Ex Tamil Nadu Kho Kho Player who became a Developer

"What four years of my engineering could not teach me, Masai School taught me everything about software programming in a few months."

Ex Tamil Nadu Kho Kho Player who became a Developer

Chennai-based Ajay Paudel is a 2018 engineering graduate from Anna University. Soon after graduation, he found an internship opportunity at a small tech startup, to develop web applications using Zoho creator. Though this turned into a full-time role in a few months, Ajay still found himself building web-based apps using Zoho creator. 

Being fully aware that he needed to expand his horizons when it comes to software development, Ajay looked up the internet to check for the best possible course. He zeroed in on Masai School.

“Most training institutes offer courses for 2-3 hours a day for 1 or 2 months and call it a day. But the training schedule at Masai School was then 6 months long and ran from 9am to 9pm, and that really stood out. It was obvious that this was a serious curriculum, and showed some promise, and I was immediately impressed with the course structure.”

At the end of the course at Masai, Ajay was placed at ClearTax as a software development intern. 6 months into his time at the company, COVID-19 hit the world and the startup informed him that they wouldn’t be able to convert the internship into a full-time role. Calling it an unfortunate experience, he was able to quickly find another opportunity at SpaceJoy but only under a temporary contract.

Ajay still believed he wasn’t entirely performing to his best ability and quit the company after 3 months. Following the same thought, he got back in touch with the Masai team. This time, he was determined to be fully prepared with his technical skills and confidence levels.

The 24-year-old spent 2 rigorous months with Masai under The Thrive Program, regaining his mental muscle and plenty of interviewing practice. By the end of the second month, Ajay earned himself a full-time role as a software developer at GlobalLogic. The salary he now makes is 3x of what he was making at his ClearTax internship. This was also his first-ever job interview after the 2 months at Thrive, and Ajay cleared it immediately.

Sports and Software

Ajay casually shrugs off being someone who was never interested in education in the first place. He spent most of his childhood and college days in the playground. Ajay was also a state-level Kho Kho player for Tamil Nadu. For a large part of his educational life, Ajay was one of those students who would only hear others talk of all the technical terms in programming but was never the one that actually practiced it. 

Admitting that he was very laid-back and careless about his career and prospects, Ajay humorously opines that engineering education in India tends to keep you that way. It was not until his first work stint, as an intern, that Ajay fully started to take his career seriously. 

When he learned about the real-world applications of writing code at the internship, he started to explore the career more. He adds that it was a rather simpler experience if had to compare his career as a developer before and after Masai School.

“What four years of my engineering could not teach me, Masai School taught me everything about software programming in a few months. It was also the first time I was sitting in front of a laptop for 12 hours a day, coding. By the 2nd or 3rd week, I really enjoyed myself at the campus throughout the rest of the course.”

Watch this video to know more about Ajay’s journey and experience at Masai and how he was able to finally get the ideal job-