A UWindsor computer science student has a lot to say following a year-long internship with a German manufacturing company. 

Jai Priyadarshi recently completed his placement at Schaeffler Group in Herzogenaurach, Germany where he worked as a software developer.

“For the first month, I had a couple of training sessions with my supervisor Dr. Andrei Degtiarev for better understanding the software I had to develop,” the 22-year-old international student said.

Priyadarshi said the placement allowed him to improve his knowledge and gain experience by working in areas such as scripting in PowerShell, developing features for graphic user interface using C# programming language, developing a domain specific language in F# programming language and unit testing of new features.

On top of broadening his programming lexicon, Priyadarshi took German language lessons with Schaeffler outside of office hours.

He says he can now speak conversational German which helped him in networking with people both in and outside the company.

“One thing I gained from my time there is how to go into a new country and learn how they work,” Priyadarshi said.

Schaeffler Technologies is a global automotive and industrial supplier that manufactures plain bearing solutions and components for engine, transmission and chassis applications.

Undergraduate students in computer science have the opportunity to apply to the co-operative education program and must complete at least three paid work experiences during their four-year honours program.

Priyadarshi said his advice to students looking for an internship is to “see what area interests you the most in the field of computer science and don’t be too selective when applying for your very first internship.”

“After my second year I sent out around 30 applications but had limited experience and didn’t get an interview call,” he recalled.

“I went back home to India, worked on a small project, did a volunteer internship through VIP program of UWindsor and worked as a teaching assistant which added to my professional experience.”

After sending out 10 applications in his third year, Priyadarshi received four interviews.

Raised in New Delhi, India, Priyadarshi said he learned the foundation of programming back in school and had an understanding of web development and databases by Grade 10.

With an aunt and uncle in Ann Arbor, Mich., he decided to pursue his post-secondary education overseas and selected UWindsor to be close to family.

“Taking computer science at the University of Windsor helped me strengthen and elaborate my technical skills and my co-op experience added to it by working in a team, solving complex problems, learning new technical and organisational skills,” he said.

Going forward, Priyadarshi said he would like to work as a software developer in Canada with a focus more towards artificial intelligence.