I am a Software Engineer at CleverTap, and I’m sharing my story in the hope that someday, it will inspire somebody.
I belong to a family of four, with supportive parents who gave me the liberty to choose my career. In grade five, I decided I wanted to be an engineer only because everything else seemed very difficult to me. At one point in time, I wanted to be a model and even filmed a small telefilm in Kolkata. Soon enough, I realized that it was not something that I wanted to do for a living, and it couldn’t sustain me financially as well.
So when it was decided that I was, in fact, going to be an engineer, I went to St. Thomas College of Information Technology, after which I got placed at Capgemini. While working, I was also pursuing my Master’s from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. I was pretty satisfied with my life and job, which gave me a 2-4% increment twice a year. However, I could use a lot of clarity in choosing subjects or preparing for a job. I belong to a business class family with no background in engineering, so I didn’t know a lot about jobs.
This was reason enough for me to join Scaler. I enrolled in the course, expecting to learn some online coding courses; little did I know that my goals and my entire perspective of the IT industry would change.
In a 30-minute session taken by Anshuman Sir, he explained the collective goal of the group. It was to learn more and more about the subjects we were interested in and about ourselves! It inspired me to introspect whether or not I wanted to continue working in Machine Learning. All the one-on-one sessions with Tarun Sir helped me understand the kind of attention I needed to pay to understand problems. My experience with a mentor helping me prepare a list of placements I should sit for was such an enriching experience!
I had previously been very satisfied with my job at Capgemini. But attending regular classes where I was surrounded by highly motivated people with big dreams forced me to think out of the box and yearn for better opportunities. Even during my school days, I didn’t think I had the capacity to study for 5-6 hours a day without spacing out, but the discipline and training I learnt during that time is something I will carry with myself forever.
When I sat for my current placement at Scaler, it was relatively smooth. It didn’t feel like a test, it was more like a discussion that gave me excellent vibes, and I finally joined the company. Even though I didn’t join the Academy to get a better job, I inevitably landed one.
And of course, today I’m working at CleverTap thanks to my improved programming skills. Let me just tell you, however, that a better salary package really doesn’t guarantee happiness. It would be best if you looked for contentment and enjoyment in what you do, and the money will follow. Don’t be afraid of changing your mind and specializations. Today, I am not doing what I initially thought would be my career. And it’s all for the better because I learned what brought joy to me!
Five or even ten years down the line, I want to work in a position of responsibility that also brings me stability. Since I am working at a startup right now, I’d like to go for a giant company in the near future. Till then, I encourage and recommend Scaler to all my fellow engineers out there!
Connect with Charu Arora on LinkedIn