Ever since I penned my journey, the response has been quite positive. It seems like a 3 days extended weekend which I was thinking a waste wasn’t a waste at all.
If you haven’t read the second part, please read it here – Journey of a boy from small town to Microsoft – An untold story Part 2
There were countless moments of mood swing. I already had an offer from Microsoft. I wondered if I should try for other biggies like Facebook or Google. Bottom-line was, I had fallen into procrastination trap. I was shy of 9 months to join Microsoft. I wanted to enjoy life. I wanted to take a break. My then friends at Google and Facebook had mixed suggestions.
“Dude, you should really give FB a try. I can refer you and interview would be scheduled in 2 weeks”.
“It’s time to explore. Once college is over, you are never gonna get it. This is the time to have some fun”.
Out of those precious 9 months, I spent 5 months at home doing almost nothing. Major chunk of my time was invested in only eating and chatting. When boredom seemed to kill me, I just used to compile an article on GeeksforGeeks. It was fun.
Sometimes even a simple mail gives you goosebumps. I had a message from Google recruiter mentioning my profile looked interesting and if my interest was aligned, they could commence the interview process. With the mail was attached a video covering their expectations from a candidate in Google. I thought of giving a try to Google. But my practice was at a slower pace. Writing articles and solving problems were just to kill time and pure altruistic. Google is a big brand. I definitely wanted to try my luck there. It was just not the right time. It would be a pleasure to enjoy Microsoft etiquette for the time being.
July 13, 2013
The next phase begins
A long rest had finally come to an end. Nothing could make me happier than to see a person waiting at the airport holding a placard with my name imprinted on it. He directly drove us to Rejenta One. A month stay in a 5 star hotel, dedicated car, a driver, couple of good friends and new city. Whole world around me was screaming to explore it.
Life at Microsoft in a nutshell
GeeksforGeeks after Microsoft
I usually get messages like, Why my contribution to GFG has slowed down. Is it because of my busy schedule?
Seriously speaking, the passion which was ballooned inside me 3 years ago has faded. Coding is not the only thing that fuels me. In my college days, I used to code for fun. Whenever I found myself struck by the boredom lightning, solving a new problem or brainstorming a better solution was the saving grace. My contribution has been greatly compromised and now if I write, my focus is more on the quality rather than quantity. I must say, I am a slow writer.
Sometimes I ask myself, what do I know except coding? Is my life all about staring at the screen and writing geeky characters? A lot of things are there in the world and you won’t know what you would like the best until you give it a try. Life is made up of series of moments. It’s not the number of years we live that matters.
For the past few years, I had been wondering what my life is meant to be, what are the things out there which will render me with greatest pleasure, what is the secret ingredient of being happy.
The other side of my life which eats most of my time when I am not in office writing and debugging code, is as farthest from the geeky profile as it can be. This is a long story. And if you’ve got some free time, read What profession would I have chosen if each profession is equally valued and earns me equal salary? on a boring day while sipping a cup of coffee. I am sure you would like it.
Geek on the top
A usual week day, a mail popped up asking for my interview. It’s really weird if someone asks questions about you and your life which is going to be published on a broad scale.
The interview is published here – Geek on the top – Aashish Barnwal | Make a habit of writing clean, readable, flexible and robust code
I am still learning. I am still exploring. It’s always fun to try out new things and most importantly, we must find happiness in whatever we do.
Based on requests from many, I have documented the tips and tricks on cracking top MNCs. I hope you find it useful:
Signing off for now. Hope you enjoyed reading this. Everyone has a journey. Well this is my journey.
Hi, Ashish. I want to know what was your profile while you entered in Microsoft because I have never heard so much exciting work in Microsoft before.
Nothing fancy. I had a B.Tech in CSE.
its a very motivational story sir.i need your help to succed in my career because iam also having a stress of paying loan.so plzzzzz help me in succeding.
This was an exciting and motivating read, Aashish! Thanks for sharing the link with me. It was worth the time. May you succeed more in your future endeavours.
Thanks a lot Radhika for your kind words.
Thanks sir for putting this wonderful article.
Sir how difficult is for those aren’t from CSE background, but studying CS from own?
Not that difficult. You have to prepare on your own. As you must have observed, Venki is a Electronics graduate.
Thank you Aashish sir for sharing your journey to Microsoft. It was a worth reading it, i’m inspired by you, I need your guidance as from this year i’m gonna start my college life interested in coding hope will do btech from cs.
Thanks Shashank!
Sir what was ur poacempla packpac offered by Microsoft.. Plz reply sir🙏🙏🙏
Its worth reading. It is also inspire to give the strength to achieve big in life. Thanks for writing this. even i am lucky too while i am searching for why its worth to contribute article at geeks for geeks then i got your journey story which is in fact more interesting idea you have divided into part 1, 2,3 now i am thinking i am slow writer too just because focus more on quality content. thanks once again. All the Best.