09 | Life as a Columbia University CS Senior Graduating During COVID-19 - with Kanishk Vashisht
Kanishk Vashisht | Software Engineer, Agora Systems
From The Shri Ram School in Gurgaon, to Columbia, Kanishk has always been a go-getter who seeks out experience wherever he can. Kanishk was one of a select group of students faced with the unique circumstance of graduating online, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Kanishk will be joining Agora Systems, a startup where he can apply his knowledge of machine learning and AI.
Arjun and Kanishk discuss the experience of an online graduation, his time as a Columbia CS major, and the future of education in the face of the pandemic.
Episode Takeaways
College Graduation
Graduated on Zoom due to COVID. He is looking forward to the in-person ceremony at the end of the year.
Transitioning to NYC from Gurgaon
The first 3 months were hard. NYC is very fast paced compared to Gurgaon. It helped that Columbia had a closed campus where you could take it easy. You can always step out of the campus and be part of the fast paced city of NY when you want.
Internships & Job Experience as a Student
As a senior in TSRS (The Shri Ram School), he hosted an all India hackathon in Bangalore and continued this trend in college. This has shown recruiters that he has passion and gets things done. There are plenty of resources at Columbia - he started and exited a startup in his first 3 years. There were plenty of funding opportunities at college and lots of support in terms of mentors in college and in NYC. There were also opportunities such as talks by politicians and industrialists that gave him ideas.
The Columbia CS Department
A lot of CS concepts were invented or discovered at Columbia. It can be overwhelming to be part of something really big. Many CS professors are Indian.
His Advice to Current High School Students
Stop thinking - start doing. Find a problem and solve it. Don't try to study every topic and then write a blog post. For example, he saw a need for the visually impaired. So he built a cap with ultra sonic sensors. His advice is to start building things.
Find seniors to discuss your project ideas with. He is available for this so students can write to him.
Presentation is super important to get people interested in you. Go the extra mile. Make a pamphlet of your work and send it to the colleges with your application number on it. Go beyond the Common App.
His 3 Biggest Strengths
Go-getter, Shameless (he will email anyone and everyone if he needs anything), Hardworking
Future Career
Last summer, he had a fellowship. Through that community he met a lot of venture capitalists and joined a startup called Agora. Agora helps construction companies have better control of their supply chain. As a software engineer he will use his knowledge of machine learning and AI to work with data there.
Advice to Students During COVID
Use this time to go deep into the two or three things you find interesting. Don't focus on being an expert on only one thing. Use this time at home to study and work on your academics and college applications. Don't worry about the COVID situation. Let your parents do that.
Future of College Education post COVID
He doesn't think campuses will open soon as colleges can be a breeding ground for infections since students will be coming from different places and then living close together. In the long run colleges will open since they have spent a lot of money on their facilities. Education will become more about applying what you have learnt rather than rote learning.