You can achieve anything with your dedication and efforts.
With my efforts, not only did I receive a major hike in my package but also ended up realizing that the true meaning of working in this field is the ability to create an IMPACT with what you do.
Due to my school’s ICSE board, I got exposure to advanced computer sciences in 9th grade itself. We started learning about programming languages like Java during this time only. It was the subject that I liked and performed the best in. That’s when I realized my interest in engineering.
After I completed my schooling, I was confronted with a major decision of choosing between either IT or electronics. I talked to my uncle, who is a software engineer himself, and realized that computer science has greater opportunities and so, went ahead with it.
Now getting into college was one thing but facing the transition from school to college in real-time was an entirely different thing. We know schools have a properly structured format of learning but that isn’t the case in colleges. Learning becomes vast and abstract in college and that too with minimal guidance. That was a particularly difficult time for me but my friends helped me in adjusting to these new changes.
That’s why one of my fondest memories of college is working with these people. We had an electronics hobby club where we used to discuss and design different things. For instance, once we had developed an online shopping platform allowing different customizations. It used to be pretty enjoyable to develop such things together as we all used to pool in our creativity.
We made a lot of memories for life but eventually the time for placements came. I joined my senior’s startup. I liked working there as I realized that building products on your own can give you an incomparable sense of gratification. I also worked at Fiserv- a US-based MNC for core banking solutions. Again the problem was I did have a good job role but it wasn’t adding much to my financial growth.
I was looking for a job change but I was out of practice giving interviews. Besides, it was also important to practice the DS Algo and systems design parts for the interviews. So I joined Scaler Academy at this point and they helped me with these two things the most. During the online course, I had multiple mock interviews which helped me prepare. My mentor especially helped me with mock interviews and feedback. In addition to this, before the interviews, I could get an overview of the company that I was interviewing for from people who were working there from Scaler’s community.
Giving interviews was a little difficult for me in the beginning honestly. But I saw that the more interviews I gave, the more confident I became. Previously, giving even a single interview used to have me stressing over it for weeks. Now, I doubt that’ll be the case for me ever again. Even now, while I am working with a 4x rise at Syfe in Gurgaon, I feel that the best part of the journey was gaining confidence in my capabilities.
For many people, job security means not being laid off from their current job. For me, job security is having such a level of confidence that even if you get laid off, you won’t be jobless as you will have the ability to crack any interview. This is the kind of confidence that you should have in this field. You should have the confidence of relying on your own skills and expertise rather than your job.
I’d just recommend that you don’t have to wait for the right moment to give an interview because there won’t be one. This field is so vast that you cannot possibly learn every little concept in detail. So just get your basics clear and start giving interviews because that’s how you will learn. Also, have someone with whom you can simulate the actual interview conditions. You know what they say about practice right? Let me tell you from my own experience- it does make you perfect!