As a child, I was extremely scared of computers. I did not understand numbers, and I wanted nothing to do with them.
This fear trickled into my undergrad life, and I started fearing programming. There was no end to this fear. I lacked the courage to improve or transform myself. To make things worse, things went downhill after that.
I come from a family with limited means. My parents dedicated their energy to making their kids' lives easier. My mother had a commerce degree, but my father hasn’t been to college. Hence, they knew the value of education but never pressured us into getting good grades. I used to help my father with his shop. I remember back in the day when I used to pick up cold drink bottles in front of my fathers' shop while my friends enjoyed Durga Puja. It truly humbled me, made me appreciate their hard work, and inspired me to be the best version of myself for them.
But during high school, I was discouraged from taking computer science because I performed poorly during the first month of high school. I took biology instead and finished high school. Ironically, I qualified for an undergrad in Infotech during college. I like to believe that that is how the world works, and my life came full circle at that moment.
Coming back to my phobia for programming, my friend and I participated in competitions during college fests. We created a website business plan called ‘Repair It’ that is somewhat like Urban Company. We presented it at IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bhuvaneshwar and won several prizes. I think the company of my friend and those wins made me fear programming a little less.
Slowly, I started taking inspiration from people to grow further in this field. Dr Abdul Kalam and Ratan Tata were among the selected few, only because I do not like taking inspiration from any person because it takes away from my narrative. I do my own thing. If I give my 100%, I know I will land somewhere.
I was never good with technology. I wanted to pursue mechanical engineering, but I could not. I was decent enough at programming to solve problems, but these problems weren’t difficult enough. I realized this when I could not even clear the aptitude round for companies that came to my college for a placement drive. I used to get rejected in the penultimate round if I cleared the aptitude round. I finally got an offer from Nomura, and the rest is history.
A co-worker from a previous company suggested Scaler out of the blue one day. At that time, I did not know how I would pick up such a rigorous course. Coronavirus had hit the country at that point, and I wanted to learn something new. The audience might argue that the timing was just perfect, even though nothing in life is.
During the pandemic, I talked to my parents about the difficulties I would face while managing classes and work. They gave me the courage to find solutions when the problems got too much. I also took up cooking during the lockdown. Best decision ever!
I enjoyed the classes a lot when I started understanding the concepts. They used to inculcate habits within me. In absolutely no time, my coding speed grew exponentially. I believe if you invest in yourself, then the returns you get will always be of benefit to you. I was overjoyed with my returns. My mentors were very empathetic. I recall this one time when I was reeling under the coronavirus. My mentor, Ayush Agrawal, supported me like an older brother and was a savior to me. He understood my situation and helped me through that difficult situation.
I think who I am today is because of how weak I was yesterday. People ask me what my dream company is. I want to say that I am pretty satisfied with Vymo right now. To me, there is nothing called a “dream company''. The place where your time and work are respected, and you enjoy working- Isn’t that a fulfilled dream on its own? I want my work to keep challenging me, and I want to contribute to my best potential. All I want in life is to live independently, build my stuff and have the ability to learn something new!
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