Sumit Kumar

is a student,
researcher,
systems tinkerer, and
builder.

I'm in my final year of the dual degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) program in Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

I like working on systems - databases, compilers, distributed systems, GPU and AI infra, and the Linux kernel - and I have a habit of turning ordinary course assignments, or a small tool I needed, into projects I get way too invested in.

Towards that goal, I care about understanding how things work from the ground up: writing a SQL parser instead of using one, building a mini Kafka to understand why the real one is fast, implementing my own RISC processor instead of just studying one.

I've interned at Atlassian, ParallelDots, QFI Capital, and Autonmis.

I'm also a developer for Spring Fest, IIT Kharagpur's annual cultural festival - one of the student-run technical societies, not a course or a job, where I help build and scale the platform that actually runs the fest: registrations, ticketing, payments, and event access for tens of thousands of attendees.

I also spend time contributing to open source - patches to Supabase, Stripe, and NixOS, among other things.

Before college, I spent a couple of years deep in JEE and other engineering entrance exam prep - it paid off, and I made it into IIT.

Other interests: basketball, swimming, sleeping in, and traveling. I also spent two years volunteering with NSS on campus.

A black-and-white photograph of the Howrah Bridge across the Hooghly river in Kolkata