Shivam Shrivastava is a driven technologist whose journey from studying Chemical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur to becoming a Data & Applied Scientist at Microsoft reflects a rare blend of curiosity and grit. Known for his sharp problem-solving skills, his diverse experiences—from research at University College London to impactful projects on Kaggle—highlight his commitment to solving real-world problems through AI and machine learning. Beyond technical expertise, Shivam is passionate about sharing his learnings with aspiring engineers, often recounting his own path navigating tough interviews, intense placements, and the power of honest self-assessment. For him, growth means pushing beyond comfort zones, staying true to one’s interests, and building things that matter. Today, he continues to inspire students to explore, experiment, and create without fear of making mistakes.

The Social Digest: Your journey from studying Chemical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur to becoming a Data & Applied Scientist at Microsoft is remarkable. What inspired this transition, and how did you navigate it?

When you’re 18 and preparing for JEE, you don’t really know what you want to do in life. The system doesn’t give you space to explore; you’re just told to study everything deeply – even if it doesn’t make sense.

I entered IIT Kharagpur with the mindset of discovering what I truly enjoy. I’ve always loved math – it just clicked with me. That love for logic and structure is what pulled me toward competitive programming and later, machine learning.

In college, I went all in – did around 10 internships across different areas. I’ve always believed in learning by solving real-world problems. That mindset helped me build the right skills and ultimately land a role at Microsoft.

The Social Digest: Achieving a 5-star rating on CodeChef and an Expert level on Codeforces is impressive. How has competitive programming influenced your problem-solving skills and career trajectory?

I genuinely love competitive programming. It trains your brain to think clearly, break problems down, and approach them step by step.

Because of CP, I could crack interviews at both Google and Microsoft. It teaches you how to stay calm under pressure – which is exactly what’s needed in tough real-world tech problems. It’s like a gym for your brain.

The Social Digest: During your summer research internship at University College London, what projects did you work on, and how did this experience shape your perspective on research and development?

At UCL, I worked on a really exciting intersection of finance and AI. We built platforms that combined financial news and social media signals (like Twitter, TikTok, FT news) with stock market data.

I scraped over a thousand tweets, used NLP models like FinBERT and SBERT to understand sentiment, and developed time-series models like LSTM to predict stock trends.

We also built backend systems for the European Council for Financial Research and Innovation – supporting over 20 universities. It gave me a deep appreciation for building things that actually get used.

The Social Digest: You’ve shared your Microsoft internship interview experience on LinkedIn. What were the key takeaways from this process, and how did you prepare for it?

Placements at IIT Kharagpur are intense – 1500 students, dozens of tests, all aiming for Day 1 offers. It’s like JEE round two.

Being a non-CS student, I didn’t expect much when I gave the Microsoft test. But I cleared it – and then came the interviews, which ran from 7 AM to 10 PM.

• Round 1: It started with Operating Systems – not my strong suit. So, I asked to switch to DSA, where I felt more confident. Solved a histogram problem using stacks and coded it in 15 mins.
• Round 2: Graph problems + frequency-based problems. Solved them with a mix of brute force and optimization using priority queues.
• Round 3: A senior engineer asked me about my NLP projects, discussed hypothetical scenarios, and ended with a tough infinite-tree DSA question.

By 2 PM, I got the offer. I still remember how surreal it felt. That day taught me: play to your strengths, be honest, and stay calm under pressure.

The Social Digest: As an active participant on Kaggle, how have your projects and competitions there enhanced your data science expertise?

Kaggle is one of the best places to learn. You get to collaborate with brilliant minds, try out bold ideas, and see what actually works in real-world data problems.

It’s not just about accuracy – it’s about communication, teamwork, and constantly learning from others. That’s what makes it special.

The Social Digest: Managing rigorous academics at IIT Kharagpur alongside internships and competitive programming is no small feat. How did you maintain this balance, and what strategies worked best for you?

I never did anything just to impress others. I was clear about one thing: whatever I’m doing, I should enjoy it and feel good about it.

That mindset made it easier to stay focused. I also prioritized my health – both physical and mental. When you know why you’re doing something, and you’re not chasing things for validation, everything starts falling into place.

The Social Digest: For students aiming to break into top tech companies or excel in competitive programming, what guidance would you offer based on your experiences?

Don’t overthink. Just start. Explore, build, make mistakes. Find what excites you and go deep into it. And most importantly – seek discomfort. Growth doesn’t happen when you’re comfortable. It happens when you stretch beyond what you think you’re capable of.

This interview was conducted by our Head of outreach, Ansh Vachhani, The Social Digest on 30/06/2025. If you have any interview recommendations or have a story that you want to share with our readers, get in touch with our editor Vedant Bhrambhatt, at editor@thesocialdigest.com