While I knew that the chances of getting selected in government exams were higher in this field, my college's lack of exposure to computer languages and poor teaching made the IT industry seem like a far-off dream. The limited knowledge and negative perception painted a bleak picture of a career in IT with no respect, low pay, and grueling working hours. Little did I know, that this perception would change in the future.

After graduation, I was determined to secure a stable job and started preparing for GATE, an entrance exam for many PSUs and top IITs for Masters. I even joined one of India's top coaching institutes, paying almost one lakh rupees for the coaching. I shifted to a new city, rented a small room near the coaching center, and woke up at 6 AM every morning to go early and get a seat in front. I came back home after 8 hours of class, took a break for 1 hour, and then again started studying. I used to revise the day's class and then solve the problems of my subjects. This routine went on for 4-5 months continuously every day, with no holidays, no break days. But even after all the hard work, I couldn't shake off the feeling of emptiness, like something was missing. I couldn't understand why I wasn't feeling good about this.

I was putting in all the hard work that was required, but still, I wasn't feeling good about myself. This feeling of emptiness slowly started to grow bigger and I found myself skipping classes just to try and regain my motivation, but nothing seemed to work. I started skipping meals and my mental state continued to deteriorate. For about two months, I was in a very depressed state. I would often leave the city and come back home without telling anyone. My parents were worried and would ask me what was wrong and I would lie to them because I couldn't bring myself to tell them the truth.

I had left all my friends behind and isolated myself, feeling lost and alone in that dark place. I avoided people at all costs and would turn down every meet or outing. The nights were the hardest, I would cry a lot in the middle of the night as I had no idea who I was. I had lost hope and confidence in myself. I didn't even have the courage to face my parents who had poured everything into my studies and I was consumed by extreme guilt.

Then, during one of my breaks, I came home for 3 days. My friends called me for a get-together and a night out, but I refused, making excuses about needing to study. But they were persistent, and eventually, I agreed to go. It was a turning point in my journey. My friends were from a tier 1 college and were currently working in good IT sector companies with good work-life balance and decent pay. I went with a mindset that portrayed IT jobs as bad, but as I talked to them and heard about their experiences, I began to see things differently. They encouraged me to open up and talk about my situation, and for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to lie. I shared with them my depression and everything that was going on in my life at that time. They had a very positive attitude toward my situation and started encouraging me to consider changing my career stream.

Before this, I had always had a fear in my head that I wouldn't be able to do it, that learning a computer language would be too hard and completely opposite of my current stream. But at that moment, I decided to think about it. This was a pivotal moment in my life and my journey toward a new career.

In the days that followed, I was extremely productive, researching the IT industry and how to start, and where to start. I watched a lot of videos and talked to my friends about this. I was still a little unsure about my decision, but I finally decided to dive into it on 1st October 2022. I started learning one language which was JAVA. To my surprise, it came naturally to me, and I was able to understand everything at once.

I was determined to become decent in this with regular practice and determination. I started waking up at 4 AM in the morning to study this language and learn to code. I dedicated 13.5 hours a day, studying from 4:30 AM till 6 PM in the evening. I kept this a secret from my family, knowing it would be difficult for them to understand my decision to pursue an IT job. I decided that I would tell them when I got a job, but that plan was cut short when my laptop broke. I was using a 10-year-old laptop with just 4GB of RAM, and I didn't have the money to fix it, nor could I ask my parents for money to fix it.

On 22nd November 2022, I decided to finally tell my family about my decision to pursue an IT career. I was shocked at how understanding and supportive they were. I know some readers might think that parents are always supportive of their children, but from my perspective, I felt like I had wasted their money on something that I no longer wanted to pursue. They were understandably afraid, but they still asked me to come home and stay with them.

I came back home, fixed my laptop, and started studying again. They even got me a new screen as my laptop's screen had broken and was very old. Before coming back home, I had started learning publicly through LinkedIn. I started posting and sending connection requests to software engineers and began growing my network. On 30th November 2022, I completed my JAVA course.

On 1st December, I started with Data Structures and Algorithm (DSA) and also made my LeetCode profile on the same day. From 5th December 2022, I started coding on LeetCode and have been consistent till today and will continue to be in the future. For DSA, I bought a course on Udemy but after completing some lectures on Arrays and recursion, I found that I was not able to solve many questions on LeetCode and the linked list topic was also very confusing. So, I started searching for other resources and that's when I came across Kunal Kushwaha's playlist "The DSA BootCamp". I watched one video just to check it out, the Array one, with the mindset that I knew Arrays and that it would be easy to assess someone with something that I already knew. But after watching the video, I found out that what I learned through the Udemy lecture was just 20% of what Kunal teaches. This was the moment I got hooked on Kunal Kushwaha's way of teaching. I continued with my DSA with his videos only and stopped taking my Udemy course. We all know that his playlist is incomplete but what he says about his playlist on recursion and just in general DSA is true, "THIS IS THE BEST PLAYLIST ON INTERNET ON DSA", and I couldn't agree more.

By the end of 2022, I had made significant progress in my skills and career aspirations. Not only did I gain a substantial following on LinkedIn, but I also discovered my passion for computer programming. What began as a journey of uncertainty and self-doubt, ended with newfound confidence and purpose. I started a 100-day coding challenge on LinkedIn and I am currently on day 63, with clear improvement in my skills and a growing number of followers. In addition, I've made valuable connections and friends within the industry through the platform. Overall, 2022 was a roller coaster ride, but one that ultimately led me to discover my true calling in the field of computer programming.

As I look back on my journey in 2022, I am filled with gratitude for the people who have supported me and for the opportunities that have come my way. I am grateful for the struggles and challenges that I faced, as they have helped me grow as a person and as a professional. I am excited to continue on this path and see what the future holds for me in the world of computer programming. Thank you for reading my story and I hope that my journey can inspire others to never give up on their dreams and passions, no matter how difficult the road may seem. Here's to a prosperous and fulfilling 2023!

#dsawithkunal #WeMakeDevs