Computers were never my cup of tea.
I just used computers at the school lab to make drawings and perform some wordArt. I had never considered working in the technology field. Because girls are not supposed to work in computer businesses in my village. Societal perceptions impede a girl's ability to seek higher education. However, this was not the case in my scenario because my parents supported me (specially my father).
After completing my Senior Secondary with an 80 percent grade point average, I was confused as to what field I should pursue next. I made the decision to work in the financial industry. But God had different plans for me. My father advised me to pursue a career in technology. I began my bachelor's degree in computer science with a specialty in the Internet of Things. Yes, you read that correctly😂.
I entered the computer science arena despite not knowing the ABCDs of computers.
I learnt the C programming language during my first year of college. And it was at that point that I began to regret majoring in computer science. I was puzzled by if-else, loops, and still ended up with errors in my source code.
Days moved, and we were introduced to a new programming language, C++. However, my brain was not prepared for this because I was still struggling with C🤦♀️ .
I began working with IoT in my second year.
Oh my God!! Finally, something of interest. Sensors, Arduino Uno, Raspberry Pi, and so on were placed on a table, and students were expected to create projects employing them. I like creating little projects with Thingspeak, LabVIEW, and TinkerCad. The Arduino coding was enjoyable. You may read about Arduino in my article.
Last year, the university invited us to join the TPP Batch in order to participate in placement drives, but I declined since I was under the belief that I would not fit in this capacity because coding is a demanding job. I completed my degree with a CGPA of 8.66 and began looking for freelance content writing employment. I was readily obtaining content writing internships at numerous firms, but I was still dissatisfied with this kind of work. When I told my father that I wanted to pursue a Master's degree in computer science, he smiled and said, "Are you sure? computer science again? And I answered, "Yes, once again." But this time I felt sure I wanted to work in the field of technology.
I passed the CUCET exam and received a 40% scholarship to enrol in a Masters degree in computer science. This time, though, the specialisation was Cloud Computing. I worked hard this time, and I also passed the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam.
When the time came, I went to my first ever placement drive.
I was a little worried. I made it through all of the rounds and was hired as a Software Engineer Intern at Marvell India Pvt Ltd.
Life had changed. The girl who was painting on desktops is now coding on laptops😅.