My Journey to Zscaler as Devtest Summer Intern

In conversation with “Yash Jain” a student as well as ex-Intern of Programming Pathshala who has managed to bag a seat with Zscaler as their summer Intern in Devtech domain. Read his story of dedication and his Interview process with Zscaler ahead…

#100Stories is a series of transformational stories of courage and indomitable will to excel, picked from the lives of tech students, particularly in India. Initiative by Programming Pathshala.

Hi Yash, How are you? Would you like to Introduce yourself to begin with?

Sure, Hi everyone. My name is Yash and I am a third year student at Manipal University,Jaipur. I am currently pursuing my Btech in computer science engineering.

Great, so Yash you are on your way to begin your summer Intern with Zscaler, How does it feel?

It feels pretty amazing to be honest as well as a little daunting. I am ready for all the new challenges that will come my way as well as excited for new learning opportunities.

Amazing, So Yash, you have not only been a student of Programming Pathshala but our Co-Worker as well. You have been working on some exciting projects here, can you share some of your experience with us?

Yes, so Initially I started as a Student of Renaissance here at Programming Pathshala and like every other engineering student, I also was looking for some place to learn as well as provide me with a detailed roadmap on how to move forward to become a great SDE. During my research for the perfect place to enhance my skills at, I came across a lot of online platforms as well as online materials but none of them could answer my need of “Where to start and How to start”. Soon I came across “Renaissance” by Programming Pathshala and after having a word with Anoop bhaiya about the course and it’s structure, I enrolled for the same.

After completing the first module, I took up a project under the guidance of Bharat bhaiya and after evaluating my performance during that project, My mentors gave me the opportunity to work as an Intern with Programming Pathshala itself and now have been working here as an Intern since March 2022.

Since then I have become a better learner as well as I can see the difference in writing my code, I took feedback from my mentors and finally I guess I have started writing beautiful codes haha.

That’s Amazing Yash, sadly now you will be leaving us to join your new organisation, but honestly, we are just so happy for you.

Programming Pathshala has been like the stepping stone in my learnings, from everything that I could mention in my Interview to being able bag a seat in one of the product based company, it has been been a complete source of my learnings, till date.

So good to hear that Yash, so how has been your journey to reaching Zscaler?

It has been pretty adventurous, due to covid, colleges started getting shut and everything started taking place online. I believe initial college days are very important to frame your skills and learn new things, however it all took a backseat due to coronavirus. Fortunately, slowly things started getting better and at that time itself, I realised that I wanted to grow as a programmer and not switch my fields to management or anything else. I started learning different languages, doing the course and kept giving coding competitions.

That’s good to hear Yash, so in this journey of becoming a programmer, did you not face any difficulties or may have come across times where you felt like, if you’ve made a wrong choice?

There came many times where I felt demotivated, like when I entered my second year, I could see my batchmates doing some pretty great stuff, from bagging good internships to working on some really good projects, and when I looked at me I just felt demotivated for what was I doing with my life. Fortunately, My family has always been very supportive of my dreams and I have also been under the guidance of great mentors throughout my journey with Programming Pathshala. Every time, I would feel down, I will talk to Anoop bhaiya and he would tell me “Tu padhaai pe dhyaan de, baaki sab ho jaayega”,and soon I started working on a very good project here itself, so yeah I did feel down at times, but got back up and never gave up.

I hardly even post on any social media because again, it can be a very daunting place to be when you’re working on your dreams and see other people’s extraordinary achievements simultaneously. It can lead to self doubts I believe.

I completely agree with you, Yash. Now coming to the course here at Programming Pathshala, what are your views on the same? Do you think “Renaissance” is fast paced, slow paced or moderate?

Honestly, it is one of the most hardest and rigorous courses out there, I myself haven’t finished all the modules yet lol. But at the same time, due to its rigorousness and in-depth structure, It stands out from every other course in the market. The course is awesome and anyone who does this course will surely be able to crack any Top-Tech company’s interview.

Mostly, all the questions that I could attempt in the Interview is all because of this course and it’s in-depthness. It made me confident about myself. The way Vivek bhaiya teaches, he makes sure that you just do not know about the concept but should also know how and where to apply that concept in any problem. Due to continuous Doubt-Resolution support, it was easier to finish homeworks and Assignments, however they never said, we will solve your doubts, instead try it yourself and we will correct you but nothing shall be served in a platter, or you won’t learn yourself.

As Anoop bhaiya even said to me once that “It’s easy to get placed but what we look out to enhance in our students is, we want you to become a better computer scientist, a better software developer or most importantly, a better human being.

I know right, Building someone’s confidence or making them a better person even before becoming a better professional is one of our most important policies here at Programming Pathshala.

So now Yash, coming to your Interview process as Zscaler, How was the complete short-listing process for you?

I started building my Resume, using the online resume builder which I suppose any third-year student would do but I changed my resume to look more professional and presentable after reading one of the blogs here at Programming Pathshala with a complete guide on how to build a presentable resume.

I added my projects, achievements etc and soon when Zscaler came to our Campus for hiring, they ran an online coding contest and everyone from the CSIT branch was eligible to attempt the same.

Around 450–500 students gave the test and out of those only 21 got shortlisted for further rounds, thankfully I was one among those 21. I gave 3 technical rounds of Interview and the focus was mostly on Operating systems and Computer Networks and DSA. For DSA when the interviewer gave me a question, I could present 2–3 approaches for the same question to him and I guess he liked that in me. When I got the call for my second interview, it was completely DSA based, he asked me a problem and I gave him one approach to solve the same and then he asked me to code it, I told him my approach and while coding I thought of another approach that could be used with that problem and coded it in both the approaches. Hence my first question went pretty well, he then asked me second question and it was in sub-parts, it was a bit tricky for me but he helped me with some hints and then I could solve those questions as well. For my third and last round of interview, it was based mostly on Core basics of Programming languages, As I code in C++ so he asked me questions from same language and also a DSA question which was easier as compared to the first round.

After these 3 rounds, only 6 out of 21 got selected for the final HR round and I buckled myself up by preparing all sorts of questions that can be asked in the HR round. Finally I got my offer letter and will be joining Zscaler this month itself.

Great Yash, Thank you so much for giving me your time, but before you leave, any word of advice for our fellow budding SDE’s out there?

One thing I can vouch for is that you don’t need to look anywhere else for the placement courses as Programming Pathshala is enough, but one thing that you can do to improve your chances of getting shortlisted in any Top-Tech company is, Maintain Consistency with your preparations. Consistency is the key to success. You might feel like you are a bit slow with your preparations but remember this is just a part of the process of becoming a great SDE, so keep calm and maintain consistency with the course.

Thank you for the advice Yash, we hope you have a great future ahead. Take Care!

You can also start your journey with Programming Pathshala now. Logon to www.programmingpathshala.com and take a free trial. Have a doubt or suggestion? Reach out to us at info@programmingpathshala.com