As a curious Computer scientist and Sports person, my interests are twofold. For one thing, I love studying and modelling Computer systems that are inspired by natural systems of the world. Such models expose the underlying structure inherent to natural systems, that we fail to observe otherwise. On the other hand, I also deeply enjoy playing soccer and watching LONG anime (One Piece Rules!!). vdkamtikar@gmail.com +1 (240)-302-5952

var vrushal_kamtikar = function() {

// Hello, you have found my website.

this.name = "Vrushal Deepak Kamtikar";

this.location = {

// University of Maryland, College Park

// College Park, Maryland - 20740

var (latitude, longitude) = (38.9897° N, 76.9378° W);

}

this.is_happy = function() {

if (this.is_coding()) {

// I am always happy when I am coding :)

return true;

} else if (this.is_learning()) {

// Above everything else, learning is my passion

return true;

} else if (this.is_travelling()) {

// Travelling helps me explore the world, put my

// life in perspective. Appreciate the things that I have

// and Aim for the things that I would like to have. (and also keeps me away from my Laptop's screen for a while).

return true;

} return false;

}

// Life Motto

if (!this.is_happy()) {

this.be_curious();

this.be_awesome();

}

// ...

}

I am a Computer Engineer, a Software Developer and Data Scientist. I live in the small city of College Park, which is home to the University of Maryland (Certainly a Smart plave to live!). I view my life as a Deep Learning algorithm, wherein my life keeps on adding hidden layers to show deeper and more complex interactions through everyday events. The choices that I make keep getting better and better as life keeps adding layers to my algorithm. In that case, determining the so called goodness / badness of a choice is just a simple inference problem, based on the outcomes (nodes) in this chain. So, when I say that I wish to pursue a career as a Data Scientist, it is only a decision that maximises my satisfaction parameters even at the deepest levels that I posses. I am excited about research in fundamental field of Probability. I have come to like probabilistic models in general and graphical models in particular, not only because they provide a powerful way to model complex stochastic systems but also enable us to understand human thinking and behaviour, which is always Fuzzy and not Binary.

Achievements

JP Morgan - Code for Good, 2016

Dream a Dream is a company that empowers young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and flourish in a fast changing world, using a creative life skills approach. Tracking and collecting information on students and families who often migrate to different states is a big challenge. We worked continuously over a period of 36 hours to come up with modifications to their existing tracking system. We built an android app that tracks their location as well as serve as the primary form of communication with the student. Further, students could update their latest degree and projects they worked on and keep their profile up to date. We also provided them with a dashboard to keep the gathered information easily summarized.

My contribution to the project was to come up with a multi staged IVR system which had a series of Yes/No questions intended to gain feedback from the students who had left the program. I used Exotel to build the IVR system. The integration of IVR and Database was done using Django.

Projects

MovieMender

The aim here was to build a Movie Recommendation System that could recommend movies to the users based on their preferences and also the preferences of users similar to themselves.A Movie Recommendation System

GITHUB

The inspiration behind this project was the Netflix prize. We wanted to build a recommendation system that predicted the user ratings as accurately as possible. Well our model was certainly far from the best but I was extremely satisfied with our work.

Aquicore Firm Analysis

Evaluated the present scenario and future prospects of Aquicore and the Commercial Real Estate industry on the basis of Frameworks such as VRIN and Porter’s five forces. Based on our analysis, we provided a final verdict on whether to buy, sell or hold Aquicore stock.

PROJECT REPORT Power Point Presentation

This project was a part of my Strategic and Transformational IT class where we tried to apply all the frameworks that we learned in the Course. We tried to address the fundamental reasons behind a company's success or in this case....Failure

Linear Regression Model

In this project I developed a Linear Regression model to predict the interest rates of mortgages. Created several interaction variables, using their scatter plots of the corresponding variables, to increase the accuracy of the model. Introduced several categorical varibales as dummy variables to incarporate seasonality.

Here, I got to work on Freddie Mac Mortgage data which had more than 80 Variables. Choosing which varibles to include in the model and how to include them was the hardest part!! This was done as a part of my Data Models and Decisions class.

Server Monitoring System

Worked on building a Server monitoring for Scandid while interning for them. I was on the backend team where I used Zabbix as the base tool for building the system.

This was my first professional experience and also my first time away from home. It was intimidating at first but the people in my team did an excellent job at making me feel comfortable. I would definately work with them someday if i get a chance!!

Publications

Vrushal Kamtikar, Kevin Shah, Ajinkya Gutti and Jeet Gandhi (2016) "MovieMender - A Movie Recommendation System" In proceedings of International Journal Of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology (IJESRT).

PUBLISHED VERSION

Work

Software Developer Intern, Scandid.in

Scandid is an e-commerce company located in Pune, India, where I worked as a part of the backend team on the deployment of Server monitoring system . Additionally, for a brief period, worked with the fronted team on their android platform, and the Google Chrome Extension platform.

Hobbies and Interests

Dana Cup, Denmark & Gothia Cup, Sweden

I played for MSFA (Maharashtra state football association) which represented India in Dana cup (now Called as CUP NO.1) and Gothia cup (also called as World Youth Cup), both in 2010. I played in the midfield and was a pacy winger.

Here is the other fun aspect of my Life. I miss the days where I could just play football (Soccer in america...sigh :'-) ) all day without worrying about anything else.

Lan Gaming Committee

During my senior year of college, I was incharge of the Lan gaming committee which was responsible for holding inter-college gaming events. The events included Console gaming (Fifa, WWE, NFS), PC gaming (Counter strike, Dota 2) and Mobile gaming (Mini militia).

I was a prolific gamer throughout my childhood and wanted to put that skill to good use. I got an opportunity to do just that when I was elected as one of the managing committee members in my final year. This opportunity gave my leadership skills a huge boost and now here I am......A much more Confident person.