Hometown: Baroda, India
Education:
Illinois Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 2008
Gujarat University
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 2003
Shortly after arriving in Chicago on a cold snowy day in January 2006, Krishna visited the Career Management Center (CMC) to start searching for an on-campus job. He opened an e-Recruiting account, revised his resume with the help of a CMC career advisor, and started applying for on-campus jobs and a summer internship. (As a U.S. Permanent Resident, Krishna was eligible for off-campus work.) He was offered a work-study position at the reference desk at Galvin Library and began working during his first semester. Armed with CAD skills, work experience in India and Florida, and the 3.8 GPA he earned during his first semester at IIT, he was offered a full-time summer internship doing tool and die design with Webster-Hoff in Glendale Heights, Ill. Satisfied with his performance that summer, they offered him a part-time internship for the fall semester while he continued full-time study.
That fall Krishna attended the IIT Career Fair and also participated in On Campus Interviewing. He had interviews with several companies, including Baxter International, Caterpillar, Dietrich Metal Framing, Exelon, and Valdes Engineering. He accepted a full-time job with Valdes in Lombard, Ill., and began working in late December while continuing to pursue his master's degree on a part-time basis. His job at Valdes included working on site at the Exxon Mobil and BP refineries using his experience with piping design. A few months later, Baxter International offered Krishna an excellent career opportunity to work with their Device Center of Excellence as a Systems Engineer. He was reluctant to leave Valdes so soon, but Baxter was offering him his "dream job," so he accepted their offer and started the 100-mile round-trip drive to Round Lake in July 2007. Presently Krishna works in Reliability Engineering where he designs and tests medical devices, an integral part of Baxter's mission of "Saving and Sustaining Lives." He works on a team of 10 engineers from various disciplines, including Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering.
Krishna said that his IIT coursework in Statistical Quality Control and CAD and Manufactuing are proving most helpful in his work. This past May he graduated from IIT with his master's in Mechanical Engineering and will likely pursue an MBA after gaining more experience at Baxter.
His advice to IIT students: "It's always difficult to get your first career job but keep applying and try not to get too discouraged when things don't happen as quickly as you wish. Use the services and expertise of the CMC, which will guide you on the path to success."
This article originally published in the Fall 2008 Opportuniities, an IIT Career Management Center newsletter. It was written by Leslie Andersen, (Career Management Center), and edited for this posting by Lesley Rivetto.
