How an aspiring fighter pilot became a software engineer instead with Masai
Abhishek Khelge was born in Nashik, Maharashtra but was raised in Karnataka. He currently works as a Software Engineer at MoneyTap. A deeper dive into his journey will teach you that it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, what matters is what you are doing ‘now’.
He initially aspired to be a fighter pilot as a young boy because he was surrounded by people with defence experience, including his father. However, academics completely bewildered him in his later life. He studied mechanical engineering in college, but soon realised that it was not something he would want to pursue on a professional level. He began volunteering at various non-profit organisations and began to explore his interests.
While searching for different fields, he came across coding and began learning about it from online sources. Once he started enjoying himself, he looked for full-time job roles in this domain but could not find anything worthwhile. Realising that it would take a lot more than just online videos to become a professional software developer, he started looking for options to learn from, and this is how he came across Masai. The following conversation elaborates it further:
How did you discover Masai School?
I came to know about Masai from a friend who was impressed by the scores of their alumni. To confirm, I talked to the alumni myself who turned out to be very helpful in explaining all the procedures. It was after listening to their experiences that I decided to enrol in Masai School. Another aspect which impressed me was the ISA which required students to pay the fees only after landing a job of Rs.5 LPA or above. This boosted my confidence as I knew it could be a great opportunity for me to showcase my calibre to the world.
What is the difference between learning to code by yourself and doing it with Masai School?
The one major difference that I observed was that while learning to code online, there was no guidance to help me clear my doubts. As a result, I used to skip certain important topics (like competitive coding). This delayed my speed and my learning process. At Masai, all my doubts were instantly cleared by the mentors as they created a more amiable way of learning for every student. The mentors were incredibly understanding and they made us solve the problems from basic to advanced level.
I soon realised that the curriculum was so structured here that I was able to solve even the most complicated problems with ease, which I could not before. Overall, every student felt motivated to learn coding and develop their skills with every day that passed.
Did you face any challenges at Masai School?
My journey at Masai School did consist of a few challenges. The first and the obvious problem was that I did not come from a Computer Science background. The other challenge was to adhere to the 9-to-9 schedule with absolute dedication. It took me some time to get used to this new lifestyle but eventually, I started feeling confident that if I put my heart into something, I knew no one could stop from achieving it. Week by week, I overcame every hurdle with all the support I was receiving and it landed me my first job.
According to you, what are the barriers for someone who does not come from a Computer Science background?
When you reach the end of a learning curve, you are on the same level as everyone else. The reason why I chose Masai was because most of its success stories were from students who did not come from the field of IT. Every such student might face some difficulties in the beginning, but with the constant guidance of the mentors, it becomes an enjoyable experience after a while.
To be honest, these challenges did not appear difficult after a point because the reality I was witnessing at Masai exceeded my expectations. Moreover, I knew from day one that I could be independent of financial constraints due to the ISA. All in all, I believe that what Masai offers is a win-win situation for everyone and all the educational institutions should follow the same structure in their curriculum.
The Masai experience:
After knowing Abhishek’s story, we were truly mesmerised by how he had a zest to try something new even when others from his college were getting placed in top companies. Taking a leap of faith after listening to his instinct, he just went ahead with his enthusiasm and soon met us at Masai. As we look at his journey today, we feel immensely proud to be a part of his ride and hope that he continues to make us proud. This video highlights how far he has come and what he feels should be taken care of by aspiring coders.