Building Rock-Solid Fundamentals: What Top Companies Actually Look For

Why strong fundamentals still decide who gets hired. Microsoft software engineer Shumbul Arifa came to ALTA’s IITM Delhi NCR campus to talk about the foundations top companies actually look for.

About the talk

Straight from someone who interviews candidates: why DSA, maths and computer science basics still decide who gets hired, and how to build that depth early so everything later becomes easier.

About the speaker

Shumbul Arifa is a Software Engineer at Microsoft, an NITK alumna and a tech creator with 375K+ followers on LinkedIn and 13.2K subscribers on YouTube.

At a glance

• When: Saturday, 19 September 2026, from 10 am
• Where: IITM Delhi NCR Campus, Murthal, Sonipat
• Format: In-person industry seminar
• Open to: All students
• Speaker: Shumbul Arifa, Software Engineer, Microsoft

Event poster

About ALTA Guest Talks

Every semester, each ALTA campus hosts an industry mentor for an in-person talk: a chance for students to hear how things really work outside the classroom and ask their own questions.

• Why data structures and algorithms are still at the heart of hiring
• The maths and computer science basics that interviews keep coming back to
• Building depth early, so advanced topics later feel easier
• What an interviewer is really looking for when they ask a question

All students at ALTA’s IITM Delhi NCR campus, from first years laying their foundations to seniors preparing for interviews.