This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Community Hub.
This is the next segment of our blog series highlighting Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors who achieved the Gold milestone, the highest status level attainable, and have recently graduated from university. Each blog in the series features a different student and highlights their accomplishments, their experience with the Student Ambassador community, and what they’re up to now.
Today we meet Dev Vaghani, who is from India and recently graduated from Gujarat Technological University (G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology, Gujarat) with a Bachelor’s of Engineering in information technology.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
When you joined the Student Ambassador community in 2019, did you have specific goals you wanted to reach, such as developing a particular skill or quality?
My non-technical priorities before joining this program were honing my public speaking skills and developing a better networkThis program fulfilled all my expectations by providing better technical knowledge and excellent mentorship support.
What are the accomplishments that you’re proudest of and why?
Having participated in and won many hackathons since my sophomore year, I learned it was equally crucial to spread awareness and share the knowledge I gained throughout. Collaborating with fellow Ambassadors, we organized HackGujarat, involving 1400+ participants. Being a lead organizer and monitoring design teams, marketing teams and development teams nurtured my leadership skills.
What are you doing now that you’ve graduated?
Currently, I am working as a Software developer at Upstox. With a newborn interest in Machine Learning, I am exploring the domain of Natural Language Processing. Specifically, I am researching transformer architecture and its optimizations.
If you could redo your time with the Student Ambassadors community, is there anything you would have done differently?
Joining the program earlier would be first on my list. Furthermore, I could’ve developed meaningful collaborations with Student Ambassadors from other countries. Better exposure could’ve given me an increased understanding of the field from the start. And lastly, collaborating with other Ambassadors for a global-level event would’ve been an achievement I could’ve added to my repertoire.
If you were to describe the community to a student who is interested in joining, what would you say to convince them to join?
In many colleges, I observed a lack of awareness amongst students, especially in their first or second year, about various technologies outside their domain. This program provides a platform where they can obtain guidance and be a part of a broader community to learn and grow. The program managers are always ready to provide assistance. Gaining knowledge on various domains and spreading it to their peers back in college is beneficial for all. Moreover, one could develop management and communications skills, which also matter.
What advice would you give to new Student Ambassadors?
I’d like to advise them that their goal should be to acquire as many skills as possible, not just technical but also soft skills like communication or event management. Don’t just join for the benefits; utilize it to better acquire new skills and do more networking.
Do you have a motto in life, a guiding principle that drives you?
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else.”
What is one random fact few people know about you?
I was a state-level contender in rifle shooting.
Good luck to you in all your endeavours, Dev!
Readers, you can find Dev on LinkedIn.