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Looking at the Trees and the Forest
Every journey, they say, is a collection of perspectives some near, some far, some intricate, some vast. My journey at IIIT Hyderabad was exactly that: eventful, to put it politely. Every semester introduced me to a completely new version of myself. There was the first-semester me, whose academic strategy could be summarized as “we’ll see when we get there.” Then there was the final-semester me, who somehow managed to worry about every possible future timeline. Somewhere between those two extremes, there was Precog-at-IIITH . And like most classic grand movies, it all started with a ….. “interview” (or a recommendation by Priyanshul Govil rather 😉😉) I still remember the panel…
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My Three Years at Precog: Questions, Detours, and a Lot of Memories
Joining a research lab is one of the most important decisions a dual-degree student makes at International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH). Usually students have two years to figure out which lab they want to join and who they want to work with. As a lateral entry (LE) student, however, you don’t quite have the same luxury of time. When I first came to IIIT in July 2022, research was, in my mind, something I had to do to graduate. That was about it. I realised that most students start approaching professors in the first semester of their second year. My friends and I (a little too ambitiously) decided that the…
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What Stays After a PhD
Hello, I am Prashant Kodali. I completed my PhD at IIIT Hyderabad nearly a year ago, advised by Prof. Manish Shrivastava and Prof. PK. My thesis was broadly about code-mixed and multilingual natural language processing, and I am now continuing my research journey as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Microsoft Research India. There is a tradition of graduating students writing about their time at Precog. I have read many of these blogs over the years, occasionally wondering what I would write when my turn came. Now that it has, I find that I do not particularly want to reconstruct my PhD as a sequence of semesters, projects, papers, and milestones. Every…
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More than a lab: My Experience at Precog
Hello! I am Vaishnavi Shivkumar, a recent graduate of the UG2k22 ECE batch, who had the wonderful opportunity to work with Precog-at-IIITH. I’ll start this blog by saying that the experience of working with Precog has been nothing short of transformative. The conversations I have had, the work that I have iterated over, the people I have met – all of it affected me in a very distinct way, which has given me learnings for a lifetime. But I shall tell you that story slowly. This blog is going to be about my experience at Precog, and why joining this place is a canon event for me. Part 1: At…
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Yes, absolutely: A Portrait of a Wanderer as a Researcher
I never knew what I was good at. I still don’t. Coming to IIIT Hyderabad was a new beginning for me, a chance to delve into a field I had only heard of before. After all, the unwritten rule of JEE is that if you rank well, you study Computer Science, no questions asked. Anyways, I spent the initial years of college exploring different domains that appealed to me, many of which I discovered through coursework. (Shoutout to Queueing Theory.) When I was in my fourth semester, I realized what an amazing opportunity the college provided me in terms of research exposure. This is when I found out about Precog-at-IIITH…
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Dear Diary: I’m glad I joined Precog
Hey! I’m Vamshi, a recent Dual Degree (CLD, 2020-2025) graduate from Precog. I’ve always been the ambitious kind (I think this is the one common trait you’ll find among every Precogger). The ambition was to invent or discover something cool, and so I started exploring research. Finding My Way to Precog I joined IIIT Hyderabad because I’d heard they had early exposure to research. As I was in my second year, still full of ambition, I was searching for the right lab to foster my growth and feed my curiosity. During my search, I ended up connecting with Anmol Goel and Shashwat Goel (no, I don’t have a Goel bias)…
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Finding My Way: My Journey Through Precog with PK
Summary My journey with Precog wasn’t a straight line. It involved hesitant applications, skipped interviews, and a long period of searching for my footing in research. I initially joined not for a specific project, but for the environment, the minds of my peers and the ability to work with PK. What followed was a period of struggle, project pivots, paper rejections, and significant self-doubt, stretching over years. Yet, through it all, PK’s unwavering belief, his unique mentorship style emphasising systems and student autonomy, and the collaborative spirit of Precog kept me going. An opportunity abroad led to more growth, but still no publications. Just as I was nearing graduation (finally!),…
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My Precog Tale: Persistence, Growth, and Collaboration
Hello everyone! I’m Saurav Chhatani, a recent Computer Science graduate from IIIT Hyderabad, joining Thoughtspot, a SaaS product company, as a Software Engineer. As someone who always wanted to explore research, joining IIIT Hyderabad, known for its vibrant research culture, was a natural choice for me. Joining Precog: A World of Opportunities When the opportunity to be a part of a research lab presented itself, Precog stood out as the most appealing and welcoming option. The lab’s flexibility to work on any topic, numerous collaboration opportunities, knowledgeable and helpful peers, and of course, the guidance of Prof. PK, made it an ideal environment for my research journey. I vividly remember…
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My Journey with Precog: A Transformative Experience
Hello everyone ! I am a recent Computer Science and Engineering graduate from IIIT Hyderabad, and I will be joining Oracle as a full-time engineer soon. My journey has been fueled by a deep passion for programming, which has led me to various enriching experiences. One such experience was joining Precog. When I joined the Precog research lab at the beginning of my 4th year, I knew I was becoming part of something special. Precog has a stellar reputation for conducting impactful research across a wide range of areas. The opportunity to work in such an esteemed environment not only honed my technical skills but also profoundly shaped my personal…
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Precog: A Community of learning like no other
Hey guys! I am a recent graduate of the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad in Computer Science and Engineering. I have joined a startup called HireQuotient as an AI and Software engineer and am currently based at their Bangalore office. IIIT introduced me to various facets of Computer Science which I had previously not explored and one such thing was research. I had little to no interest in research before I read about the popular Professor PK from the Precog lab. Reading some of his works and looking at his social media got me extremely interested in working under his guidance. So, during my 5th semester I applied for…