Team collaboration and the right guidance are the keys to success in coding — Arjun Tiwari’s story
21-year-old Arjun Tiwari’s interest towards technology started with using WhatsApp on his mobile phone. Having grown up playing mobile games, his inclination towards tech started taking a serious shape. With a basic self-awareness that he wanted to work in the tech industry, Arjun chose Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in high school, which would open his gates to Computer Science Engineering.
Born and brought up in Agra, Arjun went to Noida for his graduation. He studied Computer Science Engineering in IILM College of Engineering and Technology. When Arjun was 5 years old, he lost his parents. His sister and him were brought up by their father’s sister and family.
Arjun talks about his journey with Masai in this video:
During his 3rd year of engineering, Arjun happened to start learning the subjects in web development, and he was eager to try his luck at the campus placements. But upon many rejections during these placements, he realised that he clearly lacked expertise in programming languages, frameworks and database management. He was now aware that he wasn’t industry-ready.
Immediately after these rejections happened, which was in his penultimate semester of college, Arjun quickly looked for countermeasures. In the final semester, he happened to come across Masai School in a newspaper article and was really impressed with the payments model it offered.
The ISA payments system
To reduce the burden of student loans for engineering students, Masai School operates on an Income Sharing Agreement (ISA) where the students pay zero upfront cost. Once they graduate from the course, the students will pay back 15 percent of their monthly income for 36 months, or until they reach a maximum capped amount of INR 3 lac. However, the Income-Sharing Agreement is applicable only when the students get a job offer with a package of INR 5 LPA or more.
Upon cracking the entrance test, Arjun took his time to get used to the rigorous military-style coding, for 6 days a week, from 9AM to 9PM. Being a punctual student since he was a child, he did not have many complaints while getting used to the coursework. He chose Full-Stack Web Development course which was for a duration of 30 weeks.
“Soon enough, I learnt that this kind of a routine is necessary and crucial to shape you into a diligent programming professional. It’s important to get used to doing repetitive tasks on a consistent basis without getting bored. That is only how you can master coding.”
HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the MERN Stack were among the many things Arjun learnt at Masai School. He says there was a plethora of learning all around him, from his teammates and the Masai staff, which improved my communication skills drastically. He goes to add that he was left speechless upon the kind of commitment the Masai staff showed towards helping the students level up in their coding journey.
Arjun adds that he fully realised the potential of team collaboration, and that he was able to perform better and solve problems with more confidence only after collaborating with fellow students.
“The teaching faculty at Masai never left a single message thread open when it came to doubts and queries. They were relentless enough until the student was satisfied with their solutions.”
Upon the completion of his course at Masai School, it took Arjun one month to find himself a job at a tech startup called Apollo Invest in Mumbai. He adds that he was able to master the art of ‘learning and unlearning’ at Masai. Though his everyday job involves tech stack and tools that are completely different from the ones he learnt at Masai School, Arjun is confident of his ability to perform well nevertheless.
