High School drop out to Successful IT career

In this blog post, I will explain my journey about being high school drop out to having successful IT career. Every moment of the journey is precious and cherish-able.

High School Drop Out

More than 20 years back I have given intermediate (+2) exams only to know that I have failed in 3 subjects (1st and 2nd year physics and 2nd year mathematics). After that I lost interest in studies and joined this medical shop as sales boy without even preparing for supplementary. I joined there on recommendation for salary of 450 INR (approx. 15$ at that time) per month.

I used to work there from 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week. I used to clean the scooter of my owner, shelves etc on top of helping them in sales. After shop I used to visit a close by bakery with another sales boy (nephew to owner) and used to enjoy baked items such as plum cakes. I worked there for 8 months and never late by a minute to work. I have no interest at all about studies.

This place is another temple for me. Also this shop is approximately 100 year old.

Going back to college

At that time I have decided to quit studies completely. But one of my uncle suggested me to finish off intermediate to get medical shop license to save the rent. I went back to studies to finish intermediate, but instead of going for Diploma in Pharmacy to get medical license – I end up joining in Under Graduation due to interesting turn in my life. I ended up in B. Sc MPC and joined New Science college in Hyderabad. Due to lack of strong foundation in intermediate, I have struggled a lot in my degree. I used to mug up the books, and it was hardly taking me any where. At that time, one of my friend told me if you do not understand do not read. That made me think a lot and I have gone back to high school science and refreshed relevant topics from intermediate.

I got 69% in my B. Sc, but most importantly I got good rank in MCA Entrance examination – 267 out of 40K odd number of people. I have gone back to Vijayawada and joined P. B. Siddhartha College, completed MCA with exactly 70%.

Foundation for my career

After completing PG (MCA), I have gone for GATE coaching during my project time, my conscience said that though I might not be able to get good rank, but it can get me foundation to face Technical Interviews. It turned out to be true, but as many as 40+ companies rejected me mostly due to academics.

While I am giving trials for my first job, my mother asked a distant relative who have IT company. I got opportunity to go to IT office for the first time. Neither they paid me nor they provided opportunity to work. But luckily I got a computer with unlimited internet. Both in college as well as part of GATE coaching RDBMS was my favorite subject. I have access to Oracle environment in the office, leveraging my knowledge and interest in RDBMS I keep on practicing while giving interviews.

Some of the milestones in job hunt process

• Final round for a probationary officer position in co-operative bank as well (not related to IT)
• Top 7 of thousands of people who came for walk-in at Ocwen
• Final round in Satyam Computers, Wipro, Kanbay, Oracle, British Telecom etc

40+ company rejections made me explore further in technology – SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle internals, Data Modeling, Java etc. etc.

First Job

Almost an year after my graduation and being rejected by 30+ companies, I went for an interview at British Telecom for role of PL/SQL Developer. I cleared written test and interview in Oracle, but for some reason they interviewed me in Java as well which I am not yet comfortable of as I could not digest OOPS concepts completely. Interviewer told I am exceptional in Oracle, but he directed me to think differently when it comes to Java. He identified fundamental problem that I am good at programming but do not understand Java as Object Oriented Programming language.

After that I started reading Java once again and also joined institute called iNetSolv. This time, I became very good in couple of weeks time. Then I interviewed for Pointsoft for contracting position at Tavant Technologies and full time position at Patni. I cleared both and have chosen Pointsoft+Tavant in Bengaluru instead of Patni as Patni require bond and also relocation to Mumbai.

Life Experience

Lot of people give up after minor failures in the life. But after failing in intermediate to working for 450 Rs. to till date where my students are having successful careers, there is long term dedication. As my foundation was not so strong, I used to carry at least 3 to 4 books where ever I go to at least read a page. After MCA, I used to carry my desktop computer if I have to stay for more than a week at any place. I have read Oracle complete reference 4 times with in a span of month, Even after I got first job, I have read almost 5000 pages of java material several times to understand the concepts. When people used to enjoy in pubs after getting first job, I used to enjoy with my books. As of now I have more than 10 IT certifications, expert level knowledge in many technologies and executed complex projects single handedly. I get permanent kick by solving problems where many others give up. I have become Sr. Manager at Cognizant with 9 years of experience and Entrepreneur with 13 years of experience. Employees from almost all IT organizations across the globe follow the content I have created. Many mid level IT professionals who are many years senior to me reach out to me for career counseling.

Here is the picture of 300+ people who acknowledged that they got certified with my direct or indirect involvement.

Now I am running IT Versity, LLC with 4 employees and expecting to grow to 10 in 2018 with operations both in India as well as USA. I enjoy both cleaning the shop and my owner’s bike at the same level as nurturing my own company today.

Here are the details about IT Versity platforms

• YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/itversityin
• Website: http://www.itversity.com
• Support: http://discuss.itversity.com
• Big Data labs: https://labs.itversity.com
  • (plans 14.95$ for 31 days, 34.95$ for 93 days and 54.95$ for 185 days)

Message to MS Students

I am not undermining the challenges many of students have today, especially those who quit jobs in India and traveled abroad out of passion.

• Instead of focusing on IT job as the only career option, explore all possible options.
• Do not let negative emotions such as stress and depression come to your mind.
• When you fail in job interview, self introspect and try to improvise on the skills.
• Team up with friends with varied skills and start working on some real problems. You might end up as entrepreneurs.
  • Couple of Solid Programmers
  • Data Engineer
  • System Administrator
  • Product Owner
• I will be there to support you folks (with in my limitations) – mark my word, you are the potential wealth creators
• You might fail, but you will get lot of exposure
• Become socially active, go to meetups, participate in stackoverflow, become open source committers, mentor friends

I will write about skills I possess and projects I have executed in another blog!!!