If given a chance I would like to start a coding club in the college, says Arjya Paul

During my school days, I had already decided that I will make a career in the technology field in the future. I have always loved using laptops and PCs. I wanted to build various applications, games, websites or operating systems. Due to my passion, I decided to study CSE or IT. I never wished to study anything else as I was passionate about computers. I wanted to get admission to IITs in CSE or IT branch. However, if I could not make it to any IIT, I also had a backup plan ready for that situation. 

My plan included taking admission to any WBJEE college in my desired branch. I researched about good colleges under WBJEE. So, I shortlisted some of the colleges under WBJEE such as Jadavpur University, IEM, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kalyani Government Engineering College, Techno Main Salt Lake and Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College.

I knew that JU is a bit hard to crack, especially for CSE or IT branch. Comparing IEM and Heritage Institute of Technology, I prioritized Heritage Institute of Technology. According to my school seniors, IEM is more like a school and its campus is also too small. Coming to the placement scenario, both Heritage Institute of Technology and IEM have the same statistics. Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College and Kalyani Government Engineering College are outside the Kolkata city. I was not so keen on leaving Kolkata as it is an IT hub. Apart from all this, I noticed that the semester fees of Heritage College is quite less than that of IEM. So, keeping in mind all these points, I decided to choose CSE or IT branch from Heritage Institute of Technology Kolkata. 

I cracked admission in my current college via WBJEE counselling. My WBJEE 2019 rank was 3914 which was pretty good to get a seat in IT or CSE branch of HITK or Techno Main. I also got EE in IEM but I was not interested in it. WBJEE counselling occurs in 3 phases. In the first round, I got Computer Science in RCCIIT. In the second round, I got no update and in the last round, I finally got the Information Technology branch in Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata. You could also get a seat in IEM or HIT even if you don’t have a good rank in WBJEE. You only need to have 90% above marks in your 10th and 12th class board exams. You can also get a seat in IT or CSE branch through the management quota.

Besides WBJEE, I also gave the JEE Main exam. After cracking JEE Main, I also cleared the JEE Advanced exam. In the JEE counselling after completing a total of 7 rounds, I got Aerospace Engineering from IIEST Shibpur. But, again my interest did not lie in it.

Honestly, I didn’t take any coaching classes from any private institution. I took help from my school teachers and studied mostly from online material. I practised from various books and sample papers and it helped me a lot. I was also trying for CSE department in IEM but, my rank was not that good to get that branch. My first choice was JU but for this, I had to drop a year and reappear for the entrance exam to score a high rank. But, I don’t want to waste a year as I was satisfied with my current choice. 

The college started in July and 27th July was my first day at college. In the first few days, the college conducts the orientation program for the students. The orientation program was awesome. I also made a few friends during the programme but those friends didn’t last too long. After orientation, the normal classes started. I was quite excited to learn new things from the professors. Within a month, I made many friends at my college. I have often bunked classes with my friends. In engineering, you don't have to attend all the classes as you have plenty of material online to study from. I also study in the library with my friends sometimes. 

In my first semester, my favourite subject was Mathematics as the rest of the subjects were not that interesting. In the second semester, I liked C language the most. Currently, I am in love with Data Structure and Algorithms. I often bunk Physics, Chemistry and Mechanical lectures because these subjects are nowhere related to my field or career in the future.

In my college, I have taken part in many extra-curricular activities. Before the lockdown, I have played football and cricket for my department. I have also represented my department in an inter-department drama competition. I have participated in a quiz competition. There are plenty of clubs in the Heritage Institute of Technology. Most of the clubs remain pretty active throughout the year. If given a chance I would like to start a coding club in the college. There is a Google Developers' Club in the college. But besides that, I would like to lead a tech club for the students of the CSE and IT department.

My college experience has affected my personality a lot. Being a student of the state board I was not very fluent at speaking English earlier. But, after joining college, I got plenty of opportunities to communicate and express myself in front of the people. All these experiences helped me in boosting my confidence and enhancing my personality.

About the Author:

Arjya Paul is currently pursuing BTech in Information Technology at Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata. His hobbies are playing sports, gymming and reading storybooks. His interest lies in learning about new technologies.