My failures helped me gain new learning experiences: Nihal Dixit

KIIT University

Being introvert was one of my character traits when I joined BTech. This habit has got such a deep place in my heart that I tend to desert myself from new people, faculty members and, of course, girls too. Our hostel was like an over-protective parent to the 1st year students and thus, gave me opportunity to sit amongst a diverse range of people, to understand their aspirations, knowledge, and mindset. Thus, my college social life got on an entertaining track. Why? Because I discovered an awesome talent inside of me i.e. mimicry.

But 2^nd year gave me the reality check and presented before me what all the subjects that Computer Science actually includes. My grades and confidence went down like a sine curve. Meanwhile, I had registered in a few cultural societies, thus, that was the thing which was backing me up as I had become the most entertaining guy on the campus. I had anchored 2 cultural events and had given one big solo performance as a comic artist. Every student knew who I was, even the faculty members including the dean of our department, and training and placements officials too. All this had changed me to be a very confident and jolly person. People use to call me ‘Dr. Gulati’ (a character from an Indian TV show ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’).

Then again came a reality check in the name of ‘E-cell internship camp’. This was an internship opportunity with various companies/start-ups that had collaborated with our E-cell. The selection gave internships for the ones who deserved it and rejection showed a mirror. I fell into the rejection list and the reason was that I didn’t know Advanced Java (a backend language for web development)- the category which I had applied for. Because of this rejection, I went for summer training program conducted on our campus by HP. Still, the task was incomplete as our faculty members and seniors gave me a reality check again saying “Your profile is like that of a man with an unknown character, unless and until you add a good project to it”. Fortunately, I was also working for an e-commerce food delivery solutions startup named ‘DeliverIt’. So I started to develop a professional website for the same. This developed my interest in software development. Also, as a by-product of my work, I got a summer internship at Biztime IT Solutions Private Limited.

Then came the time for the very last reality check i.e. placements. Our faculty members had guided us a lot for it. Every last 5 minutes of every lecture portrayed warnings, stories, and helpful knowledge resources regarding placements. ‘Coding’, ‘subject knowledge’, ‘communication skills’, and ‘project’ were the high-frequency words there.

I got selected at CGI (Consultants to Governments and Industries) as a ‘product developer’ but the journey was a bit tough. I had got rejected from a few companies and my reaction was “He had asked me many questions and I had answered them properly. Even the conversation was pretty decent, but still got rejected”, “I spoke on the topic and I was very clear, then also my name didn’t came up”, ”I can challenge her openly that I am better than her in every technical aspect, but then also she got selected and I didn’t”, ”The 2^nd technical round was pretty transparent, he asked me everything about my project and I answered them all, but I was still unable to make it to the HR round”, ”I don’t know what this company wants for that job profile, I explained every case study to them” and many more expressions came forward. One day, I sat down quietly, analysed about myself, and then I got my weaknesses to work on. The companies come up with various requirements of their own. Some are open and some are secret. It is the unknown, awesome, and always a fortunate amalgamation of luck + talent which leads you to your next step of life. Just make use of each and every opportunity which you find useful, beneficial and interesting. Deep dive into the ocean of opportunities and discover new learning experiences and last but not the least, make yourself proud.

FYI: I had chosen P.E. (physical education) as my optional subject in standard 11^th, which means I had no hands-on experience in coding/Computer Science subjects or technologies.

About the Author

I pursued BTech (Computer Science and Engineering) from KIIT University (2014-2018) - ‘An artist attracted to technology’.