The job market is filled with jobs. But, it gets tricky when one is fresh out of college and still figuring out what is next. Well, welcome to my journey where I will tell you about how I was so unsure about the job market and had only one goal - I should at least make myself employable.
Did your uncle or parents tell you that - Go for engineering, and will all set. Well, there is something that they don’t know and that is - the ever-changing job market and skills required to get into it. Without further ado, let’s begin my journey after Engineering.
FIRST JOB AS DATA ANAYLYST - CRUNCHING numbers
Ever heard of something called Data? Oh, who am I kidding, you watch youtube videos like everybody else.
I landed my first job in Pune, as a Data Analyst for a logistics firm where I used to work for 10 hours a day - 3 pm to 2 am. Now imagine you are trying to find anomalies in data for 10 hours a day - Just like you, This made me realize that it is not going to be easy for me to survive in a non-technical job with a technical background.
After working for 2 months straight as a Data Analyst, I realized my passion for trying out new things every day, and hence I realized that I cannot stick with my current role where I am pretty much doing the same thing every day.
TIME TO AUTOMATE - First step towards becoming a Software Engineer
My job had so many repetitive processes and the first thing that came to my mind was to automate it. (Somebody said python) - Spoiler alert.
Well, yeah I used python for automating most of my daily tasks. Python helped me as a data analyst and with this, I used to have a lot of time to read about software development technologies and started looking for an internship.
INTERNSHIP - Still far away from my goal
My first software development internship was for 4 hours a day. Which was perfect for me to keep continuing with my gig of Data analysis. I was interning 5 days a week from 8 am to 11 am.
I used to walk 5 kilometers back and forth, to reduce commute time by half which usually took 1 hour 20 minutes via public transport.
This was the place where I came across JAVA. It was a lot of fun building applications using this great programming language. After completing my internship for the day, I used to head back to my place and start getting ready for the office cab arriving at 1:30 pm
AFTER TWO MORE MONTHS - Still nowhere with opportunities in software development
The time came when I started applying for a software development role, but it was difficult to get interview calls when you are a fresher and have no industry contacts. I went through the same and that is where I came across a platform - Elitmus, that offers interviews mostly for software development roles for freshers.
But, there was still one barrier for getting interviews via Elitmus - Cracking the pH test. What is a pH test? - It is the Hiring Potential Test, designed in such a way that candidates are evaluated based on their analytical and verbal skills. pH test uses on-the-job performance feedback provided by select customers, and theoretical psychometric methodologies and standards to continuously improve the test validity.
Now, you are thinking this dude is bragging about some examination - which anybody can crack - Well for your interest, I am attaching my scores below -
I appeared for pH tests 3 out of 4 times, just to improve my chances to get a job interview and this happened with my last score. I started getting interview calls for software development roles.
LEFT THE DATA ANALYST JOB
After 5 months of hard work, I was confident enough that now with interviews coming in, I can invest 100% of my time towards becoming a software engineer.
Did you know, in software engineering interviews - Interviewers ask you all about Data Structures. Well, the same thing happened and I was less prepared for that. The time was to start learning Data Structures and C, where I decided to join a crash course of one month in CDAC Pune.
In one month of my time with CDAC, I learned all about basic data structures to start solving problems on paper. Also, I came across C/C++ were in almost 1 week, I started studying pointers in the C language.
After one month, I appeared for CDAC all India Exam and scored 538th rank, which was enough to get into the topmost CDAC institute. The same day, I got an interview call from Bengaluru(via Elitmus) for the role of Software Developer.
FINALLY - The one job interview, I was ready for
I was short on cash, but I made the trip from Pune to Bengaluru - Two times to appear for the technical rounds, which were heavy on C/C++ and pointers (I understood the concepts well in the CDAC crash course).
After my second trip, still I was left with no answer on the same day, so with disappointment, I traveled back to Pune. That same night, when I was thinking to leave interviewing and apply for CDAC, I got the confirmation mail from Bengaluru stating -
IN THE END - Left Pune
I accepted the offer and left Pune, and I started as a Software Developer. That was a long story - and if you're feeling overwhelming, don’t worry, if you are also looking for a change or planning to start your journey as a software engineer, always remember - Prepare for the basic concepts and you will shine in your job interviews.
All I want to say in the end is - embrace your learning journey. There will be many failures when you try to get your first job as a fresher. These failures will make you strong for upcoming challenges.