Unstable financial situation didn’t stop Pavithra from becoming a Developer
Pavithra. N, a Masai School graduate, comes from Tumkur, Karnataka. The Software Developer was born and brought up in her hometown Tumkur. Her father is a farmer and her mother a homemaker. Both the parents are not educated and they never went to a school.
“My mom wished that I would become a teacher, as her uncle was a government school teacher who got more respect in the village. So she had a wish that her child also become a government teacher.”
Pavithra recalls that her school days were very enriching and that one of her distant relatives was an engineer who lived in the United States. Looking up to him, she always had a dream that she wanted to become an engineer and it became her life ambition since her childhood.
Soon after school, Pavithra joined a Diploma course in Computer Science. She admits that she was very fascinated towards computer science and engineering all her life and she would end up experimenting with small lines of code and operating with hardware equipment by herself. After Diploma, Pavithra secured a good score in Karnataka CET, the state-wide engineering entrance examination that helped her in getting an engineering seat in one of the top government-run universities in Bengaluru and graduated in 2011.
“During that time I got interested in Web development and network security and did 6 months of internship in a Bengaluru-based company. And I wished to continue the same by joining the software company. But unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it happen.”
Her parents have lived in a village all their lives and are not educated. Going by advice from relatives and family, they decided to get Pavithra married. Soon after her engineering, Pavithra tied the knot. After that, she developed a couple of small websites for her husband’s project and for a friend’s business. She says that kept her dream alive and she decided to then find herself a job after 4 years of graduation but in vain. She did not have any prior experience in the IT industry earlier so she wasn’t able to find employment. That was when she decided to pursue post graduation in computer science.
Married life
Now being a homemaker, Pavithra stepped into college again to fulfill her dream to become a software engineer. She found a seat in a top institution in Chennai where former President of India Late Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam studied. Completed my post graduation during 2018.
“I was excited to start my career in the IT Industry. But unfortunately due to family issues, I had to get separated from my husband and shifted to my native town with my child. Due to those issues, I had taken 6 months of break, so it was not easy for me to accept and move on. I got disturbed mentally, even though I joined as a Java developer at a startup, I wasn’t able to give my best. So I quit that job and joined as a Computer Science teacher and worked for a year in Chennai.”
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Pavithra could not get a decent home for herself in Chennai. Back at her hometown, she would get paid very less at about Rs. 7,000 to 9,000 a month and it was difficult to manage her children with the low pay.
It was time for her to upskill herself in the Software industry. She researched and enquired with some training institutes to learn new technologies and joined a Mumbai -based institution, where they promised her a job offer after completion of course.
“But they cheated students without completing the course and there were no placements. Then I started to search for a good Bangalore-based institution, where I got to know about Masai School. I did some research on the curriculum, placements and enquired through posting questions on social media and got to know more.”
Life at Masai School
Pavithra adds that she liked the military-style setup and the 9-9-6 training.
It was hard for a couple of weeks as she had to manage her time with family, children and the course. Whenever she felt like giving up, she recalls that the Cofounder and SVP Yogesh Bhat would motivate her enough. Her favourite time at Masai was ‘the Build Week’, where she would work with other teams and deliver projects within timelines. The best projects were presented in front of the Cofounder and CEO Prateek Shukla. Her team made it to the first place and they even grabbed the prize money. Pavithra says it was her most memorable day at Masai.
“Today me and my kids are living a happy life. Masai helped me upskill myself as per the industry standards and the Pay After Placement structure saved me from a poor financial situation. Whatever I learnt from Masai is very much useful in my job. Mainly time management, discipline, dedication, collaboration. Since I did an online course, it is very helpful while working from home. I am very much grateful to be part of Masai school. I wish Masai to grow more and help students like me to build their life in the right direction. Thanks to each and every one who helped to build my career in the IT field.”