Career Advice Needed: Should I omit Wipro WiSTA years from work Experience?

I started my IT career in 2016 as a WiSTA Student (the Designation we’re given) at Wipro - a work-integrated M.Tech (IT) program with VIT University, where we worked as a junior resource (Mon-Fri) and attended classes on weekends. Course was for 4 years, and then promoted to Senior Project Engineer after completion (2019). Switched to Persistent Systems in 2022 as a Senior Engineering Lead.

Although my resume shows 10 years of experience (including WiSTA years), I feel my first 4 years were more academic and lacked real project exposure, especially given the fact that I joined as a B.Sc Physics graduate. I feel more comfortable applying for senior developer roles based on 6 years experience (from 2019), as I still want to learn from mentors rather than lead teams alone.

For more context, I am currently a bachelor and 30 years old. I have very good hands-on project experience for the last 6 years. Currently I am co-leading a backend team of 5 developers but I don’t feel equipped enough yet to lead a team, especially when it comes to making architectural and design decisions alone. That’s why I would love to work under a mentor.

Questions: • Is it okay to present myself as having 6 years experience and not count my WiSTA Student years fully (maybe include as eduction and not professional experience)? • Are there risks in doing this? • Has any other ex-Wipro WiSTA students faced this conundrum? • Would this help my long-term growth?

Any advice or similar experiences are appreciated!