Featured Story: Keshav Bhoovaragan

From Persistence to Opportunity: Landing a Software Engineering Internship at IBM

Keshav Bhoovaragan, a student at the University of Maryland, College Park (Class of 2027), recently secured a Software Development Engineer (SDE) Internship with IBM for Summer 2026 — a major milestone for an aspiring engineer building a career in software development.

For Keshav, the journey to this opportunity was defined by persistence, technical preparation, and continuous improvement. Like many students pursuing competitive software engineering internships, he faced long waiting periods, limited responses, and uncertainty throughout the application process. Instead of becoming discouraged, he focused on refining his skills, strengthening his resume, and continuing to connect with professionals until the right opportunity aligned.

Background

Keshav has been building his technical foundation through coding coursework, personal projects, and early programming experience dating back to high school. His interest in software engineering has been reinforced through hands-on development work and continuous learning outside the classroom.

The IBM Software Development Engineer Internship represents an opportunity for him to apply his technical knowledge, gain real-world engineering experience, and learn within a global technology company known for enterprise software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence innovation.

What excites Keshav most about the opportunity is the chance to demonstrate both his technical capabilities and the professional relationships he built through networking and collaboration.

The Challenge

One of the biggest challenges during Keshav’s internship search was the lack of responses after submitting applications. Like many engineering students, he experienced long waiting periods before hearing back from companies.

Rather than letting this slow his momentum, he leaned into consistency and persistence — continuing to apply to roles aligned with his interests, strengthen his skills, and stay connected to opportunities within his network.

This mindset helped him focus on improvement instead of setbacks and maintain momentum throughout the recruiting process.

Champion Objective Process

Resume Development & Professional Presentation

One of the most impactful improvements came from refining Keshav’s resume structure and presentation. His previous template limited how effectively he could showcase his coding experience, coursework, and technical projects.

Through restructuring, formatting improvements, and clearer project descriptions, he was able to communicate his technical abilities more effectively to hiring teams.

This improvement also extended to his LinkedIn profile, strengthening his overall professional presence.

Technical Skill Development

Keshav’s strongest advantage came from consistent technical preparation. Through coding coursework, personal projects, and early programming experience, he developed a foundation that translated directly into technical interview readiness.

These experiences allowed him to demonstrate practical coding skills, problem-solving ability, and technical confidence during the interview process.

Networking Perspective

Keshav viewed networking as a long-term foundation for opportunities, while recognizing that technical performance ultimately drives results. This perspective helped him balance relationship-building with skill development.

By maintaining this balance, he stayed focused on preparation, improvement, and execution during interviews.

Long-Term Career Thinking

Structured career conversations helped Keshav think beyond a single internship and instead map how each opportunity contributes to long-term career growth.

Understanding how early experiences connect to future engineering roles allowed him to approach opportunities more strategically and intentionally.

Results

• Secured a Software Development Engineer Internship with IBM for Summer 2026
• Strengthened resume and LinkedIn professional presentation
• Continued building technical programming skills through coursework and projects
• Developed a long-term outlook on software engineering career growth
• Increased confidence competing in technical recruiting processes

Reflection

Throughout the process, Keshav learned that he has the ability to compete and succeed in highly competitive internship pipelines. Although he acknowledges some nerves heading into the internship, he views that feeling as motivation to prove — to himself and his team — that he earned the opportunity through preparation and hard work.

When reflecting on his experience with Champion Objective, Keshav shared:

“Being part of Champion Objective helped me stop being nervous and believe in myself. It showed me that there is a job out there for me — I just need to keep applying, networking, and building relationships. Eventually something good will happen.”