Backlogs and bunking didn’t stop Akshay from becoming a Product Developer
Akshay Kadam (24) was born and brought up in a small town called Jamkhandi in Karnataka. At present, he works as an Associate Product Engineer at Urban Piper.
He was in Class 4 when he got his own desktop and all he did was play games on it. A childish beginning such as that led him to become a tech-savvy person that he is today, as he grew up.
He moved to Belgaum in Karnataka after Class 10. Even though he had an interest in Computers, a counsellor in his junior college changed his mind to take up Biology in Class 11 so that he could choose between Engineering or Medical after the board exams. However, he could not score well as he met with an accident and was on bed-rest for around 9 months.
To pursue his liking for the subject, he took admission in a local college to pursue B.Tech in Computer Science. However, the traditional approach of teaching in college did not appeal to him and he soon started to skip classes. During the 4th semester, he was detained for shortage of attendance and was made to repeat the entire semester. He lost the remaining interest and in the 6th semester, he had around 16 exams to write out of which 8 were regular subjects and 8 were backlogs. It took him 5 years to complete engineering.
Let’s find out what happened during his on-campus placements and how he came across Masai School.
Did you manage to find a job during on-campus placements?
Having inadequate attendance with a lot of backlogs in my mark sheet did not get me any job. I also tried to look for jobs outside college but could not find any. I understood that this degree is not going to get me a job since I could barely code. As a result, I joined a digital marketing course in my 8th semester.
So how did you come across Masai School?
After completing the course in digital marketing, I found entry-level jobs at Rs.5,000-10,000 per month due to the limitations put by COVID-19. It was not sufficient to sustain. I did two internships in digital marketing to utilise my time and that is when I learnt to develop websites on WordPress. While making websites, I realised how interesting it could be to build your own website and I suddenly recalled my days in college. I tried to learn coding on my own from online resources for around 4-5 months, and there was a lot of material but no structure.
That is when I felt I needed a guide, and I found one in Masai School.
What was your first impression of Masai?
It was too good to be true. It was difficult for me to convince my parents to go for a course in the same field again after wasting 5 years in engineering and then months in digital marketing. They had invested lakhs and lakhs for my education and were very worried about this discovery of mine.
To clear my doubts, I contacted a few alumni from Masai and spoke to them at length about their experience and it was after talking to them that I decided to give it a go. I convinced my parents with the ISA that required the students to pay the fees only if they land a job of more than Rs.5 LPA after completing the course.
After getting enrolled, how were you able to keep up with the 9-9-6 schedule?
During my college days, I used to play games for 14-18 hours straight while bunking classes. Even though I wasn’t specifically interested in classes, being inclined towards gaming taught me the value of determination and discipline.
I was very keen to give my career a new chance and I gave my 100% in following the 9-9-6 schedule. After a few weeks, I got used to it and sometimes it even felt like even 24 hours in a day weren’t enough to learn new things!
Did you enjoy working on projects with fellow students?
Absolutely. It was a different experience from what I had seen before – in college, we did our assignments on our own without being too active in communication with our peers. To be honest, I literally used to take code from Github and did my assignments without even understanding them.
At Masai, we were required to build everything from the scratch and were in constant communication with our team members and mentors. Every problem and assignment that we were given was solely based on our personal capabilities and none of them was taken from the internet or other sources.
Every problem and assignment that we were given was solely based on our personal capabilities and none of them was taken from the internet or other sources. Such things taught us the value of team spirit, leadership, communication and independence that wasn’t something I had witnessed to date.
Tell us something about your current job and placements at Masai.
Soon after completing the course in May 2021, I appeared for job interviews and got placed within the next 10 days. Working at Urban Piper has been amazing till now; all the concepts I learnt at Masai are now coming to great use. I would also like to mention that there are times when I am required to learn new concepts while working – I had learnt React.js in Masai, but the job at Urban Piper also required me to learn React Native. I learnt it in no time!
It is only because of the way that Masai has taught me the art of ‘how to learn things’ that I am able to sustain in this new environment and also thrive in it.
The Masai Experience
Akshay inspires aspiring programmers by proving that a lucrative degree does not guarantee a good career. It is only determination and hard work that can take you to places and we are glad that he took a chance to revamp his life after facing a lot of setbacks. His performance at Masai is a true example of how students grow here immensely within a short period of time and become prepared to face the corporate world.