Amit’s Story: Getting placed as a Data Scientist in Big 4

All it takes is just 6 seconds for a recruiter to decide whether they will hire you or not. 

Impressing them is a race against time. 

First impressions are crucial.

And even if you get shortlisted and get the call, there’s no guarantee that you’ll even move to the next round.

Meet Amit, an aspiring Data Scientist who was not able to convince recruiters of his potential despite possessing all the relevant skills.

Challenge: Not able to answer questions with conviction 🚨

“I didn’t know how to convince recruiters to get the interview. I believe one of the main reasons this was happening was because I didn’t have a full-time working experience as a Data Scientist,” says Amit.

Amit was working in a reputed company as a software developer.

He applied to multiple openings and was also selected for the interview rounds. But the lack of experience in his desired field would let him be dropped by recruiters.

“I also tried to learn new things like Kafka, Mongo, and AWS to upskill myself but the results were not in my favour,” says Amit.

He had also done real-life projects for over 2 years as part of Applied AI and Kaggle.

His major pain points were:

👉 Not able to convince recruiters

👉 Lack of direction

👉 Lack of confidence

Amit recalls that he finally decided to take a step back and re-evaluate his approach with the guidance of a mentor.

Solution: 1:1 Connect with an Amazon Data Science mentor 🎯

“I came to know about Preplaced through LinkedIn,” says Amit.

He was looking for an experienced Data Scientist from a MAANG company to help him prepare for his target role.

While going through the mentor profiles, he selected Sandeep Sricharan Mukku and booked a trial sessiom with him.

Sandeep is an Applied Scientist II at Amazon and has an experience of 9 years as a Data Scientist. He mentors for roles such as Data Scientist, ML Engineer, Applied Scientist, Research Scientist, Python Developer, etc.

“The 1:1 connect was very beneficial,” says Amit. “I thought that since I had advanced knowledge of ML, cracking interviews shouldn’t be a problem for me but this was not the case.”

Amit realised that he has been focusing too much on his technical skills and not enough on how he can add value to the company.

He was satisfied with Sandeep’s suggestions and went ahead to book a full 1:1 interview preparation program with him.

These were the personalised suggestions made by Sandeep after the trial session for him:

✅ Creating an interview preparation plan

✅ Understanding the interview process

✅ Mock interviews for skills evaluation

✅ Working on portfolio and resume

The timeline suggested by Sandeep was 1 month. 

He got a personalised and flexible plan targeting his pain points.

The early sync-up sessions included understanding the interview process and coding assessments.

After that Sandeep conducted a series of mock interviews to evaluate Amit's soft and technical skills.

“I realised that I put enormous efforts into projects but was not able to explain it properly to the recruiter,” says Amit.

With Sandeep’s guidance, Amit was able to gain confidence after the mock interview sessions.

He regularly got constructive feedback and tips on how to improve.

After that, he would apply the suggestions in his upcoming mocks with Sandeep. This is how he was able to gain confidence and hone his interview skills.

The last few sessions were focused on helping Amit create a strong portfolio including all the relevant projects that would showcase his skills. 

Results: Got placed as a Data Scientist in the Big 4 🏆

After a month of rigorous preparation with Sandeep, he applied to his target companies and got 2 amazing offers.

“This time around, the interviews went well,” says Amit. “It feels amazing to finally land the job that I was preparing for months.”

He joined as a Data Scientist in one of the Big 4 companies.

Amit says that there were a lot of unique and challenging aspects that he discussed with Sandeep beforehand which made the interview process smooth.

“I want to thank Sandeep for being understanding of my abilities, also for believing that I can do better and encouraging me to do so,” says Amit.

He also thanks the Preplaced team for being cooperative and encouraging in his journey.

Advice for fellow preppies 💪

Amit says that it is important to listen to your mentor and take your time while preparing.

“After every sync-up session, I used to work on the areas that needed improvement and showed up prepared for the next session,” says Amit. “This made a lot of difference in my preparation journey.”

He recommends consistently working on the weak areas and not taking the sessions for granted. Mentors are taking time out of their busy schedules to help aspiring candidates.

“Actively engage with them, ask your doubts and seek clarification, after all, you are here to learn,” says Amit.

With mentorship, Amit was successful in reaching his destination.

It will take some time and effort but you’ll reach there too - to your end goal, with Preplaced Mentorship. 🚀

(Note: Mentee's name has been changed for confidentiality purposes.)