Precog @IIITD — my journey and the people

A journey is best measured in friends!

Of course we are doing some breath taking work!
Of course I highly recommend everyone to apply for open positions here!

But I won’t talk about the work (everyone else already is). I will talk about what really makes Precog — the people@Precog.

Outsiders see it as a group, insiders see it as a family

In my second semester I had taken up a course in Probability and Statistics under Prof. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru “PK”. This is how I got introduced to Precog and PK.

It was 2013, at that time I was trying to figure out my niche as a CS major . I was in search of a new and exciting opportunity. A friend who had been working with Precog told me about an opening. As I have already mentioned in another post of mine, I have a threefold criteria while evaluating opportunities:

Is it aligned with my short and long term goals?
It was definitely aligned with my short term goal of getting my hands dirty with new technologies. At that time I didn’t realise the extent to which Precog would contribute towards moulding me into an aspiring product designer in the long run.

Is there exciting work that I can contribute to?
Without divulging any details, let me just say it was a product of national interest. The research and development activities at Precog are making their mark in more ways than meets the eye ( of course I can’t speak about it :P, If you want to know apply and get in! )

The people I will be working with
This was and still is the most compelling reason. Not only are they really smart researchers and developers but also very helpful. Precog alums and collaborators are everywhere: Facebook, Apple, Princeton, UIUC, CMU, Georgia Tech etc

(PS: I will be joining Georgia Tech this fall for my masters. I already know so many there because of Precog. I am staying with an Ex Research Assistant from the lab)

After a month of interviews and coding tasks I was picked as a software developer for the project. Over the next couple of months I got to know the entire team, even people who weren’t working on the same project as I was (very welcoming people!).

In the coming time I collaborated with different people from the lab, learnt so many different things from them, specially from PK. He’s helped me not only with professional, but also personal matters (thanks!). He’s invested much more time than a normal advisor would’ve in making this relation stronger.

My lab mates taught me the real meaning of ‘with great responsibility comes great power’, after the first time I messed up some daemons on the server (:P) Everyone in the lab has contributed in so many ways that I don’t even know how to write it down. From helping in my assignments to giving me feedback on my applications.

While concluding I would strongly recommend everyone to apply for the open positions@Precog, you won’t regret it.