How a fabrication welder’s fire accident catapulted him into becoming a Software Engineer

Mohammed Tanveer, one of Masai School alumni had more downs than ups in his life. Despite walking on a tough road to success, it was only his persistence, determination and hard work that did not let his focus diverge from his goals. 

As a young boy, when Tanveer was only in his 5th grade, he was forced to drop out when his father’s business crashed. He was compelled to join his uncle’s fabrication workshop as a welder where he earned a paltry Rs 50 per week. The shop had to shut down as it was caught employing child labour. He later joined another fabrication workshop as helper to a welder for Rs 120 a week and quit four years later, skilled as a welder to join another workshop where he made Rs 500 a week. An accident at the workshop proved to be the turning point in his life, when he decided to make it big in life, someday.

The fire put him out of employment immediately, and Tanveer was also hospitalised and bed-ridden for 6 months.

He decided to put all this time to good use. Tanveer’s sister, who was then taking a course on medical transcription, gave him some books to read. Tanveer just wanted to read anything and everything he could get his hands on. Looking at his brother’s efforts, his sister helped him pick up basic skills in reading and writing English. Tanveer was also getting better at it by the day.

Once he recovered, Tanveer took up a typing course that helped him land a job as a data-entry executive. While this was only a first step, he moved to several other organisations, working in data entry and eventually became a specialist in search-engine optimisation (SEO). He then found employment in Marketing, and worked as an SEO Manager and Digital Marketing Manager for a few years. But he admits of always wanting to build a career as a software engineer.

“I was initially apprehensive about beginning a career as a coder without an educational degree. This was when I came across Masai School’s 6 month coding program and enrolled myself. The program has today enabled me with the right skills and in turn kick-started my career as a full-stack developer.” 

He honed his skills in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Data Structures and Algorithms, React.js and the MERN Stack. Tanveer recalls that he forgot everything he had learnt in school, starting from the English alphabet to basic mathematical additions. The fire accident put his life to a halt for a duration of 6 months, which was when Tanveer practically re-built his life from scratch.

At the end of his course at Masai School, Tanveer was successfully placed as a Software Developer at Influx Worldwide, with an impressive salary figure. Tanveer says his father and his family relatives could not have been more proud, looking at where he is today and where he started.

Watch Tanveer talk about his life, career and more in this video-