Scaler Diaries: Shivam Das’s Journey to PayPal

Shivam Das
5 Min Read

One thing that life has taught me is that if I learn something new every day of the year, at the end of the year, I will be a new person altogether.

Hailing from the ‘City of Joy’, I have acquired a degree in Computer Applications from NIT Durgapur. Before Paypal – my current company – I  have worked as a full-stack developer at Amdocs and Yash Technologies.

I studied in a government school and had computer classes twice a week. We were introduced to creating static websites, and I was completely hooked. I knew then and there that I wanted to learn online coding.

My life changed when I did not clear engineering entrances despite studying diligently for the entirety of my high school years. I am not going to pretend that watching my friends go to good colleges was very joyous for me. I was left behind with no clue about what to do in life.

An acquaintance who lived nearby faced failure in the engineering examinations and went on to get a degree in computer applications. He guided me through this post-high school dilemma. He made me understand that it was okay to take up a different degree, and it will be just as valuable as an engineering degree. It was his mentorship that motivated me to move forward!

After college, I got placed at Amdocs. I worked there for three and a half years. My profile at Amdocs was great, but I saw my friends growing in life, and I felt a little stuck. I knew I was a learner, always eager to learn new things. So when things started feeling static, I decided I needed to do something new.

I found out about Scaler back when it was called Interview Bit. My colleague informed me about a test being conducted at Scaler. At that point in my life, I lacked direction and mentors I could look up to and learn from. So, when I cleared the Scaler’s test, I decided to start there.

What I enjoyed most about my days at Scaler was the teaching style. The people there began with easy topics and then gradually introduced the more difficult ones.
I looked forward the mentor sessions because they helped me break out of my shell. I used to keep my doubts to myself because I thought that they would sound stupid. I felt that it was easy to talk to the mentors. They understood my reluctance and helped me get comfortable in this environment.

Tarun Malhotra sir guided and taught me quite sincerely. He used to start with basic designs and teach us High-Level Design. Such gruesome and time-taking topics would get over in just two hours. It was surprisingly enjoyable to like something that was considered burdensome and full of components. Studying for 4 hours a week also started feeling normal and eventually became enjoyable too!

I used to be very scared of taking tests if I did not know everything on the syllabus. The mentors at Scaler always told me that I should not be scared of it just because I only know a part of it. I should look the challenge in the eye and solve whatever I know correctly. This advice has brought me ahead in life.

I recently realized how much I changed when I gave interviews. They gave us Javascript concepts and programs to create. Earlier, I was hesitant about my skills. But, now I am confident about my work and programming skills. I will be starting a new job with PayPal soon, and working at a place like this is one of the small goals that I had wanted to achieve in life.

There will always be better packages and companies, but your lessons will always stay with you no matter what, and one should strive to make those lessons a priority in life!

Connect with Shivam Das on LinkedIn

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