Tell us a bit about yourself

Hello, my name is Janani. I am from Chennai, India. In September 2020 I graduated from Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute University with a degree in Engineering BTech (Information Technology). I really enjoyed my studies and am very proud to have secured the 2^nd highest marks in my year.

During my course, I studied SQL, Java, Web Development and also achieved Prelims Level in “BEC – Business English Certificate”.

What did you do once you graduated?

During the COVID pandemic, getting job as a fresher is like “a tough row to hoe”. [Note: See Janani’s Tips & Tricks for Freshers post.] But without losing hope and I continued searching and eventually found a job in a logistics company as “Executive Documentation – Back End”, which is a non-IT industry.

Even though this wasn’t my first choice of industry I threw myself into the role to gain knowledge and skills and learnt everything I could about shipping and logistics.

How did you come to join Sandhata?

Though I had a job now, I knew I wanted to work in IT, so I kept my IT skills up to date, and kept my profile active on all job sites as well as social media. Soon, by God’s grace, I was contacted by a recruiter and managed to get this role at Sandhata as “Trainee Analyst”.

How was your experience joining Sandhata during COVID?

I found the joining experience very smooth. I was happy and excited to receive my laptop and joiners kit before my start date! Whenever I had any question or needed support I reached out and got help quickly.

Which projects have you worked on since joining Sandhata?

My first task upon joining Sandhata was on web development, in which I got to use my skills gained at university. I have also worked on some internal Sandhata projects where I have made strong connections with my team mates and gained skills such as GIT, UI testing, HTML and more. During each of my different initial projects I was asked to deliver a mock project to test my knowledge and deepen my learning on each topic.

Recently I was posted to one of our clients where I joined a team working as a microservices developer on an exciting microservices project. It was so interesting, and I got exposure to tools such as Splunk, Kubernetes, JIRA, Postman, Hibernate, Maven, and Spring Boot. I have also worked on presentations and documents to help onboard other people to join the microservices team smoothly in future.

What is next for you, Janani?

I have recently done a certification course on Responsive Web Design and I am hoping to gain skills in other areas too, for example test automation, CICD, Integration, as well as presentation and writing skills.

“My time as Sandhata so far has nurtured my skills, helped me to gain confidence and realise how I can make my maximum contribution to Sandhata and our clients.”

My experience and perspective have broadened and the training I have provided others has strengthened my skills in many areas. Thank you, Sandhata, for supporting me.

Learn More

If you are interested in joining Sandhata, check out our careers page for the latest job openings and how to contact us.

The post We Are Sandhata – Meet Janani appeared first on Sandhata.

Hello friends. Good to see you here.

For students, COVID-19 has had a big impact. Students have all had to study from home and the job market for graduates has become even more competitive.

In this blog, I will share some tips and tricks with you to help you navigate this challenging job market and find a role which suits you.

My 3 step process for making yourself more employable as a graduate is:

1. While studying, identify the career you are interested in entering, and make sure you gain knowledge relevant for that career during your studies.
2. Learn about trending technologies.
3. Upskill yourself with some free training courses.

1.   Gain knowledge relevant for your chosen career

When at college it is easy to focus on enjoying the experience, but it is important to also use your opportunity to gain knowledge in areas relevant to your career aspirations.

Some ideas:

1. First, think about which topics most interest you and research careers which would provide relevant opportunities.
2. Set a clear goal to gain skills in specific areas relevant to your interest and/or chosen career. There are so many technologies out there, if you do not focus on relevant tech you may invest lots of time in skills which are not useful for your job.
3. Plan your tasks according to a timeline and re-evaluate regularly to check if you are keeping to your plan.
4. Have a practice of taking notes which helps you to recollect information.
5. Try to keep your routine regular and stick to it.
6. Create social media profiles on all job sites. Keep your profile active and add qualifications / skills as you get them.

Some other things which worked for me personally:

• I scheduled time for my college activities (assignments, seminar etc) during the week.
• I used the weekends to learn new relevant technologies.
• I took a five minute break every hour for refreshment.
• I would visualise concepts to help recall them more easily rather than relying on words/descriptions alone.
• During exams, for a particular topic, I would visualize examples for each key point.

2.   Learn about trending technologies

Advances in technology happen so fast now. In only ten years we have seen so much change and new technology available to us. For example:

1. Ten years ago, many companies provided their employees with desktops which were in a fixed location. Now, laptops allow us to work from anywhere!
2. We used to go to the shops to buy things we needed – now we can get anything and everything delivered to our doorstep!
3. Just think about the great apps available to communicate with people around the world!

While at college many of us are not aware of the latest technologies and trending topics, and we may not be sure how to find this out either. But this may hinder our job search once graduated. Particularly if you choose to work in IT, it is vital to know about and stay up to date with changes in technology.

Here are some of the trending and popular technologies I have come across in my role and my research:

1. Data Science (Data Mining, Data Analysis, Data Visualization and more)
2. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
3. Cyber Security
4. DevOps & Automation
5. Cloud Computing
6. Internet of Things
7. Microservices
8. APIs
9. Languages such as: Python, R, Java, C#
10. Java Script (and AngularJS, React JS)

3.   Take free training and certification courses

In just a few hours you can learn lots of new skills in a previously unknown area. This will help to broaden your view (and maybe focus your career goals) as well as looking good on your CV.

Here are a few sites and tools providing free training and certification courses:

1. FreeCodeCamp – https://www.freecodecamp.org/
2. Amazon – https://aws.amazon.com/training/
3. Sololearn – https://www.sololearn.com/
4. Hubspot – https://academy.hubspot.com/
5. Google – https://skillshop.withgoogle.com/
6. Guru99 – https://www.guru99.com/
7. Mygreatlearning – https://www.mygreatlearning.com/academy
8. Edx – https://www.edx.org/
9. Simplilearn – https://www.simplilearn.com/skillup-free-online-courses
10. ClassCentral – https://www.classcentral.com/report/free-certificates/
11. Alison – https://alison.com/certificate-courses
12. Udemy – https://www.udemy.com/courses/free/
13. Coursera – https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=free
14. W3Schools – https://www.w3schools.com/
15. Tutorialspoint – https://www.tutorialspoint.com/

If you spend some time searching you will find there are many more out there as well!

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you. All the very best!” – Janani

I hope these tips and links are useful to you in your job search. Good luck!

Learn More

Are you interested in joining Sandhata? Our careers page has information on what you can expect at Sandhata, how we can support you, and help you grow your career.

Our roles currently open are here.

The post Tips & Tricks for Freshers appeared first on Sandhata.