πŸ‘‹ Howdy folks! I'm

Tezan Sahu

AI Engineer @ Microsoft Speaker @ Conferences, Corporates & Campuses Bestselling Author of Beyond Code Top Data Science Mentor @ Topmate

I help aspiring data scientists & developers thrive in the AI era β€” through talks, workshops & mentoring, blending lessons from building AI products at Microsoft with insights from my book Beyond Code β€” guiding them toward impactful, industry-ready careers.

50+ Talks & Workshops
100+ Professionals Mentored
20,000+ Learners Reached
Tezan Sahu
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About Me

Hi, I'm Tezan Sahu β€” AI engineer, speaker, mentor, bestselling author, and unapologetically curious about everything from neural nets to music notes.

Applied Scienist 2 @Microsoft

M365 Core IDC Copilot Extensibility

Bestselling Author

"Beyond Code" - Career growth guide

Distinguished Speaker

50+ Talks & Workshops

IIT Bombay Alumnus

Institute Rank 2

πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’» At Microsoft, I work as an Applied Scienist II, helping Enterprise customers extend the capabilities of M365 Copilot through MCP-based agents, apps & connectors β€” with a proven track record of accelerating 0-to-1 initiatives & solving complex problems.

πŸ“˜ I'm the author of Beyond Code β€” a bestselling career guide for developers and data scientists navigating the real-world challenges of tech.

🧠 As a Top 1% AI & Data Science mentor on Topmate, I've guided hundreds through interviews, career transitions, and AI consulting.

🎀 I've delivered 50+ talks and workshops at conferences & summits like PyConf and IEEE, various forums across Microsoft, and university campuses β€” on topics spanning AI agents, eval-driven development, data science and career growth.

✍️ I write Low-Pass Filter, a newsletter cutting through AI noise, alongside technical blogs on Medium. I also co-authored The Vision, Debugged, a newsletter on cutting-edge AI innovations.

πŸŽ“ I graduated from IIT Bombay with Dept. Rank 1 and Inst. Rank 2, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in CSE. I was also AIR 1 in ICSE 10th Grade across India.

🎢 Beyond tech, I'm a trained vocalist, avid reader, and visual artist with 3 solo painting exhibitions. You'll often find me sharing covers on YouTube, exploring new books, or building side projects at hackathons.

Speaking Engagements

Sharing insights on AI, data science, and career development
20,000+
Learners Reached
50+
Events
30+
Forums

Here are some of the main speaking engagements I've done so far:

Interested in having me speak at your event?

I'd love to share insights on AI, data science, career development, and emerging technologies with your audience.

Get in Touch

Products & Services

Transform your data science career with expert guidance and cutting-edge AI strategies

πŸ“š Digital Products & Resources

Elite Playbook

FAANG Data Science Interview Playbook

The definitive guide for mid-level to senior DS roles at FAANG and elite startups. 20+ battle-tested strategies built by a Top 1% Topmate Mentor who's coached 100+ mentees through actual FAANG hiring loops β€” plus the Interview Excellence Checklist to audit your mastery.

πŸ—οΈ Real-time ML Pipelines πŸ“Š Metric Design & Causal Inference βš™οΈ System Design Thinking βœ… Interview Excellence Checklist
Get the Playbook Now β†’
Insider Guide

Interview Pitfalls: The $200K Mistakes

After 100+ DS/ML interviews and guiding 20,000+ professionals, I've documented the SAME avoidable mistakes costing brilliant candidates their dream offers. 20+ critical pitfalls across 5 interview dimensions β€” with real interviewer perspective, exact fix-it frameworks, and the 48-Hour Pre-Interview Protocol.

🎯 20+ Critical Pitfalls πŸ’¬ Real Dialogue Examples & Fix-It Frameworks ⚑ 48-Hour Pre-Interview Protocol 🏭 Production-First Thinking
Avoid the $200K Mistakes β†’

Ultimate Data Science Interview Checklist

A blueprint for interview success, curated by a seasoned data scientist. Cut through noisy prep resources and follow a structured checklist to prepare confidently.

βœ… Structured Checklist πŸ“š Comprehensive Topics πŸ’ͺ Expert-Curated πŸ“₯ Instant Download
Turn Anxiety into Victory β†’
FREE Resource

AI Garage πŸ› οΈ

Your one-stop repository for cutting-edge AI projects! Hands-on tutorials with code samples covering LLMs, Multimodal AI, RAG, Agentic Frameworks, and more.

πŸ€– LLMs & Multimodal AI πŸ” RAG Systems πŸ•ΈοΈ Agentic Frameworks πŸ’» Hands-On Projects with Code
Explore AI Garage β†’

🎯 Mentorship Packages

Crack the Data Science Interview

Transform your data science ambitions into reality with insider tips, personalized mock interviews, and resume enhancement for your target role.

βœ“ Insider Tips βœ“ 2 Mock Interviews βœ“ Resume Enhancement
Ready to Nail Your Interview? β†’

Ace the Data Science Career

A holistic career mentoring package with personalized guidance, expert interview prep, and comprehensive LinkedIn and resume review.

βœ“ Career Guidance βœ“ Interview Preparation βœ“ LinkedIn & Resume Review
Accelerate Your Data Career! β†’

Data Science Mentorship

Weekly 1:1 mentorship sessions focused on personal, professional, and academic development with tailored guidance over 4 transformative sessions.

βœ“ Weekly 1:1 Sessions βœ“ Holistic Development βœ“ 4-Session Program
Let me Mentor You β†’

πŸ€– AI Consulting & Strategy

Boost your productivity & stay on top of the AI revolution

AI for Productivity

Boost your productivity with personalized strategies, free AI tools, and hands-on guidance on making AI your everyday ally through use-case driven applications.

βœ“ Personalized Strategies βœ“ Free AI Tools βœ“ Hands-on Guidance
Unleash AI for Peak Productivity β†’

Experience & Education

Building expertise through practice and learning

Experience

Applied Scientist 2

Microsoft Nov 2025 - Present
  • Leading development & evaluation of AI agents and extensibility features for Microsoft Copilot β€” including evals for MCP tools in declarative agents, OAI Apps SDK, Federated Copilot Connectors & more
  • Solving deep science problems in M365 Copilot extensibility β€” from metric design for diverse aspects of agents to working on frontier agents
  • Driving initiatives for AI adoption & democratization across the org & company

Visiting Faculty

Bower School of Entrepreneurship Jan 2026 - Present
  • Teaching "Bias & Decision Making in the Age of AI" to the undergraduate cohort β€” end-to-end, from curriculum design to delivery
  • Designing holistic assessments combining hands-on labs and conceptual components for a well-rounded learning experience

Software Engineer 2

Microsoft Sept 2024 - Oct 2025
  • Leading the development & evaluation of AI agents and extensibility features for Microsoft Copilot
  • Focusing on agentic AI systems, platform design, and robust testing pipelines
  • Driving several initiatives for adoption of AI across the org & company

Data & Applied Scientist II

Microsoft Sept 2023 - Aug 2024
  • Led E2E development of an AI-powered experience on Bing Autosuggest to boost DAU of Bing Chat
  • Driving quality improvements in Bing's Search History & related experiences
  • Volunteer for Customer Driven Initiative to promote customer-first product development

Data & Applied Scientist

Microsoft Jul 2021 - Aug 2023
  • Enhanced diversity, coverage & quality of Bing Autosuggest across 200+ countries and 100+ languages
  • Developed features enabling users to reach intended queries faster
  • Mentored 4 interns over 2 years
  • Filed patent: 'Generating Narrative Query Responses Utilizing Generative Language Models from Search-Based Autosuggest Queries'

Google Summer of Code - Developer

PEcAn Project Jun 2020 - Aug 2020
  • Developed rpecanapi, an R package to interact with PEcAn services
  • Dockerized the PEcAn RESTful API for remote interaction capabilities

Applied Science Intern

Microsoft May 2020 - Jul 2020
  • Built framework for automating ranking analysis using DCG metrics for Core Relevance team at Bing
  • Improved query reproducibility by 10% and reduced debugging time significantly
  • Presented at Microsoft MLADS Synapse 2020 Conference (41% acceptance rate)

Blockchain & DevOps Intern

WalletSocket Inc. Dec 2019
  • Tested smart contracts for Pay0K crypto payment processor
  • Configured Istio proxies for service mesh over Kubernetes

Blockchain Engineer

WandX Solutions May 2019 - Jul 2019
  • Designed Security Token standard using ERC721 + IPFS for proof storage
  • Built smart contracts for confidential fiat-backed stablecoin transactions (AZTEC protocol)
  • Developed cryptocurrency aggregator across exchanges for WandX Desktop App

Backend Developer

Encoro Solutions Jan 2019 - Mar 2019
  • Built mathematical model for Social Network Analysis to identify key organizational nodes
  • Suggested improvements based on model evaluation

Blockchain Researcher

Dunya Labs Dec 2018
  • Analyzed EOS Blockchain data to formulate middleware metrics
  • Explored Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems like SNARKs, STARKs, and Bulletproofs
  • Ideated middleware/services for blockchains like Dfinity & Polkadot

Education

B.Tech - Mechanical Engineering

IIT Bombay 2017 - 2021

Minor: Computer Science & Engineering

CPI: 9.90 | Institute Rank: 2 | Department Rank: 1

Achievements:
  • Academically Outstanding Student Award (2021)
  • O.P. Jindal Engineering & Management Scholarship (OPJEMS)
  • Institute System Administrator (2020-21)
  • Overall Coordinator, Developers' Community (2020-21)
  • Convener, Web & Coding Club (2018-19)
  • Web & Marketing Coordinator, E-Cell (2018-19)

Intermediate / +2

Jaipuriar School 2015 - 2017

Score: 96.2%

Achievements:
  • Student of the Year Award (2017)

Matriculation

St. Mary's ICSE School 2005 - 2015

Score: 99.2%

Achievements:
  • All India Rank 1 (ICSE 10th Grade)

Innovation - Research & Patents

Granted Patent

Generating Narrative Query Responses Utilizing Generative Language Models

From Search-Based Autosuggest Queries

A query gateway system that provides an efficient framework for context-retained autosuggest queries from search engines to generative language models, enabling seamless AI chat experiences without disrupting user navigation.

Issued Dec 12, 2024
View Patent
Filed Patent

Location and Navigation Assistant

AI-Powered Indoor Navigation Solution

An innovative indoor navigation system using multimodal RAG techniques and vision-language models. Users simply take a selfie or point-of-view photo to get location detection and human-friendly, landmark-based navigation directions.

Filed Feb 21, 2025
Filed Patent

Proactive Agent Identification & Suggestion Engine

AI Engine That Predicts What You Need Before You Ask

This innovation automatically understands what you're trying to do and proactively recommends the most helpful AI agent for the task. Instead of manually hunting for the right tool, it surfaces the perfect assistant in real timeβ€”saving effort and making your experience seamless.

Filed Oct, 2025
Filed Patent

Hierarchical Conversation Management in Conversational AI Systems

Tree-Based Branching for Structured, Focused AI Dialogues

A tree-based conversation architecture that lets users branch from any part of an AI response into isolated child conversations β€” each inheriting only the relevant context. With interactive mind maps and breadcrumbs for navigation, users can explore topics deeply without polluting the main thread, reducing cognitive load and keeping AI responses sharp and focused.

Filed Nov 2025
Filed Patent

Profile-Based Memory Architecture for an AI/ML Service

Multi-Persona AI with Clean Contextual Boundaries

A multi-profile memory system that lets a single AI assistant maintain independently scoped profiles β€” Work, Personal, Project-specific, or Incognito β€” each with its own stored preferences, tone, and history. The system intelligently detects context shifts, proactively recommends profile switches, and enforces clean information boundaries, enabling personalized, privacy-preserving AI without manual resets or separate accounts.

Filed Jan 2026
Published Research

Lookup or Exploratory: What is your Search Intent?

Microsoft Journal of Applied Research (MSJAR)

This work introduces a fast, lightweight AI system that can instantly tell whether someone is searching to explore a topic broadly or to find a specific answer. By understanding this intent in real time, search engines can deliver more accurate results and better suggestions to help people find what they need faster.

MSJAR Vol 15, July 2021
Published Research

Do Agent Do What Developers Say? Instruction Following Accuracy as an Evaluation Framework

Microsoft MLADS+ Agents Conference

We created a way to measure whether an AI agent truly follows the instructions its developers gave itβ€”not just what users ask it to do. This helps teams catch mistakes early, build more reliable AI systems, and ensure agents behave the way they were intended to.

MLADS+ Agents, Nov 2025

Writing & Publications

Sharing knowledge through books, newsletters, and blogs
National Bestseller on Amazon

Beyond Code: A Practical Guide for Data Scientists, Analysts & Engineers

In the rapidly evolving world of data science, technical skills alone aren't enough. "Beyond Code" bridges the gap between technical prowess and professional success, offering actionable insights for modern Data Scientists, Analysts & Engineers.

Grab Your Copy β†’

The Vision, Debugged (AI Newsletter)

Co-authored leading AI newsletter - now available as a FREE archived resource for learning AI. Features cutting-edge insights, research summaries, and practical applications.

Access Archive

Technical Blogs

In-depth articles & tutorials on AI & data science on Medium. Covering topics from MLOps to AI-Powered Marketing, AI Agents, and more.

Read Blogs

What People Say

Testimonials from mentees and colleagues

As someone trying to transition into industry from academia, the session with Tezan was very insightful. Tezan went above and beyond in trying to understand my needs and help me identify key gaps in my knowledge. I highly recommend Tezan to anyone in a similar position or just trying to get a better grasp of the data science interview process.

Aishwarya Kumar

Researcher @ Frontier Development Lab

Tezan is a great mentor. He was well on time and we had a great mock up interview session. He is constructive in providing feedback and insightful tips. Would definitely recommend him for Mock Data Science Interviews.

Abhishek Harikumar Narayanan

Data Analytics @ WPP Media

Tezan has been a phenomenal asset to the team. His ability to analyze a problem, present solutions, and execute tasks in a time pressured environment has been outstanding. His ability to take direction and analyze a solution that incorporates the bigger picture is that of someone with 10+ years of experience in the field.

Sam Lester

Co-Founder @ WalletSocket Inc.

Tezan worked with me as part of Google Summer of Code. One thing that was clear from the beginning when he submitted his proposal was his attention to details. Out of the many proposals we received this year he was one of the top candidates and was selected to work with us.

The first month he designed an API with feedback from us, and also learned how build and work with the PEcAn system (a complex system that consists of many micro services that interact with each other). During this time he also learned how to work with the R programming language.

The second and third months he spend time on implementing all the features from his proposal, including a library that will interact with the PEcAn system. Many of the users of the PEcAn system have already shown interest in being able to use both the API and the library to do their research in the future.

I highly recommend Tezan for his ability to understand the problem, create a solution and implement the solution. His implementation skills and communications skills are excellent and he is a great person to be working with.

Rob Kooper

Project Leader & Research Scientist @ PEcAn Project

Tezan is very experienced professional, he can help me to present and think in a higher level of the overall business and strategy, I learned a lot from him! It's great to have mock interview with Tezan. The questions asked is so interesting and inspiring.

Qihuan (Abby) He

Northeastern University, Silicon Valley Campus

The discussion was exactly what I was hoping for and provided me with significant insights from an industry perspective!

Durga Shree Nagabushanam

Research Assistant @ Carnegie Mellon University

The session was incredibly insightful and helpful. Coming from a Mechanical Engineering background, I had several doubts about transitioning into Data Science, and he answered all of them clearly and thoroughly. He explained how I could bridge the gap between these two fields and provided a clear, actionable plan.

Vishal Singh

ML Intern @ IISc

As someone trying to transition into industry from academia, the session with Tezan was very insightful. Tezan went above and beyond in trying to understand my needs and help me identify key gaps in my knowledge. I highly recommend Tezan to anyone in a similar position or just trying to get a better grasp of the data science interview process.

Aishwarya Kumar

Researcher @ Frontier Development Lab

Tezan is a great mentor. He was well on time and we had a great mock up interview session. He is constructive in providing feedback and insightful tips. Would definitely recommend him for Mock Data Science Interviews.

Abhishek Harikumar Narayanan

Data Analytics @ WPP Media

Tezan has been a phenomenal asset to the team. His ability to analyze a problem, present solutions, and execute tasks in a time pressured environment has been outstanding. His ability to take direction and analyze a solution that incorporates the bigger picture is that of someone with 10+ years of experience in the field.

Sam Lester

Co-Founder @ WalletSocket Inc.

Tezan worked with me as part of Google Summer of Code. One thing that was clear from the beginning when he submitted his proposal was his attention to details. Out of the many proposals we received this year he was one of the top candidates and was selected to work with us.

The first month he designed an API with feedback from us, and also learned how build and work with the PEcAn system (a complex system that consists of many micro services that interact with each other). During this time he also learned how to work with the R programming language.

The second and third months he spend time on implementing all the features from his proposal, including a library that will interact with the PEcAn system. Many of the users of the PEcAn system have already shown interest in being able to use both the API and the library to do their research in the future.

I highly recommend Tezan for his ability to understand the problem, create a solution and implement the solution. His implementation skills and communications skills are excellent and he is a great person to be working with.

Rob Kooper

Project Leader & Research Scientist @ PEcAn Project

Tezan is very experienced professional, he can help me to present and think in a higher level of the overall business and strategy, I learned a lot from him! It's great to have mock interview with Tezan. The questions asked is so interesting and inspiring.

Qihuan (Abby) He

Northeastern University, Silicon Valley Campus

The discussion was exactly what I was hoping for and provided me with significant insights from an industry perspective!

Durga Shree Nagabushanam

Research Assistant @ Carnegie Mellon University

The session was incredibly insightful and helpful. Coming from a Mechanical Engineering background, I had several doubts about transitioning into Data Science, and he answered all of them clearly and thoroughly. He explained how I could bridge the gap between these two fields and provided a clear, actionable plan.

Vishal Singh

ML Intern @ IISc

Creative Odyssey

Beyond tech - exploring music and art

Vocal Covers

Aapki Nazron Ne Samjha

Aapki Nazron Ne Samjha

(Sanam Puri's Rendition)

Haal-e-Dil x Tu Hi Hai Aashiqui

Haal-e-Dil x Tu Hi Hai Aashiqui

Performance at Ramoji

Husn x Choolo

Husn x Choolo

Anuv Jain x The Local Train

Ishq

Ishq

Gunjan Saxena

Saajna x Aadat

Saajna x Aadat

I Me Aur Main x Kalyug

Saaware

Saaware

Phantom

Sajan Bin

Sajan Bin

Bandish Bandits

Sapna Jahan x Janam Janam

Sapna Jahan x Janam Janam

Hackathon 2024 Gala Evening

Tu Hi Ye Mujhko Bata De

Chahoon Main Ya Na

Aashiqui 2

Tum Ho Toh

Tum Ho Toh

Saiyaara

Follow my musical journey on Instagram

Artwork Gallery

Exploring digital art and traditional mediums

Let's Connect

Ready to take your career to the next level?

Whether you're an aspiring data scientist, curious AI enthusiast, or a working professional aiming to grow, I'm here to help you differentiate yourself and thrive in this dynamic tech landscape.

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