In this Scaler Academy review, I share my journey from being stuck in my career for three years to finally landing my dream job at Microsoft. It’s a story many can relate to – full of ups and downs, personal motivation, and the crucial role Scaler Academy played in turning my aspirations into reality.
As a son of a government employee and a housewife, I had a fairly simple childhood. Most of my memories from my childhood are of playing and fighting with my elder sister. But one memory stands out clearly to this day.
My father was teaching me how to ride a bicycle, when I fell and hurt myself badly. He helped me up and scolded me for not being careful. But then he consoled me by saying, “It’s okay to fall. Because that’s how you learn. You fall, you learn, and you get up again.” I didn’t know it then, that these words would become my guiding light years later.
I was in the 9th grade when we had to learn computers at school. Initially, it was a struggle trying to understand computers. But my curiosity kept me going. Eventually computers and Math were the only two subjects I was good at. But it wasn’t until I started writing programs in 11th grade, that I knew this is what I wanted to make a career in.
So after my 12th, I took a year gap to study and score well to get into an IIT or an NIT. Unfortunately, I didn’t score enough and had to opt for a college in Ghaziabad instead. It was disappointing, but I didn’t have an option. I convinced myself that this would work.
But it didn’t. My college wasn’t that great. So I often spent my days at the hostel playing games and studying with my friends. But without proper guidance, we didn’t know which topics were important. I started losing hope. But around this time, one of my friends got selected for the army. The fact that he didn’t give up on his dream even after he was studying B.Tech motivated me to go after my own dream.
So instead of focusing on how my college wasn’t great or that my CV wasn’t that good, I chose to make the best of what I had. I got placed in a start-up in Kolkata through the college placement. Even though I didn’t like the package or the location, I took it in stride and started working there. But I hated every minute of it.
The next three years of my life were difficult. I would just go to the office and come back home — I felt like I was stuck and there was no way out. Every company that I applied to refused to wait for me to serve out my 3-month notice period. And my company refused to release me before I served my entire notice period. I was at my lowest in those years — my reality wasn’t anywhere close to where I wanted to be.
Around this time, I got engaged too. I wanted to get married, but not when I was hardly earning. In those dark times, my father’s advice came to my mind. I had to get up, I had to find my way out. So at my friend’s suggestion, I applied, and got selected for a job in a similar MNC, and I put down my papers. Two months into my notice period, my friend managed to help me get another job in Delhi with a decent package.
Soon after my switch, I came across Scaler Academy on Facebook. The program looked very promising and reliable. So, I decided to give it a shot.
Right from day one, I knew I’d made the right decision. During our onboarding, they told us the process, the curriculum, and assigned us mentors. The way they explained everything was encouraging on its own. The syllabus was detailed and well put together.
The mentors were excellent — they explained the concepts thoroughly, and were always there to clear any doubts we had. Even after the classes, we had teaching assistants to help with any questions we had. The mock interviews were immensely helpful — the interviews helped in identifying our strengths and working on our weaker points. It was like the program was designed to take care of every aspect.
I would attend classes after office, but it never felt like a burden. I used to look forward to learning more every day; in fact I would keep solving questions on the Scaler website even in my office breaks. I learnt more at Scaler than I had even in college. Within 6 months, I got the chance to sit for two of my dream companies — Samsung and Microsoft. But my happiest and proudest moment was when I was writing the entrance test for Samsung.
The first round of Samsung interview process is a test which you have to solve in 4 hours. I had attempted this test twice, and failed both times. After joining Scaler, I decided to try again. The test had questions about dynamic programming. It was one of the topics I used to find difficult, but the teachers had taught this so well, that when I got that in the test, I finished it in one and a half hours! Everyone, including the supervisors, was staring at me. And I give the entire credit to Scaler for this.
Final Verdict:
By taking a chance on Scaler, I put my life on the fast track. Not only did I grow personally and professionally, but I got to achieve my dream too! Today I am an SDE at Microsoft with a seven figure salary. I’ve come a long way from the lifeless guy in Kolkata, and I can’t express my gratitude to Scaler enough. A big thank you to everyone at Scaler for doing such great work!
Read how Scaler Academy helped Pankaj Kumar become a software developer at a top product company.