BS (Data Science)
For Yasaswi Kapila, the IIT Madras BS Degree in Data Science and Applications wasn’t just an academic credential; it was a career catalyst. What began as a search for a structured programming path during his engineering studies transformed him into a professional Data Scientist. Yasaswi joined the program’s first batch in 2020 while simultaneously pursuing a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering at JNTU. He had already been teaching himself Python and C, drawn to Machine Learning and Predictive Algorithms. The degree, he figured, would give him a structured roadmap. What he didn’t expect was how deeply it would engage him.
“I saw Madhavan sir’s lectures for Computational Thinking and PDSA,” he says, “and I was really hooked. The quality of the teaching was so high. I wasn’t expecting that level of structure, and I started enjoying the process of learning.”
Balancing two degrees required a ruthless level of time management, and the rigorous curriculum quickly turned into a daily devotion. “It became something like how people go to the gym,” Yasaswi explains. “Something I had to do every day for an hour or two just to keep up, irrespective of what else was happening in my life.”
That discipline paid off spectacularly. He graduated with a CGPA above 9.5, earning a prize certificate and a medal at convocation. But the true value of the program revealed itself in the job market. When he sat for campus placements at his college, he landed a job at TCS.
“A major credit for me getting that job goes to this degree,” Yasaswi notes, “because half the projects I was displaying on my resume were the ones I did here.”
The degree’s impact didn’t stop there. Through an open opportunity shared by the Industry Interaction Cell (IIC), Yasaswi landed his current role as a Data Scientist at New Relic AI, an AI startup where he is currently working on building domain-specific Large Language Models (LLMs).
The program didn’t just teach him to code; it reshaped his professional trajectory.
Because he was managing such a heavy workload, Yasaswi initially took a strictly transactional approach to the online program. He kept his head down, focusing solely on the coursework, though he did manage to form a few close-knit friendships through collaborative assignments like the Strategies for Professional Growth course.
However, the true cost of his academic isolation only hit him in retrospect. When he finally attended Paradox last year – primarily just to pick up his academic medal – he walked into a vibrant, bustling community he hadn’t known he was missing. Hackathons, startups, and hundreds of peers who had built something real together.
Today, his advice to new students carries the weight of someone who successfully navigated the gruelling workload, but wishes he had looked up from his textbooks a bit sooner: don’t pursue the degree in isolation.
“The biggest opportunity this degree creates is that you can pursue two things at once,” he says. “You can learn a lot more than you would have otherwise. Have something else going on – a job, another degree, anything.”
Having spent the past four years balancing multiple commitments, Yasaswi isn’t ready to slow down. He is already planning to start the PG Diploma next term while continuing to work full-time. When asked why he would willingly take on the extra coursework again, his answer is disarmingly simple.
“Life kind of feels empty when I’m not doing it,” he laughs. “I finish work and think – yeah, now what?”
For Yasaswi Kapila, the answer, it seems, is always: more.
~written by Nikita Nanduri
