Breaking Into AI and Tech in the US: Diptendra Bagchi’s Story

I am Diptendra Bagchi , an Applied Scientist II at Amazon, based in Seattle. I pursued my master’s degree in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I spoke with Leap about my master’s journey in the US for their Student Expert Series, featuring Indians who had recently studied abroad and are still in that country pursuing their dreams, to assist others who wish to follow a similar career path.

Q. Tell us about your background.

I grew up in a small town called Allahabad back in India. I moved to Delhi for my undergraduate studies, then to Chennai for my master's, and subsequently to Bangalore for my first job. I was in Bangalore for about four years. That's when I decided to pursue my master’s in the US.

Q. Why did you want to study abroad, and why did you choose the US?

From a very young age, I was exposed to this idea through movies or my uncle, who traveled a lot and studied in other places. I always wanted to go and see what it's like on the other side of the world. I also wanted to see how others approach the education system. It was like, 'Okay, try something, and if it works out, it might be good in terms of commercial success, financial stability, and so on.'

Q. Could you share your journey of deciding where to apply and the criteria that guided your choices?

In 2019, I wasn’t very interested in the work I was doing. It was a last-minute decision from a preparation standpoint. I would sit down every single day and write five emails to professors, HR partners, or various departments within the university to which I wanted to apply. I got accepted everywhere except Columbia. I also read a couple of blog posts, either by our seniors or others, that discussed UIUC's financial assistance and helped me make my decision.

Q. How much did you spend on your master’s, and how did you finance it?

I landed in Chicago with only about one semester’s worth of fees saved up. The very day I landed, I received an email from one of the professors asking if I was interested in an assistantship. It was fully funded with a tuition waiver and a stipend. I was like “yes, absolutely!”. Thanks to that, I graduated with zero debt and actually had some money left over because of the stipend.

Q. Why did you choose to become an applied data scientist?

From a background perspective, I was riding a wave at that time. My skill set applied well enough to that wave, and that’s how I got in. That’s also how I think I ended up at Amazon. But over time, my interests have changed. Now I’m much more interested in business in general: the story of business, how someone builds a successful business, and the whole idea of cause and effect.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your job?

What an Applied scientist does is create products and services for specific business use cases. My team focuses on mergers and acquisitions that Amazon undertakes, specifically on the security aspects associated with these transactions. Currently, I’m primarily focused on developing AI agents to automate specific tasks our team performs. Essentially, think of it as building a vertical AI agent tailored to our use case.

Q. Were there any big academic or cultural changes in the US?

I would say ‘having not enough Indian food” was a bit challenging. The same goes for having no domestic help. Academically, in India, it’s a lot of rote learning, whereas in the US, there’s much more flexibility in what you want to do. The courses aren’t fixed like they are in India, and that was great. Many assignments were designed to make you apply concepts in a project. Universities here provide a whole range of opportunities to explore. For example, I ended up joining a consulting group on campus, which was a fantastic experience. I had the chance to work on real projects with actual companies, which provided me with a practical perspective on consulting. One of my professors used to write code in front of us and actually implement algorithms live in class. That never happened in India, at least when I was studying.

Q. How did you land your role?

The first thing is to get your foot in the door. To do that, you have to stand out from the crowd. I sent out numerous cold emails and conducted LinkedIn outreach efforts. I’d look for companies that were hiring, determine which department was hiring, and identify a couple of managers or HR partners. Then I’d get their first and last names, use tools like RocketReach to find their email IDs, and send them very short, direct emails, just two or three lines. That’s actually how I ended up getting this job. A recruiter replied to one of my cold emails, saying, “We are hiring. Let me connect you with the manager,” and that connection led to further conversations. Additionally, I don’t believe in referrals, as everyone seems to have one these days. Especially in big companies, I think referrals often don’t work well. That was how I conducted my job search.

Q. Do you have any final advice or tips for recent graduates?

First, if you’re in a technical field, definitely take a lot of computer science courses. It helps in the long run. Second, utilize those skills to develop tangible products. For example, create a website or an app. It doesn’t matter if similar ones already exist. Learning by doing is incredibly important. When you’re moving here, prioritize places that can give you financial freedom. If you have that, you don’t have to worry about debt and can take other kinds of risks after you graduate. Too much debt can make you very risk-averse. Lastly, focus on what you’re good at. Find that particular talent or skill and focus on it for a few years. You’ll be amazed at how far that can take you.