The sky overhead is filled with grey clouds. The first smatterings of rain have just begun to descend from the heavens. Amongst a crowd of nameless strangers stands yet another stranger. The world is rushing by. People have places to be and things to do. But our stranger in question stops. Looking around, he notices a particularly welcoming cafe, radiating warmth and the distinct aroma of freshly grounded coffee beans. Nobody else seems to notice it. Nobody around him even lifts their heads to look at this cosy little nook that is such a contrast to the cold weather they’re currently experiencing. Taking a deep breath, he decides to stop for a minute. Life is flying by far too quickly for his taste. Flowing through his hands like sand. Wasn’t it just yesterday that he’d graduated? Hadn’t he just been the average engineering student a while ago, doubtful of what lay ahead of him, but ready to take on the world?

Realising he is probably causing inconvenience to the random people passing by on the street, self-reflecting as such, he decides to head to the cafe. What’s one little break, anyway? Pushing open the door, he quietly slides into the tiny place. It seems to have just opened. A lone worker is brooming the floor. Only one other person is sitting in one of the booths. As he nears that very booth trying to decide where to take a seat, the person gets up, ‘Mr. Pallav, I was waiting for you. Glad you came. Please, sit.’

Confused by these words, he finds himself slowly sitting down.

‘Pardon me, but why were you waiting for me?’

‘For the interview, of course.’

‘Wait, what interview?’

‘Does the name Whiteboard ring a bell? Your alma mater’s media body? You agreed to an interview with us.’

‘I did?’ Pallav is still a bit dumbfounded by his lapse of memory. Nevertheless, trying to gather himself, he smiles, ‘I seem to have forgotten.’

‘That doesn’t matter now, Sir. We have you with us now. So shall we begin?’

‘I guess, yes.’

‘Lovely weather, isn’t it?’ His interviewer initiated in a manner very different to what he was expecting.

‘If you say so, yes. Rainpour might be off-putting to some, but I don’t mind it.’

Pallav decides to interject before his interviewer can say something further. ‘May I ask, why me? Why did you decide to interview me? As far as I know, I don’t really stand apart from the crowd.’

‘Firstly, you do. Secondly, don’t you think the general public has far too much of an obsession with people who are literal prodigies? Doesn’t that make them less relatable in a sense? In engineering, prodigies are rare. 90% of the people are the average crowd. They want to look up to people like themselves. People like you. Not apart from the crowd, but a part of it. Not a fastidious unique entity, but someone from the same place as them, reaching heights and goals he put up for himself.’

Nodding, Pallav leans back. ‘Well then, I’m done with my questions. Let’s move on to yours.’

And so it begins. In a tiny cafe with raindrops drumming on the windows.

.

.

.

Q- Out of several resumes that took the arduous journey of reaching the HR's office, yours was one of those which passed with flying colours to get to the desk of Dunzo. You now work there as a software development engineer. Starting with a very trivial question, how would you describe your college life and academics?

Honestly, I was not really into academics. My basic aim was to get a job. In simpler terms, money-making. I believed that knowledge matters more than the marks to achieve my goal. Still, I managed to hold a decently average grade, around 8 GPA throughout college.

Although in the 3rd semester, there was this burst of inspiration to attain a better score so that I could get a nice hostel room of my choice. My priorities were on point.

About college. When I first arrived with my father during the time of admission, I went into the LT. Seeing the infrastructure, I felt something break, apart from the already broken blackboard. Probably my heart. But I pulled myself together and can now proudly say, that it's the students and the professors who define the standard of the college. Not the infrastructure.

Q- How did you work on building your resume?

For the major part, I was dependent on coding and web development to build my resume. On a scale of 1-10, I was at a score of mid 7 to 8 in coding. I tried to explore all the possible fields in coding and did quite a few internships too. Finally, I did a six months internship at Dunzo and got a PPO from there.

Further, I think it’s the skill-set which matters too. Not only technical stuff but things like communication too. These presentation skills are really important and are usually overseen. If you are not able to convey what you are thinking during the interview it causes a setback.

Q- Could you elucidate on the skill-set one must acquire? What do you think were the other crucial points that helped you get your job?

I basically did what I like to do. I had an interest in computers from the beginning, though I wasn't very good with them. In college, I got into coding and web development. I even pursued cybersecurity for 3-4 months. Basically, I was trying to find my footing in a vast arena.

Getting a good job is an important motive. For that, a certain set of skills are required, like coding, knowledge of your subjects, etc. I spent most of my first year in web development and the second year went in coding as well as determining what I really wanted to do. In my third year, I showed complete devotion towards coding especially DSA (data structure and algorithms).

I also joined 'Now and never', an initiative by our alumni Nishant Sir and Shivang Sir, starting from the batch of 2020. It's a community of people from our college where like-minded people join to work on enhancing their personalities, coding and interview skills and other such stuff. It really does help a lot.

So basically, these things, though not very different from what the average coding geek does, might’ve been the stepping stones to where I am now.

Q- If money-making was your main aim, why didn't you pursue higher education?

I get what you are trying to say, but I believe that for money-making, in particular, higher studies wouldn’t really give me a higher standpoint. For instance, the profile of a software developer in the company is like, SDE1, SDE2, and SDE3. Even if you are an M.Tech graduate, that doesn't make you eligible for a position of SDE2. For that, you need a certain level of industrial experience.

Companies are now prioritizing your skills and work experience over degrees. All the profiles have the same pay scale irrespective of their colourful graduation degrees.

Q- We’d like to know about your plans for the future. Care to share?

Sure. So currently, I work as a software development engineer at a new company Dunzo, which is a hyperlocal delivery startup. I also got an offer from Disney+, Hotstar and Tekin. But I wanted to work in an environment that is fast-paced so that I could learn quickly at the start of my career. In that respect, I am gaining a lot over here.

My initial plan is to attain 3-4 years of industry experience and get a hang of how the work is done. I have a few ideas about going on with a startup of my own. I love the journey where everything you do is built by you and your ideas, from scratch. Still, nothing concrete just yet.

Q- It has come to light that you were a founding member of Whiteboard and the very first lot of E-cell. Would you like to tell us about that journey? Do you think they are working as per your vision?

Being a member of both was indeed a wonderful experience that gave me a lot of opportunities to learn and grow.

Whiteboard was an initiative to broadcast the existence of IET on a bigger scale. There was no platform to showcase what our college has,  the growing talent, the opportunities they have and basically 'branding' IET. I tried to help in giving the initial push and building a solid base when it was required. After that, when I was in the 2nd year, it needed more creativity, which I didn’t deem myself very good at. That was my time with WB. I would say Kshitij was the one who was most insistent in this initiative and he invested a lot of his time in it and has continued to do so all along. According to what I had in mind, Whiteboard has done much more. I observe each upcoming batch putting more and more effort into it. So yes, it is really doing great.

When I came to the college, I saw that it wasn’t that we were in any way lagging behind the IITians or NITians in terms of talent. There was just a lack of resources which ended up pushing everyone towards GATE or CAT, willingly or unwillingly. Particularly due to the absence of guidance and a defined path for any ideas to evolve and develop. So the E-cell came into existence to negate that drawback when we, the first years and our seniors joined forces to give the inner entrepreneurs in IET definite support. It's definitely on the path to success. I feel it's more based on interactive sessions between people and thought that the pandemic may have hindered that, but it is doing well virtually too. You can definitely count on it to support new ideas when required.

Apart from these two, I am really impressed by the dedication of the second-year students of FRACTAL. They invest so much time daily to teach coding to their juniors, creating a wonderful learning environment for everyone.

Q- The pandemic affected many of the students, their study schedules, mental health, routine etc. So would you like to give a piece of advice for all the readers?

Yes, I would agree that the lockdown has had an impact on everyone. But working towards your goal daily, even a little bit, can be a simple way to achieve what you want.

Keep a driving force that pushes you towards your aim. For me, it is money, money and money;) And of course, to learn more skills and become a better version of myself, little by little, every day. When you have a driving force, be it a good job, a luxurious life or fame and money, it will back you up whenever you get demotivated. This mindset helped me and can help you too.

Personally, I count a day as a success even if I have solved only a single error in my code. To achieve your goal you need to make sure that every day is a successful one. Not just every other day.

Follow what you desire and show dedication towards it. Don’t just pursue something because of peer pressure. Show determination and devotion in a continuous rhythm and success is yours to claim

Finally, the questioning halts.  An unfinished cup of coffee that Pallav doesn’t even recall the waiter ever bringing, rests on the table. Thanking Pallav profusely for his time, the interviewer smiles gets up and leaves. It is still raining. The crowd still passes by without so much as a glance at the world around. Time hasn’t stopped. The cup has left rings in varying shades of brown on the table. Adjusting his mask, he too gets up and leaves.

.

.

.

A few days later, a resume titled ‘Pallav Agarwal’ finds its way to Hotstar’s desk. A new era begins.