Rajarshee Das (CS1)
Domain: Software Development Engineer(SDE) Interned at PayPal, Chennai Mode: Offline
Interviewed by: Ahilaan Saxena
INTRODUCTION
I'm Rajarshee Das, a third-year CS undergrad at IIT Delhi. I worked as a software engineering intern at Paypal, Chennai, where I contributed to developing an AI-based employee query chatbot.
MOTIVATION
In my 3rd semester, I worked on developing exam.iitd.ac.in under the Associate Dean, Curriculum. Aside from giving me hands-on experience in web development, this project led me to explore my interests further. Unlike many of my classmates who have been cold-mailing foreign professors for research internships since October, I was actively giving contests on codeforces and solving leetcode problems. From the onset, I knew I was inclined towards software development and competitive programming. Thus, I wanted to try to find an off-campus software role.
PREPARATION AND APPLICATION PROCESS
Apart from grinding various level coding problems in the 3rd sem, I gave contests on codeforces to brush up my competitive programming skills for the Online Assessment (OA). I read up on computer science fundamentals and computer architecture, particularly for the objective type assessment. Brainstellar was an excellent site for practising quant-based problems related to probability, discrete math, etc.
I was active on various career portals and LinkedIn pages where HRs and recruiters regularly posted about openings. One such opening for an SDE and data science role in PayPal caught my eye. I applied and gave the OA in December. It had nine questions from CS fundamentals and one programming question of moderate level.
I was shortlisted for the technical round, where I had to solve a programming problem live on a code-sharing platform. The final round was an HR based round where the interviewer asked me about the projects I had mentioned in my CV (including some of my COL106 and COL215 assignments in addition to the project I mentioned before) and some basic OOPS concepts.
To my delight, I got the offer letter from Paypal, Chennai, on 20th January. I had to choose between the online and onsite modes. I worked online for the initial two weeks, packed my bags and left for Chennai in May 2024.
NON WORK EXPERIENCE
I lived alone in a PG, provided under company expenses. The office was 2 kilometres away. I used to wake up at 7:30 AM, reach the office by 9:00 AM and work till 5:00 PM. We reviewed the previous day's work and planned in daily standup meetings.
I was part of the platform engineering team, developing and maintaining internal employee use applications. They provided many Udemy courses and live classes to enhance my knowledge of React, Java, Node, and Spring frameworks, which are crucial to my assigned job. We developed a chatbot on Slack, which took in employee queries as input and was linked to Gen AI, generating responses through our interface.
Evenings were primarily dull after 8 to 9-hour workdays. I would practice CP and quant questions after dinner for my 3rd-year internship preparation. Living alone for the first time was a great experience, I learnt to manage time efficiently and maintain a work-life balance. After the culmination of my internship in August 2024, PayPal gave me a return offer based on my performance for the 3rd year.
TAKEAWAYS AND TIPS FOR JUNIORS
The CG cutoffs for quant companies can go as high as 9+ for CV shortlists. Even for SURA projects, professors choose among numerous applications based on CGPA. So, it's not a good idea to sideline your CG even if you're good at CP or web development. Also, 2nd-year courses like MTL106 and COL106 are the foundation for many probability-based or DSA questions in quant and SDE interviews.
The extent of opportunities you get is quite low in 2nd year, especially for corporate internships. So, it's essential to look for openings on LinkedIn, companies' career portals, or even among your friend circles. It would help if you spent time building your CV in the 3rd semester and took as much advice from your seniors as possible while drafting cover letters.
It is important to decide in the 3rd semester itself whether you want to choose a research or corporate internship or focus solely on your 3rd-year internship process. Each has its ups and downs. Those who do 2nd-year internships generally face a bit of a time shortage when preparing for the OCS tests, which begin as soon as you return in July or August, but trust me, the experience you get is worth it.
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