A Career Built by Curiosity (and a Few Detours)
A Career Built by Curiosity (and a Few Detours)
Did one internship related to my major, to feel connected to what I was studying
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Realized it wasn’t the right fit
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Applied at night & barged into a maker-space next day asking for an update and got the internship
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Built robotics projects for free and grew a network
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Took on personal projects and freelance work, drawing from being a maker
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Reached out to small startups to explore robotics and remove the cost risk of building personal HW/SW projects
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Moved into research - autonomous drones at IIT Bombay, vision in missiles at DRDO, and satellite imaging at ISRO, and a small non-profit work for a scientist at CERN
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Joined a defense manufacturing unit as a robotics software engineer
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Built a product that helped the company scale, then moved into planning and operations to support that growth
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My government experience and involvement in debates and creative media communities sparked my interest in how information is shaped, interpreted, and distorted (just don't make me use the word for it)
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Left the job and felt confused about what to do next in life at 24
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On the side, I just started an Amazon store to help my mom and aunt sell their art - experienced struggles of SMBs, hosted parties for extra cash + hitchhiked/traveled on whatever savings I had + eventually, went for an international championship in a sport I couldn't before and won Gold for the country
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Wanted to do a 360 reset, so took a leap of faith and went to Northwestern / Kellogg to study management
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Created and pitched a tool that could provide healthy civil discourse online, which led to research at Medill SoJ's Knight Lab + Library
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Built a GenAI tool for Journalists at the WSJ + innovated a formula to understand the audience/headline alignment using the NYT headlines benchmark
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Pivoted into economics sociology + GenAI through consumer research at Kellogg SoM
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Now I just wear multiple hats as a Product Builder, helping turn the leadership's vision into reality (literally)
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Turns out the less I know, the better. How do I unclog my brain?