Transforming Academic Knowledge to Industry Impact
Mridula Prabhakar, MS’25, software engineering systems, shared her journey so far while completing her master’s degree. Prabhakar showcases how she transformed her academic knowledge in the classroom to hands-on experience making impactful projects that will advance the technology industry.
Mridula Prabhakar is a current student in the MS in software engineering systems program at Northeastern University. Before joining Northeastern, she earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi, India.
During her undergraduate studies, Prabhakar interned at renowned tech companies as a software development engineer (SDE) intern, gaining hands-on experience in real-world development environments. After graduating, she worked at Accenture for over two years as an application development analyst, where she contributed to full-stack development and cloud-based solutions. These professional experiences deepened her passion for software engineering and inspired her to pursue further specialization in the field.
Prabhakar’s decision to join Northeastern was driven by its strong emphasis on experiential learning, particularly through its renowned co-op program. She was drawn to the university’s industry-aligned curriculum and its reputation for producing skilled, job-ready graduates. The MS in software engineering systems program stood out to her as it closely aligned with her interests in cloud computing, distributed systems, and scalable software design.
The co-op program played a major role in her decision. She saw it as a unique opportunity to gain real-world industry experience while still in school—bridging the gap between academic learning and practical application.
Classroom Experiences
Prabhakar shares that courses like “Concepts of Object-Oriented Design and Design Patterns” were instrumental in shaping her approach to building clean, scalable, and maintainable software. These courses instilled core architectural principles that are essential for any accomplished software engineer.
The “Web Development and User Experience Design and Testing” course provided valuable hands-on experience in building user-focused applications, while “Program Structure and Algorithms” played a key role in preparing her for technical interviews by emphasizing the importance of mastering fundamental coding problems.
Given her prior experience with microservices and cloud technologies, Prabhakar was especially eager to take “Network Structures and Cloud Computing” to deepen her understanding and further strengthen her technical foundation.
Prabhakar shares that several professors have played an important role in her journey at Northeastern. Among them, Adjunct Professor Daniel Peters had a particularly lasting impact through his courses “Concepts of Object-Oriented Design and Design Patterns in Java”. His clear, engaging teaching style—rooted in real-world application, made complex architectural principles easy to understand and implement. Prabhakar now serves as a Teaching Assistant for the “Design Patterns in Java” course under Professor Peter’s guidance. His support, encouragement, and fun yet structured approach to teaching have left a lasting impression on her, both technically and personally.
She also highlights “Program Structure and Algorithms”, taught by Associate Professor Yu Chen, as another standout course. Its hands-on approach to problem-solving significantly enhanced her algorithmic thinking and prepared her for technical interviews by focusing on foundational coding problems frequently encountered in the industry.
One project that particularly stood out to Prabhakar was the Cloud Native Web Application developed in the “Network Structures and Cloud Computing” course. This project gave her practical exposure to designing scalable backend systems, managing cloud deployments, and incorporating industry-standard tools like Terraform and managed instance groups—skills essential for building resilient infrastructure in real-world environments.
Another standout experience was the City Simulation Game created in the “Special Topics: Design Patterns in Java” course. By integrating over 14 design patterns into a fully functional, interactive system, Prabhakar gained a deep, intuitive understanding of software architecture. The combination of immersive gameplay and UML modeling made this hands-on experience both engaging and impactful.
These projects significantly enriched her technical skill set and reinforced her passion for designing robust, scalable software systems.
Co-op Experience
Prabhakar secured a co-op at Mindlance Inc. in New Jersey as a software development engineer Intern. While the role was primarily remote, it included opportunities to visit the office and engage directly with her team. This hybrid setup offered a valuable balance of flexibility and in-person collaboration, allowing her to experience the company’s culture firsthand and build strong professional relationships.
During her time at Mindlance, Prabhakar worked on a client-facing project aimed at improving business operations. She contributed to the development of a job application platform using Golang and the Echo framework, implementing AI-based routing and retry mechanisms to enhance reliability and efficiency. She also set up asynchronous shell command execution with real-time logging and robust error handling, resulting in smoother and more resilient automation processes.
In addition to backend development, Prabhakar built a ReactJS frontend, designed multiple APIs to enable seamless communication between system components, and worked extensively with large-scale MySQL databases. She used Postman for API testing and Playwright to automate workflows, ensuring that the final application was both dependable and maintainable.
Collaborating closely with senior developers, product managers, and QA teams, she gained firsthand exposure to agile methodologies, sprint planning, and cross-functional teamwork. The experience deepened her understanding of the software development lifecycle and taught her how to adapt quickly to evolving project requirements and priorities.
To secure this opportunity, Prabhakar developed a focused and strategic job search plan. She tailored her résumé to emphasize her technical skills and academic projects, applied through Northeastern’s co-op job portal as well as external platforms like LinkedIn, Jobright, and Indeed, and prepared extensively for interviews. Her preparation included solving LeetCode problems, reviewing data structures and algorithms, studying system design fundamentals, and practicing behavioral questions.
She describes the co-op program as a cornerstone of her academic experience. It gave her the opportunity to apply classroom concepts to real-world industry challenges, build confidence in her abilities, and gain firsthand insight into the dynamics of a U.S. tech workplace. Through her co-op, she gained invaluable exposure to large-scale systems, team-based collaboration, and agile development methodologies—all while contributing meaningfully to impactful, production-level projects.
Prabhakar credits Senior Co-op Coordinator Laura Meyer for playing a pivotal role in preparing her for professional success through the “Career Management Engineers” (ENCP) course. Meyer’s guidance was instrumental in helping her navigate the co-op process, refine her job search strategy, and build the confidence needed for career advancement.
Individual and Group Projects
Prabhakar actively worked on personal projects that significantly enhanced her technical skills and strengthened her professional profile. One such project was a portfolio website built using ReactJS and JavaScript to showcase her experience, projects, and skills. This interactive platform served as an asset during her co-op search, offering recruiters a clear and engaging view of her work.
Another standout project was the Smart Campus Chatbot, developed using Python, Flask, OpenAI’s GPT-4 API, and vector-based retrieval (RAG). Designed to assist students with queries about course schedules, office hours, and enrollment procedures, the chatbot referenced university documents to provide accurate, context-specific answers. Through this project, Prabhakar gained hands-on experience in natural language processing (NLP), prompt engineering, and AI integration—all while addressing real-world needs within the student community.
One of the major challenges she faced during the chatbot’s development was ensuring that responses were both accurate and context-aware. Since the bot relied on retrieving relevant information from university documents, fine-tuning how queries were interpreted and matched with the right content was crucial. She overcame this by refining the vector search logic, carefully designing prompts for the OpenAI API, and testing the system with a wide variety of sample questions to improve its reliability and user experience.
Prabhakar sees strong real-world potential in the Smart Campus Chatbot as a scalable student assistant tool for universities. By reducing repetitive queries for administrative staff and offering students instant, 24/7 support, it could significantly enhance campus communication. With further development and training on broader datasets, the chatbot could be adapted for other educational institutions—or even customized for corporate onboarding and internal support systems.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Outside the classroom, Prabhakar actively participated in volunteering and student support initiatives at Northeastern. One notable experience was serving as a speaker for the COE MS Council Co-op & Internship Panel, where she shared her personal journey, offered tips for securing a co-op, and provided insights on navigating interviews. Engaging with fellow students in this capacity was incredibly rewarding—it allowed her to support her peers while also strengthening her own communication and public speaking skills.
Her motivation stemmed from wanting to ease the uncertainty and stress many students feel during the internship and co-op search. Having recently gone through the process herself, she wanted to offer relatable guidance, share strategies that worked for her, and answer common questions. Her goal was to make the path to co-op success more transparent and approachable for others.
Looking ahead, Prabhakar aspires to become a successful software engineer who creates meaningful impact through her work. She is committed to continuous learning and growth and hopes to contribute to projects that solve real-world problems and deliver value to people. Over time, she envisions taking on roles where she can lead, support others, and leave a positive mark in every space she’s part of.
To conclude, she reflects: “My journey at Northeastern was where challenges shaped me—and purpose began to lead the way.”