Venkata Dheeraj Majeti is working toward his Master’s in Cyber Security. Dheeraj’s interest in Cyber Security began during his freshman year after attending a few workshops on the subject. Soon he found himself conducting research outside of school particularly on security blogs. Eventually, Dheeraj started his own Facebook page about cyber security providing tips and advice to other Internet users. (The page has almost 36K likes!) Dheeraj began looking for Master’s programs for Cyber Security during his junior year of college. He decided to go to graduate school at Wright State due to the program’s multiple focus areas in security: technical, management, and law.
Through the job search site Indeed, Dheeraj applied for a position at IBM. After connecting with the HR department and taking IBM’s IPAT test (a type of aptitude test), he was invited for an interview. Three weeks later he was selected for the position.
IBM is a multinational technology company that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of computer hardware, middleware, and software, as well as providing consultation services. IBM also conducts research and is responsible for the creation of the ATM, the floppy disk, hard-disk drive, DRAM, the UPC barcode, and many other patents.
Through his internship, Dheeraj has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge in security, provisioning, upgrade and release engineering areas of IBM Integrated Analytic Appliance also known as Sailfish. He has also worked on implementing and automating the backup and restore strategy for IIA. This internship also provided him with the opportunity to work with the latest technologies such as Blockchain, Bluemix Cloud, and IBM X-Force Threat Exchange. Dheeraj a was also awarded the IBM CRUSH IT and Best Manager’s Choice awards for the all the hard work he has done.
For students interested in doing an internship, Dheeraj has this to say: “I suggest students to start applying for internships and get experience while you are still in the school. As an intern, you will gain a lot of knowledge and exposure to how companies implement their agile methodologies and be part of their latest software. As you work, you will engage with your team and collaborate and learn from other teams too. You will gain many soft skills by talking to executives and managers in the company. Internships are not only about work. There is also fun for employees. It’s all how you balance your daily work. Do not hide in your cube all day; instead, build your connections and talk to as many people as you can in the company. Be sure to maintain and update your LinkedIn profile accordingly.
Finally, give importance to internships. They are the building blocks for your future.”
