The unique co-op gave Pratham Shah valuable perspective on how AI can be implemented across any industry, not just in tech.
Pratham Shah was born in Mumbai to a family of mechanical engineers, who imparted a deep curiosity about machines. But having grown up in the age of technology, where expertise in artificial intelligence, automation and other digital tools is the key to success for the next generation of scientific thinkers, Shah decided early on that he would forge his own path.
“I should do something a bit more out of the box to innovate and understand technology,” Shah recalled thinking. Though India is developing rapidly and producing plenty of great technology minds, he said, his home country still has a long way to go when it comes to implementing the most cutting-edge tech in ways that help the wider population.
“Eventually, when I do go back home, maybe I can help improve things and take back what I learn,” he thought.
That out-of-the-box thinking is part of why he studied robotics, intelligent systems and computer vision in a rigorous undergraduate program in Germany before capping off his education at Northeastern University’s Boston campus with a specialized master’s degree in artificial intelligence.
When it came time to embark on his stint of experiential learning, Shah plunged himself into even more unfamiliar territory – real estate services giant JLL. It is one of the largest public brokerage firms in the world, with an annual revenue of $26.1 billion, according to the company’s 2026 second-quarter financial report. The company was seeking someone like Shah, who could assess its technology products and make smart improvements that would help them stand out from their competitors, according to Angad Sethi, an assistant manager in equity advisory, energy and infrastructure at JLL who worked closely with Shah.
Unbeknownst to Shah, however, the company’s office where his position would be offered was located in the city he knew better than any other: Mumbai. The serendipitous assignment fast-tracked Shah’s ultimate goal of working with the newest technologies in his home country, providing him the real-world experience that he imagined he would only gain in a later chapter of life.
Shah said the co-op experience in an industry that previously had been unfamiliar to him gave him a valuable, new perspective on how AI can be implemented across any discipline, not just in traditional technology companies.
“All my knowledge was robotics, AI, tech services, like the ones at Microsoft, Amazon, Google,” he said. “I never expected to be exposed to real estate and see how tech can work in that sort of industry.”
Shah’s courage to immerse himself in a new industry also impressed Holly Houser of Northeastern’s Roux Institute, who advised him during his co-op. His resourcefulness and commitment to the role made him stand out, she said, qualities that will serve him well as he continues his professional journey.
“A lot of students think they want to do software, want to do AI, and use the skills they’re learning in their classroom, but when they’re actually immersed in real estate or healthcare it can be a learning curve,” Houser said. “But [Shah] really did get to apply those skills in real time. That was cool to see.”
In Shah’s case, he applied those skills by working as an AI platform evaluator, researching JLL’s various real estate technologies, such as an AI chatbot and a workflow portal for real estate brokers, and making recommendations around their interface design and response accuracy. He then translated his findings into documents that members of the executive suite used to make decisions on areas of improvement, he said.
One of his suggestions was an AI-powered search function, which ultimately made its way into an update to the platforms, he said. Shah also created a number of market intelligence reports on opportunities for JLL to invest in smart buildings and data centers.
He even helped design an AI Product Maturity Map, benchmarking where JLL’s broader AI capabilities sat relative to others in the real estate services industry, according to Sethi.
“It was great to have Pratham out at JLL,” said Sethi, who himself graduated with a degree in business and managerial economics from Northeastern in 2022. “It was surreal to have someone representing Northeastern within the Indian real estate sector.”
Shah said he was grateful to have experienced the highs and lows of a fast-paced corporate environment so that he could calibrate his communication skills and find passion in working with a diverse set of teams on challenging assignments.
“It gave me a lot of perspective, in the sense that I should maybe go more into somewhere that’s less about coding and being a software developer, but more on the side where I communicate with different stakeholders across a company,” Shah said. “In my job search currently, I’ve been trying to land those kinds of roles.”