upGrad Review – What Our Students Say

Review is the new decision facilitator in Digital Times. Let it be Mobile or Automobile, Hotels or Restaurants, we want to first see their user review and only then take the decision. Of course, the online training program is no different. Students want to be 100% sure before they invest their time and money for any online program.

So, at upGrad, we decided to find out what our students think about us and our programs. Listed below are 5 upGrad Reviews by our students who have enrolled for our courses.

upGrad Course Review by Students

1) Pooja Bhalla – upGrad Digital Marketing course review

Pooja Bhalla is our student pursuing PG Certification in Digital Marketing & Communication. After working in the telecom sector for 13 years in a marketing profile, Pooja was looking to upgrade her skills. Being a full-time employee and a mother, she had to find an option that would allow her a certain degree of flexibility in choosing study timings so that she could also take care of her daughter.
The PG Certification in Digital Marketing and Communication grabbed her attention. Besides flexible timings, she was drawn by factors, such as live sessions, MICA alumni status, career services, and good word-of-mouth from friends who have completed the course. As described by Pooja, the impact of this course was not just limited to her own skill enhancement.

Pooja says, “It was 4 o’clock in the morning; my daughter woke up and saw me studying. Seeing the look of surprise on her face, I explained to her the importance of studying and told her that I recently joined a college. Inspired, she started putting more effort into her studies and has also been helping me with my chores so that I can sleep on time, wake up early and study.

I am happy that this course is not only allowing me to stay updated with new concepts but is also indirectly helping my daughter gain more confidence and believe that it is never too late to pursue what you want. I have even seen her tell her friends proudly that her mom is studying in college.”

2) Sridevi Neti – upGrad Product Management course review

Sridevi Neti is our student pursuing the Product Management Certification Program. Sridevi was the first learner from her batch to be transitioned through upGrad – that too with 15+ years of experience.

When we asked her to review her experience with upGrad, Sridevi says, “I always knew I wanted to work in Product Management, as I had a desire to be more involved in the business side of things that we do and the decisions we make. I personally enjoy ideating and implementing solutions that create and add value to the services or products that solve specific problems for customers. Though I knew I really wanted this, I was just not able to make a transition.

Not only did I not have the correct skillset, but moving into something new after over 15 years of experience was also not possible with a snap of the fingers. I had been working in Quality Assurance for a long time, and hence, this change would mean nullifying my prior QA experience.

This is where upGrad came to my rescue. It was my one-stop solution, as the Product Management course provided a holistic view of the entire PM life cycle, along with real-time industry projects that reinforce the PM concepts and helpful career services in the form of mock interviews.

I also remember once, my student mentor, Viraj, really gave me that extra push when I needed it the most, which helped me complete the course! Today, I am working as an Associate Product Manager, at Univariety, just as I had envisioned. I will certainly cherish all the learning moments with upGrad.”

3) Mohit Singh – upGrad Data Science course review

Mohit Singh is our student pursuing Data Science Certification Program. Mohit tells us about his story, how his career plan was shattered but his belief helped him overcome all the challenges and succeed in a professional career. Mohit says, “My father was in the Indian Air Force, and I always wanted to follow suit. But sometimes, reality can be a stark departure from dreams.

I realised this first when I had to enroll myself in an engineering course at NIT Surat, apparently for a stable career. I settled into my life at NIT, and being a national-level volleyball player, I also continued playing. But the lowest point in my life came when I severely injured my knee during a game. I was bed-ridden for weeks. Also, I was no longer fit enough to pursue my dream of becoming an IAF officer.

This dampened my spirits and even affected my grades, eventually pushing me into depression. Determined not to give up, I started watching motivational speeches and even wrote about depression. I cleared my final exams and landed quite an underpaying job. But I made the best of the situation and learned a lot on the job.

A year and a half later, I had a moment of epiphany: I took a leap of faith, quit my job, and enrolled myself into upGrad’s Data Analytics course. I lived a minimalist life during the 6 months of this course and channeled all my efforts, including 15 hours of study time per day, towards it.

I received incredible support from the upGrad student mentor and careers team in arranging mock interviews with industry experts and tips on salary negotiation. Thanks to this, I landed a job with Tech Mahindra! On receiving my paycheck, I bought a watch and a suit for my brother, who was then appearing for interviews. Now I am saving up to buy a car for my parents.

So there you have it – my journey has been full of highs and lows; of points from where I never thought I’d make a comeback, but in the end, I had faith in the one person I needed to trust—me—and that’s why I’m here today.”

4) Suchet Raghavan – upGrad Machine Learning course review

Suchet Raghavan is our student pursuing Data Science Certification Program. Suchet worked as a senior analyst at Capgemini, one day he decided to finally put down his papers
as he needed a break and wanted to start something afresh. Along the way he found upGrad’s NLP course on the “in shorts app” and it instantly struck a chord. The reputation that IIIT-B holds convinced him to take up the online course.

After having quit his job, he quotes, “the program kept me on my toes! Such was the psychological support he got from the program where the deadlines kept him sane and he also got to network with like-minded people of varied age groups”.

Suchet recalls this one time where towards the end of the program he faced a small roadblock in a case study and wanted to share his feedback with upGrad, he was extremely thrilled when his feedback was actually taken into consideration by our dedicated content team as they thought it would be helpful for future batches.

Although he had a cloud of mixed emotions once the program was completed, he felt that there was something missing now that the weekly deadlines and reminders were not there anymore.

As a teenager he always had the dream to fly to Canada and finally after a month of passing from the program he is now on his way to Canada to pursue Master’s with Ontario University. He will also be applying for roles in the field of ML/AI while he completes his education. Suchet is now spending some much-needed time with his family before leaving. We wish Suchet good luck for all his future endeavors.

5) Shruti Nair – upGrad Digital Marketing and Communications (MICA) Review

Shruthi Nair is our student pursuing the Digital Marketing and Communications Program. She talks about her passion for baking and how upGrad’s digital marketing program can help her transform her business.

Shruthi says “Baking is my passion and I have always wanted to convert my passion into my business. I did start a baking business. However, I lacked the necessary ‘digital marketing’ skills to be able to promote myself successfully. I did a number of online courses, but none were able to completely keep my attention, until one day I came across upGrad’s Digital Marketing course with MICA. I decided it was time to get serious, and I took the plunge and enrolled myself for this course.

The best part is that I am able to utilize my learnings in real-time. Only a few months into the course and I am already able to go into meetings and speak confidently about subjects taught such as ‘landing pages’, and ‘pay per clicks’. I love the networking aspect of the course, and so, even though we have a couple of Social Whatsapp groups to connect, a bunch of us overly enthusiastic classmates started one more group- ‘the backbenchers’!

We are constantly in touch regarding current news related to digital marketing. It feels so encouraging being connected to like-minded individuals in this way. This was also the group that demanded that I give them a taste of my baking skills and so I decided to share my passion with my peers and the awesome team of student mentors at upGrad and baked a cake at our first basecamp.

I have learned so much, and I am most excited to be able to use all the course learnings directly to make my business the success I have always envisioned for myself. Also, I hear that I am now referred to as the DM “cake lady”! :D.”

6) Shiksha Niti – upGrad Data Science Course Review

Shiksha is a fighter, a true epitome of an independent woman. Having worked in companies like TCS and Capgemini, she finally took the call of taking a break in her flourishing career when she became a mother. Growing up, her father always promoted education, and so, it’s no wonder Shiksha is an individual who is ever-willing to study and enhance her skills.

When asked what she enjoys most about the program, she tells us it’s the structure of the program. She loves the challenges of the deadlines, which seems to match her personality of being disciplined and well organized. This explains how she always performs outstandingly well in her assignments and completes all her graded components well before the deadlines!  

Shiksha believes that preparation and planning is the key to any interview. Her motto in life is to have confidence in whatever you do and continue to build up your skills, as this is imperative in today’s professional world. Despite a number of personal and health challenges, Shiksha, is well set to finish her PGDGS program with flying colours, and the best part is that, she has already set her plans to take up the LJMU program in the new year. We are so excited to have walked with her until now, and are even more excited to continue to walk with her as she tackles the next chapter of her journey with us!

7. Kumar Avishek – upGrad Data Science Course Review

The program was nearing completion when Carren from upGrad’s Admissions team called me for Masters Articulation however I was disappointed as I had yet to see a
tangible outcome.

Despite having acquired the necessary skills and knowledge, I was not even considered for an interview since the basic criteria were candidates from tier 1 colleges at a DS co-works even that I attended.

My Student Mentor, Pranav, connected with me to understand my concerns. He helped me in building my LinkedIn profile and resume; encouraged me to apply for as many jobs as possible & offered me JITs (Just in Time interviews). I applied to about 25 jobs however, couldn’t crack any. All of this paid off when at the Accelerate 3.0 job drive, I finally got shortlisted for a few companies. In the next few weeks, I had 2 interviews scheduled – Kantar Analytics and Quantzig.

I worked closely with my Mentor and got mock interviews done for technical, cultural fitment rounds and for salary negotiation. I got through to one company and Sagar from the careers team was in constant touch with the company to get the offer letter released in 2 days.

My proudest moment came when I received the much-awaited offer letter and I joined Quantzig as a Data Analyst with a 40% hike. Now I am taking up a Masters Program with upGrad this month after having settled in my current job.

8. Apurva Parasar – upGrad LPU Full Stack Development Review

I want to take this opportunity to thank my parents first and thereafter, LPU and upGrad where I am pursuing the certification course in Full Stack Development with learning exposure in Data Science.

Through rigorous practise, employability tests, soft skills and aptitude classes by upGrad and LPU I was able to crack the interview for the role of Analyst – Data Operations at Wunderman/MSC. I want to thank my mentor Mukesh as well who always guided me and I know I could not have achieved this without this help.

Conclusion – The point we are making by this post is that a lot of our Students have reviewed our programs with positive feedback. We hope to inspire students by the upGrad reviews and the impact. That is our real achievement, our win, and our goal. We want our students to excel in life and their career and that is what we prepare them for at upGrad. Our tag line is “Building Careers of Tomorrow” and we at upGrad work with this objective.