Potential under utilised leads to pain
What i personally feel, struggle is a part of every success story. It’s important to understand that success is not a destination but a journey! I’m not saying i’m success but the journey which i covered so far and
when i look back from where i started and where i am now, really boost my enthuse to achieve more.
Let me share my story and i hope it will motivate you after knowing it.
- Early Life
i. I come from a rural area in Bihar and was born in a lower class family. My father was a Truck Driver and earning approx 2000–2500 Rs/Month. Yes you have heard it right, monthly salary was 1k and including commission he was able to earn between 2000–2500/month.
ii. I passed out 10th and 12th from Hindi medium from Bihar (BSEB and BIEC) and scored 52% and 67% respectively including Distinction in Math.
However i was a bright student and everybody even in my village and tuition’s classes i was considered one of the top student…
but i don’t know what went wrong in my 10th exam may be age does matter and my actual age was a bit less compared to what was given on my 10th exam registration. This is another interesting story which i will cover sometime later.
iii. As i said i was considered bright student hence my parent’s expectations was quite high and that burden actually reduced my Risk
Taking Capacity. I started looking the study options which at-least make sure i will get some job to live at-least a better life than what i had that time.
I never wanted to take time to prepare myself for some competitive examination or government job because there was fear — “what if i could not success” and this fear stopped me and forced me to pick safe path. - Shifted from Village to District for further study
I decided that i will not continue my further study from my village and
picked Muzaffarpur(A district in Bihar) to pursue my Graduation. Some of the student from my village used to stay there and they insisted me to study from Muzaffarpur.
Somehow i shifted there and was a bit confused what should i do now, someone was suggesting to do BCom, someone suggested to do some technical hand or some Path-lab type of things e.t.c.
Things to be noticed here —
This was the first time when i moved from a village/rural area to a city life and it was a next level of challenge for me in terms of adjustment, fooding & lodging and other things.
Too much confused about what to do next? Even none of my family member (Parents, Sister and Brother) was able to help me on this due to either they were uneducated or younger than me.
3. Finally decided to do BCA
While roaming in the city i used to see so many banners of BCA, BBA, MCA and MBA and then i decided to query about that. After visiting so many institutes/colleges i came to know that after doing this i will certainly get the job but the cost of these courses were out of my budget!!!
4. IGNOU — Who played a vital role
As i said other institutes/colleges were out of my budget then i decided to enrolled in IGNOU where the cost of BCA per semester was 2500 Rs which was approx 400 Rs/month.
5. Managing with 1200–1500 Rs /month
I was getting 1200 to 1500 Rs/month from my parents to survive in Muzzafarpur, again this was approx 60% of total monthly income of my father.
You can imagine how they were managing for the rest of things to survive further including my 2 siblings.
Let me share the roughly breakup of the expenses which i had
300 Rs approx room rent [A lodge in Muzaffarpur]
300 Rs approx tuition fee [Thanks to Anuj sir who helped so many students and provided a good quality education in such a low cost]
and the remaining for the other things like fooding, clothes, books e.t.c. Transportation cost was 0 due to a very small city and most of the area i cover by cycle only.
6. Built habit to prepare a budget and save money
One good habit i made during those days was to prepare a budget for every month and tried to save money. Approximately i was able to save 100–200 rs/month and further i purchased a mobile from that saved money. [Before moving to Delhi]
Believe me, this habit made a huge difference further and helped me a lot where i am currently.
7. Challenges while doing BCA and MCA
In first semester of BCA everything was like a bouncer for me and i was just ducking it.
There were several reasons behind this
i. I was a Hindi medium student and suddenly everything was in English.
ii. I neither seen Computer nor read anything about computer till my 12'th and here in 1'st semester they were teaching MS Office and some other stuff.
iii. Demotivation — When my colleagues were enjoying while playing with MS Office and Computer i was just a mute spectator and thinking that i can’t compete with these super intelligent guys.Things started changing from 2nd semester
— I worked too hard to overcome the challenges which i faced in 1'st semester and from 2nd semester onward things were in control
— I joined a Group Discussion group in Muzaffarpur [which was free of cost] where we used to talk in English which helped me a lot to understand and read the English.Programming without a Computer
I had only 2 options to do programming on a computer
1. IGNOU Lab which was very limited and approx twice in a week and for 1 hr approx
2. Private tuition lab and again that was also very limited and with those number of lab hours it was not possible to be a good programmer so i learned the power of DRY RUN and believe me that changed my logic and programming power.
8. Moved to Delhi in MCA 5th semester
i. I remember the day when i decided to move to Delhi and I
Had only 5k Rs in my hand and that too was borrowed
Had 3 pairs of clothes and a quite old shoe
Had 10 Kg rice and 1 bed which my mother given to survive at-least for a month and then search some job for further survival
Was not sure where i will stay and where i will go because earlier we 3–4 people were going together and they had their reference and plan, but at last moment they decided not to go and i left alone. As i left Muzaffarpur and shifted my
belongings to my village so i had no other options left so i decided i will go to Delhi and will not cancel my Ticket.
ii. Got a helping hand in last moment
As i was too worried about where and how i will stay in Delhi, i called one of my college friend which i made during pursing my BCA and he told me not to worry and shift with him only in Gurgaon.
With lots of hope and uncertainty i reached to Old Delhi station and was thinking whether he[my friend] will come or not, Thanks to him he reached and received me but the next problem was just on the way!!
iii. Shifted 5 to 6 destination in 20 days
Instead of going to his room he told me to stay for one/two days to one of his referenced friend as he has not taken the room and still staying with his relatives. I agreed and followed what he suggested.
Whenever i called him and asked about the room he just started making excuses and shifted me some other destinations for next 1–2 days.
He also taken approx 3k rs for room arrangement which i never get back. After few days i knew the situation and started looking job options in Daily news paper.
I remember, at that time i was staying in Rajokri and on daily basis i used to cut all the call centre jobs and their addresses and tried to cover as much interview as i could.
9. Got my first Job as a Telecaller after approx 50 rejections
Finally the day came when i got a job offer of Rs 3700 from a company in Okhla Phase 2. I was a Telecaller their and used to call to Vodafone post-paid customer. I was really happy as this was a huge amount for me to survive and
complete my MCA futher.In between i changed and worked for other call centres as well and secured 1'st rank in many companies in their exams which they take after training completes.
I was staying that time in Burari with some of my friends and had to left that place at 6:00 AM [after finishing the kitchen work] to reach Okhla office @8:45 and return back to home at around 9:00 PM. After that i had to work in kitchen [We were 4 people there and each one of us has their assigned work to do].In general i was taking only 4–5 hrs rest in night and used to cover up my study on Sunday only.
10. Struggle to get a JOB as a Software developer
As i was from IGNOU and there was no as such campus selection process so i had to search the job through offline mode only.
I completed my MCA while doing call centres jobs and then i tried to search a job in S/W industry.There were many times when i had not enough money to survive the next month but God had a plan for everything and this happens to me too.
Budget and saving habits helped here too — The habits which i made during my BCA time helped me here a lot, whatever i was earning those days i used to save and keep the backup for 1 month at-least.
I tried too much and applied in many companies but didn’t get even a single interview call then i started working on 2'nd approach
— As i had worked in call centres and was aware some of the places like Noida, Okhla e.t.c so stared roaming in those areas and targeted small companies and asked guards whether interview is going or not. This idea clicked at-least to appear in the interview.
— While following these approach i given approx 20–30 interviews. I could not crack that but got an ideas about the process and pattern of interview.
11. Got my first software development job in a startup
Finally the day has come when one of my senior refereed me in his company. Thanks to Rahul vinod
I appeared for the interview and i am very thankful to the Khirod Jena who made me comfortable and given me ample time for system test. I spend around 4–5 hrs on that system, however i was not able to made it 100% correct but he selected me.
I was offered 7000 Rs/Month and it was like a dream come true moment for me to work in a s/w company.
12. Next journey and the growth
There was a line which i read somewhere and that was “Potential under utilised leads to pain”. I was good in programming and logic and was able to compete with anyone having a degree from the India’s top most colleges but i was not given even a single chance to appear in an interview just because i was from IGNOU.
If you want the best talent stop looking for perfection, It does not exist. Look for passion and potential.
It doesn't really make much of a difference from which college you pass out. It makes a difference about how good you are at what you do. But the ground reality is too different specially at entry level.
I have spent almost 13+ years now and during these years i have worked some of the top and well known companies including my Own Startup.
I still remember the day when i though earning 10k/month would be a big achievement for me but hard work pay you back and this happens to me also.
So keep fighting, keep performing and you will be rewarded one day.
