BS (Data Science)
If you asked Sachin Sinha to draw the roadmap to his career, he’d probably refuse. Not because he can’t, but because every time he thought he had figured it out, life quietly redrew the map. Engineering didn’t work out. Geology wasn’t exactly Plan A. Data Science arrived unexpectedly. His first software job involved Java, even though he’d spent years learning Python. Then came a string of MBA admission offers that he decided not to accept. It’s safe to say things rarely went according to plan and somehow, that’s exactly what makes his story work.
Sachin completed Class 12 in 2017 with every intention of becoming an engineer. When that didn’t happen, he took two drop years before enrolling in B.Sc. in Geology at the University of Lucknow. It wasn’t the destination he had imagined, but it kept him moving forward. During this time, he discovered the IIT Madras BS Degree in Data Science and Applications. He joined the programme in its very first batch in 2021, bringing him closer to the world of technology he had long been drawn to.
There were plenty of unexpected turns along the way. He describes himself as the “last-minute mugging-up guy” during his Geology days, jokes that he was “a beneficiary of COVID” because online learning made juggling two degrees possible, and laughs about how one of his favourite subjects in the BS Degree eventually became Machine Learning Techniques – the very course that had once blocked his academic progression.
As the programme progressed, it transformed more than his technical skills – it changed the way he interacted with people. A self-confessed “study, study, study” person, Sachin found himself collaborating with classmates, making friends across exam centres, and gradually becoming far more comfortable interacting with people.
This transformation eventually led him to become a Teaching Assistant for the Modern Application Development I and II courses. Along the way, he earned Microsoft Azure certifications, and participated in several technical learning opportunities through the institute.
The skills he built during the programme helped him secure an off-campus role as a Software Developer at SAP Labs India. Ironically, after spending years learning Python, his day job revolved around Java. “I am always translating from Python to Java,” he says with a laugh. “In a candid way, I want to get out of Java and go back to my Python and ML stuff.”
The next crossroads came in the form of CAT. His efforts resulted in admission offers from IIM Amritsar, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM Bodh Gaya, and the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. For many, that would have marked the next obvious step. Sachin surprised himself by deciding otherwise. The admissions were an achievement; but turning them down brought clarity. Technology was still where he wanted to build his career, and this time, he didn’t feel the need to second-guess it.
One lesson stayed with him long after the assignments, quizzes, and exams were over: don’t go through the programme alone. Some of his most valuable learning came from classmates with backgrounds completely different from his own.
“Don’t become a silo sitting with your computer,” he says. “Network. Someone in the programme will always know something you don’t, and you’ll know something they don’t.”
For Sachin, one of the greatest strengths of the BS Degree wasn’t just its flexibility or academic rigour, it was also the community that grew around it.
Somewhere along the way, his journey became unconventional. Very few careers unfold exactly the way we imagine them after Class 12. Plans change. Interests evolve. Unexpected opportunities appear. The challenge isn’t to follow the original roadmap perfectly, it’s to keep moving until you find the road that feels like your own. For Sachin, that road always seemed to lead back to technology. It just took a few unexpected turns to prove it.
~written by Shambhavi Shekhar
