2010 is the 4th year since the B.E. CSE batch of 2006 passed out. This talk presents an overview of the different career paths chosen by the 2006 passouts. the mentor talks about different career choices including academic options like MS, PhD, MBA, and industry options and also put you in touch with people pursuing these choices themselves. The mentor also touches upon internships, summer research job opportunities in our college and elsewhere.

1. Four years since B.E - What happened to the B.E. CSE 2006 batch? Karthik Lakshmanan B.E CSE 2006 Pass out AB – Batch Roll Number: 20022138 (I think)‏ Mentoring @ DCSE, Anna University, Chennai http://dcseaucmentor.chronus.com Mentor Profile: http://dcseaucmentor.chronus.com/users/2054

2. Disclaimer Disclaimer: The views expressed in this talk are solely mine - After approx. 4 years of engineering realize that: 1 sample is not representative of any reasonable sized population - History is neither meant to predict nor meant to limit the future More of a means to plan and get a head-start into the problem Please do not spam the people whose contact info I divulge

3. Agenda - Ph.d. - Freshers - Doing a Ph.d. after a stint in the Industry - M.S. - Branching out into the industry - Staying on for a Ph.d. - Doing an M.S. after a stint in the Industry - M.B.A - Freshers - Doing an M.B.A after a stint in the Industry - Industry - Opportunities in India - What are the opportunities overseas?

4. Ph.d. (a story close to my heart)‏ (source: csd.cs.cmu.edu)‏ (source: Jorge cham...phdcomics.com...must read if you want to survive a Ph.d.)‏

5. Why and Who? (source: Jorge Cham ... www.phdcomics.com)‏ What Prof. Venkatraman felt about his nobel prize victory? Academic excellence as an indicator for Ph.d. success? So what is involved?

8. Examples from my Batch Lenin Ravindranath – Ph.d. MIT – After a 2 year stint at MSR Hyderabad Myself – Ph. d. CMU – Directly after finishing my B.E. Srinath Sridharan – Ph. d. Wisconsin Madison – After a M.S. from PSU Leo Prasath – Ph. d. Wisconsin Madison – After 2 years at Amazon ...... ...... ......

9. M. S. Duration: 1 to 2 years Scope: Overseas job opportunities/ Scout out for a Ph.d. What is involved: Anywhere from 8 to 12 courses....Sometimes a Thesis

10. Key Issues: Funding: - Money is the most important reason to choose a direct Ph.d. - Masters students have very little funding opportunities - Probably 1:10 compared to Ph.d. students - Some universities are more friendlier for M.S. funding than others Time: - Be quick to scout out for a job - Entire Masters program is almost a blur that whizzes past you To work/not to work before joining masters - Industry experience helps you get jobs easily - Money can help you offset your tuition fees - Will you lose your enthusiasm?

12. Examples from my Batch Dhivya Krishnan– M.S. Columbia – Now with Goldman Sachs Praveen Durairaj – M.S. Stony Brook – Now with Goldman Sachs Vinodh – M.S. Univ. of Illinois Chicago – Now with Goldman Sachs Varadharajan – M.S. Univ. of Texas Austin (after 2 years at Amazon) – Now with Microsoft Fredrick Prashanth – M. S. Purdue (after 2 years at CISCO) – Now with CISCO Dharani Shankar – M. S. Penn State University – Now with VMWare ...... ...... ......

13. M.B.A (Source: Dilbert Comics)‏

14. Doing an M.B.A Popular choices: IIM and XLRI Mandatory for earning the big bucks - Especially in Indian non-IT sectors - Great opportunities in Finance sectors Job experience plays a vital role If you are joining the industry you will think about an M.B.A soon Overseas internship opportunities Many job opportunities within India

15. M.B.A in the U.S Opens up lots of great opportunities Best after 2-3 years of work experience in the U.S. Downsides: - Lots of money required (tuition)‏ - Enthusiasm to give GMAT 3-4 years down the line Other similar opportunities: - Finance courses Quants get paid handsomely Analysts can make much more than any tech job

16. Examples from my Batch Sriram – IIM A – Now working in ONG sector Anith Prakash – IIM B – Now working for Indian Oil Ganesh Jeyaraman – Currently at IIMB Avinan Babu – IIM K ...... ...... ......

17. Industry

18. Big Companies and Startups Big Companies: - Global Exposure - Perks and Benefits - Differentiation issues - Overseas opportunities - Onshore options - Permanent migration options Startups - Growth Factor - Work Culture - Passion

19. Value of Internships Window into the working of a company - Best way to get a feel for the industry (typically 3 months long)‏ - Reasonable pay for leading a luxurious final year for undergrads Helps you decide between the academia and industry Lots of companies look for interns: - Try to apply online - Search for contacts in the respective companies - Microsoft, IBM, Novell etc. have a standard internship program

20. Examples from my Batch Madhan, Prasad – With Microsoft U.S. Amal Joe, Vijay Balaji – With Microsoft India Gopinath, Aditya, Kantha – With Oracle Shobana, Pavala Manikandaraja – CISCO Srinivasan, Vikram Venkatesan – Chronus (startup)‏ Kiran Kumar, Meenakshi Sundaram – Global Scholar (startup)‏ ..... (and many more)‏ ...... ...... ......

21. Summary Ph.d. : If you love the academic environment - relaxed work culture, freedom, innovation/problem solving - willing to invest a significant chunk of your life to become a Dr. who cannot prescribe medicines M.S: - you are looking for an overseas job opening - you want to scout out if you are ph.d. material M.B.A. - Want to make big bucks and gutsy enough to clear the CAT (and lucky enough to escape without computer glitches)‏ Industry - Think you want to get your hands dirty, settle down and draw a paycheck - Looking to fund your upcoming M.B.A or M.S.

22. Questions? Lets chat right now Feel free to drop in an e-mail: [email_address] Mentoring @ DCSE, Anna University, Chennai http://dcseaucmentor.chronus.com Mentor Profile: http://dcseaucmentor.chronus.com/users/2054