Sharing Our Innermost Thoughts

This week and month a lot of education-related results will be declared and I know a lot of you will not be in the best of moods.
For all of them who feel you have lost and it’s all over,
I don’t know if it helps, but I can relate with you and trust me it’s not the end and you haven’t lost.

Here’s my story.

I was a very good student till my 12th and was primed to do my Engineering from one of the top colleges in India.
I appeared JEE in 2013, I failed and I could not get through. I took a year off and prepared again. I had given it my all this time. I qualified for JEE advanced, however, I could not get through and my dream that time of becoming an IITian came crashing down. I got admitted to one of the leading NIT’s instead and started my Mechanical Engineering course. Even though not IIT, but I was living my dream. However 3 months into the first semester, my Dad had a stroke (he almost died )and I had to back home to support him and the family(I lived in another state). Almost a year passed until my Dad could walk again. However, the mental fatigue and emotional toll as a 19-year-old were too much for me to concentrate on anything. My heart gave up on engineering and I dropped out.

I took another year off. And I got myself applied to another college to pursue B.Sc. However, the toll of me leaving engineering, seeing my Dad almost die and unable to settle and concentrate made my life unbearable. To escape reality I got addicted to drugs and alcohol. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to study as I felt I was not made for this rat race. And I dropped out again after my 3rd Sem exams.

My girlfriend left me. My friends left me (except one, who till this day is my best friend). Everyone called me a lost cause. And I was doomed.

However, after months of soul searching and help from the people who still loved me, I was able to recover from my drug abuse and go on a path of self-improvement.

I didn’t graduate. I decided that I won’t be following this 19th-century education system and despite everything, everyone said I was gonna stand on my feet.

I moved to a new city. Rented a small 1 RK apartment, I read books, read online, watched youtube educational videos, learned to code online, worked at Starbucks as a waiter, interned at a startup for 5000 rupees a month. I did everything to make sure I learnt all the necessary skills in life.

After months and months of rejections and failures and “Sorry, we can’t hire you as you are not a graduate”, I finally landed a job in the summer of 2017 as a Junior Program Analyst in a one-year-old startup.

It’s 2021. I still don’t have a degree. I still am not an Engineer on paper. However, I am the Associate Director of Product in my Company (which is a Unicorn now btw). I live in a 3 BHK apartment with my 4 dogs and I drive my own car.

I am 26 now. At 19 I thought my life was over. But in these 7 years, I have been through hell and back. And no, my life still isn’t perfect. I still deal with issues, my recent heartbreak and a lot more.

My point here is that as a 16,17,18,19 or whichever age you are, it’s not the end of the world. Trust me. It’s just the start. Life will kick you. And kick you hard. It’s about how hard you get up every time.