Artist by passion is now a Software Engineer at a Unicorn Startup - Success story of Gaurav
He was a big procrastinator before he joined Masai, but now he knows how to manage his time. He is able to achieve great results from what he puts his mind to.
Gaurav Kishore Tambe, 23, was born and brought up in Kalyan, a humble city in the state of Maharashtra. Graduating from Mechatronics branch in B.tech, he switched his focus to Software and joined Masai School to learn web development. Today, he works as a front-end Software Engineer for the gaming unicorn Dream11.
Early childhood and the values he grew up with
He attended a very small-level school as a child where he got to learn basic values about himself and also was given a chance to explore his surroundings and make new friends.
Unlike his parents, who were employed full-time working as professionals, he had more free time to spend at home, which allowed him and his younger brother to lean on themselves while they learned how to become independent. Because of this, he asserts that it is important not to take what parents say literally; you do not need them for everything!
How he developed an interest in robotics
Growing up he wanted to become a robotics engineer after watching Ironman. His relatives told him that IIT is an incredibly prestigious university for engineers and that he should go for it if he was serious about robotics.
Rather than giving up his dream of becoming an engineer, he decided to develop another skill in parallel and applied his love for aesthetics to painting and sketching. He had been selling his drawings in school and other places from a young age so this came naturally to him.
Graduation in Mechatronics and all that followed
His parents wanted him to go to Xavier’s school of art, but he decided to be a robotics engineer instead and prepared for JEE exams. Unfortunately, he didn’t get in. As a result, he attended Terna Engineering College in Navi Mumbai and studied Mechatronics (a combination of programming, mechanics and electronics).
Some parts were boring according to him- it was 80% mechanical and 20% electrical, with very little programming content. This didn’t seem like the best field when compared to his future goals, so soon after he graduated (he actually did this while still attending college itself) he realized that if he wanted to pursue programming as part of his life’s work then it was time for another change of plans.
Inclination towards coding and programming
The maximum package his college offered was just 3 LPA-which was not sufficient considering the high fees of the college. He found himself more drawn towards learning to program than the rest of his subjects. So in 2nd year, he started to teach himself about programming on a personal basis. He shifted over to web development soon after.
In the meantime, he joined one of his friend’s start-ups where he taught final year students about Python and JavaScript while being in 2nd year himself. It was a huge help for him to gain more experience in these skills, especially as someone who was just starting out as a freelance web developer. This allowed him to make an extra income through teaching.
Introduction to Masai School
After this, he decided to turn towards a full-time programming career. He wanted a mentor to teach him everything he needed to know when it comes down to the ins and outs of programming. As he was not very keen on his course, he also took some NLP courses online as they were more convenient for him than regular classes at the college.
After doing extensive research online, he found Masai School to be the best fit for what he was looking to achieve. He chose Masai because of the 9-9-6 schedule, the Pay After Placement (PAP), and the alumni profiles. He soon enrolled himself in 2021 and was happy that he had to pay the fee later on after he would get a job of more than 5 LPA.
How did life change after joining Masai?
He was a big procrastinator before he joined Masai, but now he knows how to manage his time. He is able to achieve great results from what he puts his mind to. The best thing about him being at Masai is that he gained the knowledge and skills needed to take on the responsibilities and challenges of life. And now, every day offers opportunities for him to learn something new.
He believes that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you do your best not only to avoid repeating them but also to know how to overcome them when they do happen. But he also asks to remember: no one becomes successful overnight- you need determination, commitment and focus in order to get the job done.
Growth journey with the curriculum
He took the full-stack web development course which had all the basic programming from what he had learnt 2 months back. It wasn’t about the technology that he was just learning at Masai – it was also about the overall skill development programs that helped him become a ‘good’ programmer which encouraged him to become a self-learner eventually.
When he joined Masai School, Gaurav was in the hopes of gaining knowledge and networking with industry experts. He made a lot of connections and tells us that he is still in touch with a lot of instructors who help him whenever he gets stuck at any problem.
He says, “Masai is different from other boot camps because it helps people from literally any background who is a school pass out. During the Construct weeks, I got to work in groups with my peers. I found it pretty interesting as it gave me a lot of insight and it was like a validation for the knowledge I had gained during the last few months. It was a great learning experience.”
Message for aspiring coders & programmers
According to him, Masai made him a better programmer and he absolutely loves the fact that the faculty here always keeps elevating their syllabus with the latest industry trends.