“Computers” have always fascinated me. Gaming was the first thing that attracted me towards computers. During my school days I used to spend hours in computer centers, playing games. I begged my parents to get me my first Personal Computer when I was in 10th grade. From there on my interest towards it increased even more. Gaming world has influenced me so much that I started to explore it and found that finally it all burns down to something called “CODE”. I was amazed that all these Games, Application, Websites were nothing but just some codes written by someone that is put together to work. And from that time, “CODING” became my next fascinating thing.

I obviously chose computer group in my 11th grade since I wanted to become a “Computer Science Engineer” in the future and explore the world of coding. I had a few more friends in school with me who had the same passion for coding. We used to finish off our computer lab works in no time and start trying new things. We used to visit our computer lab during free hours and sometimes even during weekends. Writing a small piece of code and seeing how it worked actually excited us. But I didn’t know that there were different plans waiting for me.

I completed my 12th grade and had a pretty decent score. I had to choose myself an Engineering course in any college. My parents knew that I was very much interested in Computer Science. But the IT industries at that time had a huge fall. There was news all over TV saying that lots of employees were sacked out of IT companies. My parents feared that I don’t end up in the same way and so they started talking to me. They didn’t want me to choose “Computer Science” as my professional course. “Parents have this special ability to talk and make you reach a state where you feel, whatever they say as convincing 😀 “. I ended up in the same state. Finally I chose a course which my parents thought would bring me a very bright future. But I chose it without any regrets. May be that was because my parents planted that idea so deep in my mind without my knowledge ( like INCEPTION 😛 )

Finally I was into “Electronics and Communication Engineering”. But the fact was, I truly hated Electronics . All those resistors, capacitors and circuits used to scare the hell out of me. “I sometimes wondered why it felt that way”. May be that was because I didn’t understand the logic behind it or may be they didn’t attract me like computers did or maybe I was so dumb that I didn’t understand anything at all :D. Though I was into Electronics, we still had few subjects in each semester related to computers and coding. I used to show some extra interest in them. I chose elective subjects like JAVA that were related to computers in my final semesters. That gave me some satisfaction that I could still keep a small tab on things that I enjoyed doing.

Campus placement started. A series of companies started visiting my college. Though we were not Computer Science Engineers, we were allowed to attend the placement interviews conducted by IT companies. I had a small hope that I’ll somehow crack and get into one of them. I managed to get through few initial rounds but couldn’t crack the entire interview. I wasn’t qualified for any of the big IT companies. I felt bad that I couldn’t be a Computer Engineer 😦 . After the IT companies, we had core Electronics companies coming up. I somehow managed to get myself placed in one of them. In fact, I said, “I hated Electronics” sitting in the final round of that interview 😛

Although I got placed, I didn’t receive my offer letter even after I finished my college. There was some internal problems within the company that I got placed that delayed the process. I was in my home for about 6 months without any job. There were rumors that the placement offers may be cancelled because of that problem. I was frustrated. I was restless and couldn’t wait more, so I started searching for new jobs outside. In the next month I had attended an interview and was waiting for the results.

It was Diwali that day and also my birthday. I was in my home watching TV, when my phone rang. It was from that company and the HR told me that I was selected 🙂 . I felt a bit relieved. “Finally a job”, I thought to myself. The HR told me that they will send the offer letter by mail and I could join the company by the following week. The next day I saw the offer letter in my mailbox. To my surprise, there was also another mail in my inbox. It was from the company that I got placed in campus recruitment. They had asked me to register in their portal to proceed further with the placement process. Now I had to choose between these two job offers.

I had a clear idea about the company I got placed in college and the job description details of it because I was in touch with few of my college seniors who worked there. But I didn’t know a lot about the 2nd company. My parents again suggested to take the offer that I got through campus placement but left it to me to decide between the two. There was a tiny thought that kept whirling around in my mind which made me feel that I could explore more in the 2nd company. So I rejected the offer that I got through Campus placement and went to this company without having a clear idea what my job exactly would be. I just hoped for the best.

The company had different domains supporting each other like Development, Validation, Systems and Electrical but we weren’t given a choice to choose our domain. After one and half months of training, we were put up into our respective teams.

My team leader came up to me and said, “I want to assess your “Coding Skill“. Write a piece of code to design a counter based on pulse input”.

That word excited me once again !!! I was a Developer. I gave him a smile 🙂 and said, “I’m on it”. I felt satisfied that I chosen the right path…

 

Follow your heart. Choose the right one for yourself – Housing