How Krishna C. Mukherjee Was Recruited Straight Out Of University
Every year, hundreds of thousands of students graduate from universities all over the world with Master’s degrees. They graduate knowing that their Master’s degree brings numerous benefits, both for themselves and their employers. Students of Master’s programs learn to improve their skills in areas such as time management, organizational behavior and multi-tasking. All these skills are recognized by potential employers as being key assets in today’s work environment. Employers are aware that Master’s graduates are motivated and flexible members of staff, who are willing to embrace change and progress within a business environment.
Understandably, the Master’s graduates have a long list of dreams. They wish to join the workforce not only to contribute to the economy, but also to pursue their own ambitions and to improve our shared futures. The modern economy has globalized, and the scramble and competition for lucrative jobs is fierce. Nowadays, quite a few students venture towards entrepreneurships and startups, but most of them still want jobs with reputed multi-national organizations to gain valuable experience in a diverse and global workplace. The matter of fact is that a very small percentage of these dreamers are able to get the jobs that they so dearly want.
Krishna C. Mukherjee is a talented professional, who was recruited straight out of the university by Microsoft in 1988. Mukherjee was born and brought up in India. He has an excellent educational background. In 1986, he joined the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur to pursue his Master’s degree (M.Tech) in Computer Science and Engineering. As a university student, he developed a vision for the future of technology. While doing his Master’s studies, he chose to specialize in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics. He conducted excellent research and published papers in AI conferences. He wrote a thesis on AI Planning and Robotics. His innovative work attracted the attention of world-famous organizations including Microsoft. In late 1987 and early 1988, he was inundated with job offers even before completing his Master’s degree. The now Senior Software Architect & Engineer, Inventor and Executive, tasted success as a student while at the university.
Krishna C. Mukherjee accepted Microsoft’s offer to architect, design and develop mission-critical software products for the company. In 1988, he graduated at the top of his class at IIT Kanpur with a perfect Grade Point Average (GPA). Soon thereafter, he started working for Microsoft at the company’s headquarters located in Redmond, Washington, USA. Functioning as Principal Architect and Lead Software Engineer, he played a critical role in the development of Microsoft’s flagship products including Windows, Office and Visual Studio. Mukherjee – a young recruit from the university - quickly became an integral part of Microsoft’s success.
Over the years, Mukherjee has contributed his time, energy, skills and talent to Microsoft. He has helped Microsoft to emerge as an industry leader and become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Mukherjee has received several academic and professional awards for his outstanding work and achievements.
In 1988, Krishna C. Mukherjee relocated from Kanpur, India to Washington, USA in the blink of an eye. Here are two of the unique ways Mukherjee was able to be recognized by highly reputed organizations like Microsoft, when he was a university student:
(1) Independent projects
It may be difficult for prospective employers to gauge how well acquainted you, as a university student, are with Information Technology (IT). They may not be impressed just by your academic credentials. You have to add more information to your resume than merely listing the schools you attended and the courses you took. Way too many of your peers may do that, so it does not help you to stand out from the rest.
Scoring a high GPA is definitely an important factor. On top of that, you need to identify at least one open problem in an important area and create a whole project out of it. By doing so, you express your creativity and eagerness to work on real-world problems. Your initiatives give a clear insight into the kind of student, and potential professional, you really are.
As a Master’s degree student, Krishna C. Mukherjee identified interesting problems in the areas of operating systems, compilers, databases and AI, and he created projects out of them. He independently worked on these projects. He discussed the projects with the interviewers during the job interviews. He explained to the interviewers the potential of AI and how it can become the future of the IT industry. Moreover, he achieved a perfect GPA in his coursework. Microsoft’s interview panel was extremely impressed with Mukherjee’s intelligence, academic credentials and his ability to research and solve problems creatively. Microsoft made Mukherjee a prestigious offer and helped him to relocate from India to the USA.
(2) Projects specific to companies
Completing a project, which has direct relevance to the jobs you are applying for as a university student, is probably the strongest way to convey your competence and commitment to prospective employers. By working on case studies or projects similar to the ones being done at a company, you can show that you not only have the skills and capability to be a part of the company environment, but also are capable of solving the company’s business problems. The projects, which you do at the university, give a clear view of how quickly you catch on and learn. They demonstrate that you can work independently and achieve goals on time.
The projects, which Krishna C. Mukherjee did at IIT Kanpur, were very relevant to Microsoft and other technology companies. During the interviews, Microsoft and the other companies got convinced of Mukherjee’s research skills and his ability to communicate the significance of his research. Mukherjee leveraged his educational background to architect, design and develop Microsoft’s famous products that we use every day. In the early 1990s, he introduced AI technology at Microsoft. He directed teams to incorporate AI-based features into the Microsoft products.
In the late 1990s, Mukherjee invented the ground-breaking AI technology “Intelligent Filing Manager,” popularly known as INTELLIFM, to automate business-critical workflows and deliver stellar customer experience. With the deployment of the INTELLIFM technology in the 2000s, AI became a huge commercial success. Through his advanced architectures and designs, Mukherjee made it possible to perform complex business transactions over the Internet or the “Cloud.” He improved the efficiency of business processes in large enterprises across many industries. He established the Software as a Service (SaaS) model for licensing and delivering software through subscriptions to centrally hosted applications and data. In 2011, Microsoft launched Office 365 - the SaaS version of the Office applications. Today, cloud computing and AI are bringing major changes in the business world. They are working together to make our lives simpler. Their fusion is expected to define the future of technology.