From Not Knowing Copy-Paste to Software Engineer.

Introduction

I had been thinking to share my tech journey for a long time and the time has eventually come. I'm sharing my journey with the hope that aspiring developers might find it a little inspirational ( maybe 😅 ).

By the way, things have very much changed now which is why I will share some tips that will help you have a successful career in Software Industry.

A little background about me

I come from a state of India that is considered one of the most backward states in India ( but we're getting better every day).

I completed my higher secondary school ( 12th equivalent ) from the state education board. We had never access to computer education whatsoever. Also, no one of my close relatives had a computer/laptop.

I had seen computers in shops and only knew about the power button. I had seen people doing right click and then refresh. I had developed an understanding that a refresh click makes computers work faster. 😅

The Begining

My journey to get into tech started the day I got into college in July 2016. I was enrolled in B.Tech ( IT ), a 4-year course. I took IT major as computer engineering sounds cool to me.

At this stage, the only knowledge I had about computers is to turn them on/off and do refresh them. ** I didn't even know ctrl + c , ctrl + v. ** 😅

The Semester Started.

Our semester started in August 2020. I encounter some of the subjects I was familiar with, for eg. Mathematics -1, Basic Electrical Engineering, etc. but there were two new things, C++ language and Fundamentals of Computers.

Sed life begins 😭

For the C++ subject, we had 2 hrs lab class every alternate day where we were supposed to write and practice C++ programs.

Most of my classmates were from other states and education boards. They already know programming languages like C++, Java, and Python. They used to write basic programs very fluently in these languages.

** This scared me **. I was getting worried about how would I compete with those who already are good at the subject which was like climbing a mountain for me.

In this C++ lab class, I just try to escape from the eyes of the teacher. One good thing I did was that I learned shortcuts to select, copy and paste. 😎

I get to know these shortcuts by observing how my other classmates are doing this cool stuff. ** I was too shy to ask anything **.

The Exams Arrived

I was good at all subjects except C++ and Engineering Drawing. To pass the C++ exam, ** I memorized the code of famous coding problems** like the Fibonacci series, finding Primes, reversing strings, finding palindromes, etc.

I didn't know why I'm I writing the following code but I knew the program will not work If I don't write these lines 🙃

#include<iostream.h>
#include<coinio.h>

Anyway, I appeared in the exams and passed the semester, with all subjects clear and 70% marks. It was good enough to tell my parents. 😊

The first time I understood programming.

In the 2nd semester, I encountered HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the first time but couldn't understand them. I was living a frustrating life because of obvious reasons.

Then, I met a senior who told me to learn the C language first. Therefore I purchased an old copy of this book for 100 RS. 👇

This book literally taught me the reasons why I had been writing all those codes and how it works. It was ** a big relief for me **.

From here my actual journey started. I had also got a new laptop in September 2017. Thereafter I tried a lot of different programming languages but stick with C and Python.

The Fun Life

What was Fun life for me? To play cricket whenever get the time and study a bit.

I played 100s of matches between my 3rd semester to 6th semester. Even I played for some of the local teams who paid me Rs. 300 as a match fee lol 🙈.

As the seventh semester has begun, I kind of got worried about a job because what would I say to people after completing college?

The Job Search

I started looking ( not that actively ) for Jobs in September 2019. At that time Wipro was hiring via their National Talent Hunt exam.

I appeared in the test on 20th October, 2019. The exam went really well. They had asked Aptitude, Reasoning, English, and 2 simple coding questions.

I solved both of the coding questions in Python language and get to know from the internet that if you solved both then you will get the interview call ( most likely).

The Covid Happened

I was called for an interview in Wipro scheduled on 24th Feb 2020. This was ** my first interview **. I reached the venue and appeared in the technical round and cleared that ( they told me to stay and wait ).

The same day, we had the final HR round interview. That too went really well and I was told that to get my results via email within the next 3-4 weeks.

In March 2020, the Lockdown happened due to increasing cases of Covid in India. We got disconnected from everything. I never received any selection or rejection mail from Wipro. I assumed I was rejected. Some people told me this is because of the pandemic, companies are not rolling offers. ( reason doesn't matter ).

We were allocated our Final year project in Feb 2020. I had to build an Alumni management web application with one of my friends.

2 months later, in May 2020 our class restarted on ZOOM. College was asking to submit our projects but my project was not ready. My teammate had left his laptop in the hostel itself so I had to do every bit of project on my own.

This way get to learn JavaScript, Python-Django and completed my FullStack Project in July 2020. I submitted that, prepared a fresh resume, and started looking for jobs once again.

The First Tech Job

After the 20s of rejections at big and small companies, I was finally able to crack interviews for one of the startups. This was in the month of October 2020. I was very happy but the pay was way less (bad culture too). I joined there in Dec 2020. I was trained in React, Node, and PHP there.

Rejections were very demotivating but I knew there is no way other than trying hard. I used to practice basic DSA and read core CSE subjects.

But, eventually, I had a job that is what matters ( at least at that time).

Since my first job, I have changed 2 different companies and now work in a better environment and better pay.

Advice for new developers.

See, everybody starts with zero. What If I would have quit within the first few months of my college? I wouldn't have reached here, right? So never quit, you can do it.

Post covid things have changed. The best advice I can give you is to build Proof of Work. Learn in public and show your skills to others by building projects and hosting them online. Put your code on Github so that people can take a look at it.

If you want to learn more about Proof of work, check Fueler and Peerlist.

All the best with your journey. ♥️

**Thank you for reading. This is all about my journey into tech. Hope you find it a little inspirational. Please do let me know your thoughts in the comments. BTW, how has been your journey? **