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From College to Verizon 🚀 | How I Cracked Verizon | Campus to Corporate Placement Journey

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Campus-to-Corporate Career Episode (VIT → Verizon)

The video is a “campus-to-corporate” career episode featuring Umair Khan, a Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) student who recently joined Verizon as an Artificial Intelligence Engineer (work likely in Bangalore/Hyderabad). He shares the complete Verizon hiring journey, what helped him pass each stage, and practical guidance for juniors applying to software/AI roles.

Hiring Process and Selection Criteria

Eligibility filters (minimum academics)

  • 70% in 10th and 12th
  • CGPA > 7 (described as VIT minimums)

Resume importance

  • He believes shortlisting was largely resume-based, noting the mix of different CGPAs among selected candidates.

Stage 1: Online testing

  • Duration: about 2–2.5 hours
  • Format: two programming problems focused on Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)

Stage 2: Aptitude + English

  • Aptitude round: described as long/extensive
  • Similar exams that help: TCS NQT / Infosys (he mentions problem similarity to what Verizon uses)
  • English round: proficiency/assessment including grammar and paragraph writing

Shortlisting for the final stage

  • From 200 students, around 100 moved to the next round(s).

Final round: multiple sub-rounds

1) Group Discussion (GD)

  • Teams of ~8–10
  • About 4 selected per group
  • Topic (telecom market): “Why there are no new players in the telecom industry?”
    • His argument: the industry is effectively dominated by a duopoly (Jio/Airtel)
    • Barriers to entry: regulations and capital investment
  • Behavioral advice:
    • A GD is not a debate—avoid interrupting
    • He claims interrupters got excluded
  • Why he thinks he progressed:
    • He started the conversation
    • Summarized points
    • Added additional ideas

2) AI query round

  • Scenario-based task where candidates generate a query/prompt for AI
  • He used AI to generate the required hint/query and submitted it

3) Technical interview

  • Described as friendly and somewhat relaxed, but covering broad CS fundamentals
  • It began with personal questions (e.g., breakfast, hobbies, skills, background)
  • Technical topics included:
    • DevOps (he had prepared heavily for ~6 months)
    • Docker vs Kubernetes (about 15–20 minutes)
    • OOP basics
    • Databases/SQL, including tricky questions (e.g., maximum rows in a SQL table, cross-join abbreviations)
    • Dynamic memory allocation in Java/C/C++/Python
  • He emphasizes he was relieved they didn’t ask DSA, but warns others may face it

HR Stage and the “Selection Uncertainty” Period

  • After the technical round, HR was more formal and typically confirmation once passed.
  • He was told he was selected at about 12:30, then experienced a tense period (12:30 to 6:30) where recruiters repeatedly suggested selected people might be removed.
  • At 6:30, Verizon sent a short “Congratulations” email, followed by applause from the recruiting team.

Preparation Advice for Juniors (Core Message)

1) DSA is mandatory

  • Even if some rounds don’t directly ask it, he argues DSA is required for most interviews.
  • He summarizes it as: “DSA will accompany you for the rest of your life.”

2) Don’t overthink a “skills roadmap”

Companies mostly care about:

  • DSA
  • Projects
  • Some experience (if you have it), though project topics can be flexible

3) Resume for ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

  • He used Overleaf templates and targeted a high ATS score
  • Suggested: add an ATS-boosting professional summary with keywords
    • He mentions using AI tools like ChatGPT/Cursor to help
  • Resume components recommended:
    • Contact info
    • Education (10th/12th and/or college GPA)
    • Experience
    • 1–2 projects
    • Skills
    • Certifications
  • He claimed an ATS score ~92
  • He advises checking via sites like EnhanceCV

Salary and Employment Terms

Offer details (on paper + bonuses)

  • Stated offer: ~9 LPA
  • Bonuses included:
    • 7.5 LPA base
    • â‚ą75,000 joining bonus
    • â‚ą75,000 performance bonus
  • He was told they might increase beyond the promised amount (estimating 10–11 LPA)

Scholarship

  • Between â‚ą25,000 and â‚ą40,000 for about 6 months (exact amount not known)

Start date range

  • Last week of January to July (as he understood)

Internship-to-full-time

  • He says the internship leads to 100% full-time employment
  • Even full-time immediately was possible (instead of internship)
  • He contrasts this with friends who had internships that didn’t convert to full-time roles

His Background and Preparation

  • Not from an IT background
  • Programming was a shock in the first semester (Python)
  • Improvement:
    • From a lowest score of ~78% (12th-grade context)
    • Built foundations gradually:
      • Started with C (intensive learning from a ~40-hour playlist, plus manual note-taking)
      • Then C++
      • Later Java basics
      • Strengthened DSA gradually, especially sorting/searching and trees, during later semesters
  • For job readiness:
    • Dedicated a 2-month break to mastering DevOps and MongoDB
    • After that, he got selected for interviews

Final Top Takeaways

  • Early years: focus heavily on DSA
  • If you’re in 3rd year / near job hunting: focus on DSA + a clear skill + two strong projects
  • Leverage internships if available

Presenters / Contributors

  • Umair Khan (guest; VIT student and newly hired Verizon AI engineer)
  • Video host / interviewer (unnamed)

Original video