Shabaz took a chance & left Mechanical Engineering to become a coder
Shabaz hails from Brijpur in Karnataka and had always been a bright student in school. Belonging from a humble background, his family witnessed a lot of financial problems but this never affected his zest for learning and working on himself.
While his scores were high in school, he didn’t find himself too aligned towards hoping for a bright career- his major concern was to earn more money for his family. Without having a career-oriented aim, he went ahead with the flow and joined a local college with his friends, going ahead with whatever stream of engineering that came along the way- and he opted Mechanical. For him, there were no reservations about pursuing Mechanical Engineering since it is considered as a ‘core branch’- which meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about getting a job.
The time Shabaz spent in college went smoothly but things didn’t go in the way he had expected. When the time came to find a job, he found himself struggling due to a lack of communication skills. After months of trying and getting rejected in various interviews, he decided to pursue a course in Hyderabad to fine-tune his existing knowledge and get his hopes back on track.
He opted for a course in MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) to polish his core capabilities and have a better chance at clearing the interviews. However, the course didn’t do him any good- the institute did not keep up with any of the bright promises they had made to the students at the time of enrolment. Both the curriculum and the faculty were below average and this worsened his already dejected state of mind.
After the completion of the course, the institute sent him to Bangalore for an interview. Unfortunately, he got to know after the recruitment process that the job was instead for the role of a technician, with a monthly salary of Rs.6,000. Almost fed up with his fate, he began searching for work on his own and after a lot of struggle, he got hired as a mechanical engineer by a medium scale company.
As he worked there, he didn’t feel very satisfied as he was required to play multiple roles (including the meagre ones) that weren’t really a part of his main role. While he dealt with the dissatisfaction inside his heart every day at work, something interesting was waiting for him.
While working on the company’s CRM, he grew a fascination for web development and computer programming. He decided to dig deep into it by quitting his job and taking up an intensive course. Even though he knew the direction he was about to take would not be easy, he didn’t feel unsure about it- he instead felt passionate about the choice he was about to make.
He started exploring his options when one of his friends advised him to enrol in Masai School. When he learned more about Masai, he felt intrigued with the curriculum which included 12 hours of training a week and studying with a 9-to-9 schedule every day. Moreover, there was no harm for him to get enrolled as he only had to pay the fee if he got a job for more than Rs.5 lakhs per annum. He soon gave the entrance exam and passed it to become a student at Masai.
When the classes commenced, he felt nervous as he didn’t belong to a Computer Science background. In the first 15 days, he couldn’t prepare a single project out of fear and would keep mum during all the presentations. Seeing his situation, Masai’s mentor Yogesh explained to him that things he was feeling were natural and that he should not give up so soon. With his mentor’s encouragement, he felt inspired to work on himself and soon became a dedicated student of the batch.
After 6 weeks of completing the course, he received an internship offer but his mentor Ankur suggested that he should not go for it. He believed that Shabaz had the potential to land himself a full-time job and he motivated him along with other mentors to stay hopeful. Within a few days, he finally got placed and it has been more than 7 months now since he started working.
To everyone who aspires to become a Coder like him one day, he says:
“Before you begin, try to find your dream first and learn what you want to do in life, even though you have financial difficulties. There are institutions such as Masai School that can help get through tough times by shaping your career for the better- all you need to do is try to learn and master one thing at a time rather than mastering all and trust me, it works.”
