Myself Indhu S M, Ph.D., scholar from the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, TNAU. I joined PhD program during 2018 in a trimester batch. Program comprises course work for three trimesters and six trimesters for research work. During course work period I have undergone 7major courses, in which “Quantitative and Population Genetics” is a foremost important course which thought us to understand the genetic nature of traits in crop improvement and to make selection in crop improvement program. In the same course we were exposed to basic excel to R programming to analyse our experimental data. Another important course which forms the basis of plant breeding is“Crop evolution and management of PGR” where we learnt techniques from collection to storage of germplasm. We were lucky enough to have Ramaiah gene bank which facilitated storage of our pre breeding as well as breeding materials from our research work. In other courses we were taught about advanced techniques in plant selection, biotic and abiotic stress factors and its mechanisms and quality traits for improvement in each of the field crops. Among the 3-specialization courses, the most interesting course was “Harnessing pollination mechanism” where I was excited to know about different kinds of pollination mechanisms over a wide range of crops. Our classroom was well equipped and well ventilated to listen the classes. All of our course teachers were friendly and easily approachable to clarify the concepts. At the end of course work, we were evaluated through qualifying exam. The most enjoyed part of examination systems was my qualifying viva. Presentations and credit seminars were helpful in developing presentation skills and to break stage fear. My research work is on low phytate improvement in maize. Field has been allotted in Department of Millets. I am grateful to the department for facilitating labours for field works. Our labs are well equipped with nanodrop, advanced PCR, SNP genotyping platform, SPEC, NIR for genotyping and biochemical studies.I got experience to frame and execute a research work and publication of the same in peer reviewed journals with the guidance from my chairman and my advisory committee members. Hence in this four year of doctoral program, I gained skills on how to fix, plan and execute a research, data analysis, plant selection at molecular level and biochemical screening techniques in selecting plants for further improvement. In nutshell CPBG is a place where I equipped myself with skills, publications, experiences and confidence to continue my carrier in research.