My hometown is Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India. I can be referred to as Karan, Karan Pratap, Pratap and Karan Pratap Singh, but never Karan Singh.
Computer Science was the natural choice as a major in my undergraduate education. In my junior and sophomore years, I once attempted to build a desktop computer from scratch and witnessed it coming to life. My peers regarded me as the first stop for fixing their code or faults with their OS installations. These instances were reminiscent of my excitement and gratification on designing my first webpage as a kid, and incited feelings that have stuck with me throughout the years - the satisfaction of seeing my creation in action, of understanding and dissecting seemingly complex stuff. Coding and mathematics are a respite for me; something absolute and logical, in a world where our every attempt to subdue, categorize and comprehend natural phenomena is ridden with exceptions and unreliabilities. I am attracted to the beauty of these subjects, which lies in how absolute they are, devoid of biases, and thus the only means capable of driving real change. I have come to view software as the intangible manifestation of logical thought, capable of producing very tangible effects, and solving real-world problems, whose existence we may not even realize.
I obtained my undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi in 2020 and am currently pursuing my master’s degree in Systems and Networking (MSIN) from Carnegie Mellon University. My main interests lie in systems software design and implementation. I have undertaken some of the most rigorous project-based systems courses at CMU, including Compiler Design, and Operating Systems Design and Implementation, which I have in my fall 2024 schedule. Other project-heavy systems courses I have taken include 15-213/513: Introduction to Computer Systems, 15-441/641: Networking and the Internet and 14-642: Introduction to Embedded Systems.
I worked as a Software engineer at Cisco, Bangalore, India for a little over 2 years as a Software Engineer in the SDN domain before deciding to go beyond the abstractions that were proving quite frustrating. I developed an interest in low-level programming and computer systems and started pursuing my master’s degree in Fall 2023 from CMU, concentrating on Networks and Systems. I fell deeply in love with CMU systems after taking 15-213/513: Introduction to Computer Systems during the summer of 2023, following which I have mainly concentrated on systems courses.
During the summer of 2024, I worked as an Embedded Software Engineer Intern at SIL4 Systems Inc., a Pittsburgh-based innovative supplier of affordable safety and control system products and services for rail transit, railroad and industrial markets worldwide. I worked with a custom development board, researching and testing peripherals, including SPI, EMAC, UART etc., reading and writing driver level code and dealing with assembly on a regular basis whilst debugging. Alongside this internship, I also worked as a teaching assistant for 15-213/513: Introduction to computer systems with the department of Computer Science (SCS) at CMU.
You can read about my projects in this post.