Shraddha Pawar

Resources that helped me to turn rejection into selection at Morgan Stanley in 2 months!

Many of you asked for the resources I followed while practicing for core subjects during my preparations, which led me to crack internship offers from Adobe and Morgan Stanley.

Here are those:
(For links of resources check first comment)

OS (My favorite topic indeed):
•Series by Lakshay Kumar at Codehelp - by babbar yt channel.
He has taught a fantastic OS with practical examples. He has covered Process Management and Memory Management.
•For the rest of the part, I referred to GeeksforGeeks.
•For Disk Management, I had watched videos from Gate Smashers channel.
•Shoutout to my college professor Rachna Ma'am for making me love OS more by her teaching!

OOP:
I studied OOP in both Java and C++
For Java:
•Series on Smart Programming YouTube channel
This man has taught everything to the point with no bakwas.
For C++:
•I read everything from GeeksforGeeks majorly

DBMS:
•Again the DBMS series by Lakshay on codehelp - by babbar channel.
Uniqueness of the series is that it has covered the topics of database scalability, which are asked by many companies.
•For SQL queries I studied from W3Schools.com ’s SQL tutorial as well.
• Practiced the concepts from GFG

CNS:
•I had referred to a video named “Computer Networking Course” from Kunal Kushwaha’s YouTube channel.
•And also read from GFG.
I hadn’t prepared CNS thoroughly.

Apart from this, I used to read the top interview question-answers from Interviewbit and GFG.
Also nowadays takeUforward is developing very good content for core subjects, which I referred to during my placement preparation.

See, I never stayed dependent on a single resource. I explored many good resources so that I can cover all the topics from the subject. Sometimes videos on youtube don’t cover everything. In that case head over to GeeksforGeeks, it has almost everything covered!🙌

One more thing, it’s true that quality of resources matters, but what matters more is your practice and dedication. How consistently you are studying those resources and how smartly you are using them!
Consistency is the key. Revise the topics again and again so that you won’t forget and can revise them at a fast pace easily just before the interview.

(check the first comment below for links of resources)

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#letsgrowtogether

When my first interview was scheduled I didn’t even know what I had to prepare for it. 🙂
My first ever tech interview was with Morgan Stanley for the role of Technology Analyst intern.
I got a PPI based on my performance in Code To Give Hackathon.

I thought as I’ve got an opportunity through a hackathon then they might be checking my development skills.
There was a gap of around a month between the PPI mail and interview.
I wonder why I didn’t even check online for an interview experience blog or anything.
I asked 1 senior before a day or 2, he told me about DSA. I was prepared for that.

In the interview when the Interviewer started asking me about CS fundamentals, I realized ye bhi prepare karna tha. 🥲
Though I answered DSA questions well I just couldn’t answer Core subject questions up to expectations.

When I returned from the interview, I made a list of things that I would always follow.
1. Be curious.
2. Check the requirements of the role and utilize the internet
3. Connect with people who have gone through interview processes already and ask about everything from start to end of the interview.
4. Checkout interview experience blogs of people with the same company and role.

From this experience, I can tell you,
Make a checklist for all things you have to check before going to interview.
Kbhi kbhi apna dimag nervousness ki vajah se ye chize sochta hi nahi hai…. Tb ye checklist help karegi. Keep asking yourself what else I can do…

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether

Hello Batch 2025 and Batch 2026!!
On campus internship or placement drives are around the corner.
Generally the process below is followed for on-campus hiring in colleges.

Eligibility criteria: Companies send their eligibility criteria, your colleges might have their own criteria as well.

Registration: Eligible candidates register for the company

Resume-Based Shortlisting: This may or may not be conducted (depends on the company)

Assessment Test: (Online/Offline) (some companies conduct dev hackathons Sometimes eg. Northern Trust)

Technical Interview Round: (Online/Offline) Number of Rounds vary company wise.

HR Round: It may be pure HR or Technical + HR

Result Declaration

In some cases this can be applicable to off campus hiring as well.

See, maybe you’ll say this process is known to everyone and anyone can figure out. But no, it is not the case.
Many juniors asked me for this, and hence sharing it here for you all.

All the bestt!

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether

And I became the first woman engineer of all my extended generations!!✨
My final year results are declared and I scored a CGPA of 9.4, graduating from Pune Institute of Computer Technology!
This graduation made me the first woman engineer of all my extended family!

My parents are farmers, and their hard work and dedication have always been my biggest source of inspiration.❤️
Despite the challenges and financial constraints, they took a risk, supported my dreams and believed in me.

This journey has been full of obstacles and challenges but facing them fearlessly and conquering them was totally worth it!
Got many achievements, failures, learnings, experiences, which made my life more exciting.

For me this is not only a personal achievement but a milestone that I hope inspires other young folks who want to bring changes against all odds and to pursue their dreams fearlessly. ⚡

As I step into this new chapter, I'm excited about the future and ready to take on new challenges.

Now I can say no dream is too big, and no goal is unattainable if you put your heart and soul into it.
Guyss, believe in yourself!!⚡

I’m very thankful to my parents for believing in me and investing their everything in me. Their sacrifices made this dream a reality.
I’m grateful to everyone who has been part of my journey and made it more bearable!

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether

How important is your CGPA for placements and Internships?? 🤔
This is the question asked by many students aspiring for placements.
So here is my experience:

For on campus drives:
Yes it is important.
Many companies may set their own CGPA criteria for our eligibility to sit for the drive.
Some only put “No active backlog” but many put CGPA criteria as well.
Generally I have seen criteria going from >6.5 to >9.
Most frequently it was >6.82 .

For off campus drives:
Again depends on the company.
Most of the time it doesn’t hold major importance.
But there are companies that consider it for off campus hiring as well

So in conclusion:
As a fresher having a good CGPA is always beneficial.
How much CGPA is enough for placements? Let’s try to score the maximum we can, so that just this criteria won't stop you from appearing for the drive of any company!
Those who have low CGPA, for off campus hiring, keep applying, companies who care about your skills more than your pointer will respond to you!

Just wanted to say that don’t underestimate CGPA.
Definitely it solely doesn’t define your selection but it has a major role to play in your eligibility.

This is based on my experience. If you have some different experience or opinion about this topic, please put it in the comment section. Your insights could be very helpful to students aspiring for placements.

Image: Invitation from JPMC Code For Good. This event had the CGPA criteria of 8.5

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether

Trust the process.
Even the overnight success we see today likely put in years of hard work behind the scenes that nobody talks about.
Let's Embrace Patience.
Focus on our goals, required execution, our actions. we’ll be there at the right time!!

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether

Running behind the goals is fine, but are you celebrating your achievements?
Every small achievement is reminder that we are going on right path!
Don’t forget to celebrate those achievements.

Sometimes we get so busy running behind the end goals that we forget to celebrate our small achievements.

Working toward dreams is not just about the end goal. It’s also about the journey.

Our journey is full of milestones.
Recognizing our achievements helps us to measure our progress. Am I constantly growing, learning new skills and becoming a better version of myself…..

Image: My diary where I stick a note of my every achievement, small or big. Whenever I open it back, It refreshes all my memories associated with those achievements and inspires me to achieve more.⚡

Shraddha Pawar
#letsgrowtogether