M. Premkumar

I still remember that evening in October 2023. I was sitting in my hostel room, staring at my laptop screen, feeling completely lost. My placement season was about to begin, and despite three years of engineering education, I had no idea how to write a proper resume.

Growing up in a middle-class family in Tamil Nadu, I was the first person in my extended family to pursue an engineering degree. My parents sacrificed a lot to send me to college — one of the better colleges in the state. They believed that a good college would automatically lead to a good job. What they didn't know, and what I was painfully discovering, was that getting placed is about so much more than just attending classes.

I failed that first interview at a fintech company. Then I failed my second at an IT services company. By the time my third rejection came, I was genuinely questioning whether I was cut out for the tech industry at all.

The turning point came when I started talking to seniors who had been placed. One senior from my department, who had joined a product company, spent two hours with me explaining things that should have been obvious but weren't: how recruiters spend only 6-7 seconds scanning a resume, why the STAR method matters for behavioral questions, and that technical skills alone won't get you selected — communication matters just as much.

I took detailed notes. I created templates. I practiced mock interviews with friends. And slowly, things started clicking. My fourth interview went better. By my fifth, I received an offer. Eventually, I had three offers to choose from.

But here's what haunted me: why was this knowledge so hard to find? Why did students from premier colleges seem to know these "secrets" while students from Tier-2 and Tier-3 colleges struggled alone? Why were career counseling services charging ₹10,000-20,000 — money that most students simply don't have?

I've always been someone who learns by building. During my four years at MIT Chennai, I didn't just attend classes — I built projects, broke things, fixed them, and learned from every failure.

My technical journey started with simple Arduino projects in my first year — basic LED circuits and temperature sensors. By second year, I was building IoT devices that could actually do useful things. Third year, I dove deep into AI and machine learning, building models for image recognition and natural language processing. Fourth year brought blockchain projects, mobile apps with Flutter and React Native, and eventually, full-stack web development.

Every few weeks, I receive a message from a student saying something like: "I got placed at [company name] and your CGPA converter / interview guide / resume template helped me." These messages keep me going.

I'm not naive — I know Sproutern alone isn't going to solve the job crisis or fix everything wrong with Indian education. But if it can help even one student from a small town get their dream job, then every late night spent coding and every weekend spent writing guides is worth it.