for something lesser) teacher much more than succeeding at anything can. Also, make as many mistakes as possible, just never repeat the same mistake. And, through my little life, I have realised that failure are a blessing in disguise : they help you push forward, and many times they are a sign: often I have failed at some things, left them and later on reflected that leaving that pursuit was the best thing I could do.
A good hack: I make a bucket of “unfullfilled wishes”. Whenever I get time in life, I pursue those things. It helps me in 2 ways : first always gives me some goal. Secondly, it helps me sacrifice or forego immediate things, with an assurance that no matter how mature I become, or how things turn out, the things that I want to do will not get lost.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to Manya from the Y23 batch and the Vox Populi Team for assisting me in sharing my story. While writing AWL, I groped for precious details, reflections and photos, that could have been lost. I will forever be grateful to loving seniors who have mentored me from child to mature (‘baapu’, ‘chachu’, ‘daddu’ sab ko dhayawaad). I thank my peers for being my competitors and my support at the same time. I also thank my teachers for their invaluable contribution to shaping who I am.
I am happy to discuss any aspect of IIT Kanpur, Technology, books and ‘bulla’. Feel free to reach me on: —
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/shashwat-gupta-iitk/
Medium: https://medium.com/@shashwat.gpt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shashwat.gpt/
To anyone who reached this far, a puzzle for you:
ताकत पहचानने के लिए साहिब टूटना होता है,
हैसियत पहचानने के लिए साहिब रूठना होता है,
अपनों को ढूंढने के लिए साहिब खुद को खोना होता है,
सीख रहा हूँ पढ़ने का हुनर, शायद किताबों से ज्यादा चेहरों पर लिखा होता है।
Which web series?
100
Written by : Shashwat Gupta
Edited by: Manya Dixit, Pranav Agrawal
Designed by: Sanyam Shivhare
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