I am from a Tier 3..........

I am from a 3-tier college in West Bengal, India. During my 4 years in college, I had done 4 paid internships with which I had even been able to pay a semester’s fee. I had 3 offers when I left college, all of them from good startups. After 2.5 years of working, I am earning 20 lakhs per annum and even booked a flat in Bangalore.

A bit of history:

1. Since I was a child, in most terminal exams in school, I used to fail in at least one subject.

2. In my 12 mock exams, I got 38%.

3. Somehow got 80% in 12 boards and of course got into a very shitty college.

4. Only goal was to study well in college, keep good CGPA and get job in the IT services companies that come to college. Namely, Infosys, Wipro etc.

Something happened:

1. Saw seniors ragging juniors. Students in hostels drinking, watching movies. Teachers were really bad(in knowledge of the subject)

2. I was sure there was something wrong and suddenly became curious on what do students in IIT, IIIT etc do that they get job with so much salary. What’s different.

3. Asked a school senior who was studying in IIIT-H. He said there are websites called Codechef, SPOJ, Codeforces, Topcoder etc and if I really wanted to be a good programmer, I should code there. I thanked him and asked him if I can ask him when in doubt. I will never forget what he said: If you really want to learn, you will find your way to achieve it. The internet has every answer to your question. I am in IIIT-H and I don’t do these. You will do it if you are determined. I thanked him again and after this was all by myself.

4. I learned Python online and started coding in Codechef. Then I came to know about SPOJ and coded there.

5. I never gave a shit about “enjoying” in college. I was in love with programming. I started reading hacker news, Quora(yeah I have seen the best of Quora and I miss that now. :D). I understood there is no way to waste time in anything else that others were doing in college.

6. When I went to 2nd year and my juniors arrived, I started to look for teammates for ACM ICPC. Unlike others, who like being “dadas” of college, all I used to talk about with others(juniors or seniors) is doing something to increase skills. I loved encouraging people to code or towards anything they love to do.

7. At some point my all India rank one Codechef was 60th. That is when I received an internship interview mail from R&D team of Aspiring Minds. I cleared the interviews(DS Algo and Math). The other intern who was working with me was from DCE and his all India rank in AIEEE was 9000(My AIEEE rank was more than 1 lakh). It felt great to have good people around.

8. Did 3 more internships after that. The side projects and competitive programming kept on going.

9. Went to ICPC, gave a talk at PyCon India, did some projects in ML and Image processing and on the way encouraged everyone.

What do i recommend?

1. Don’t waste time in college. Enjoying and chilling feels great but don’t do that. 

2. Maximise your time to code. Work very very hard.

3. Find your own way and do not ask others. (Most juniors who used to ask did nothing. I patiently helped everyone though. One who asked nothing and found his own way is at DirectI now :D)

4. Do not give excuses of your failures. You are the only reason to what you are. I didn’t work hard in class 11–12 and ended up in a shitty college. But I was(still am) a shit too.

5. Most of the time you will feel like dropping the hard work and enjoying like others. But that is the end. Keep fighting till you achieve because that knowledge remains forever. Its very very frustrating to learn something and in programming, hell yes its so fucking tough to learn and keep pushing. But there is no other way. You have to work hard. Determine that all these 4 years you will code like crazy and get internships and get jobs. 

6. Encourage everyone to work hard. Tell to 100, at least 1 will do.

7. Again, work hard.

The best thing is this hard work will make you an amazing human being who will not give up easily on anything. Your “fighting” to achieve level will increase and that is the most important thing to survive in life. Enjoy whatever you are doing. Don’t do it for the salary. Do it because its awesome. Also, you will learn how to learn anything without a paid “training”. I learned singing and cooking after moving to Bangalore for job all by myself. ;)

Thanks. I hope I have motivated you to get started. All the best.

                  -Rishi Mukherjee 

{ Bloggers Notes : Mr.Rishi did his B.Tech(2010-2014) from Neotia Institute of Technology, Management and Science which is affiliated to West Bengal University of Technology.}

Additional Advice for starters from Mr.Rishi:

" Don’t waste a single day in college. Learn as much as possible. Codechef, SPOJ, Topcoder, android, iOS, python, web, ML, Image processing, programming conferences, everything. I am from a third grade college so I know what I am talking about. No “training” will help. Learn yourself from the Internet and books. All the best. :) "

Money...............

Money is abundant. Money is EVERYWHERE!

The government has money, the banks have money, schools have money, restaurants have money …

You have money, your friends have money!

The rich have money, the poor have money!

Money is EVERYWHERE and always moving. Money is “flying” all around us, ALL the time, 24 hours a day — everyday, 365 days a year!

What’s the difference between a poor, hardworking person versus a wealthy, hardworking person?

The difference is in HOW they ‘catch’ money.

Poor, hardworking people invest their limited working hours ‘chasing’ money, while the wealthy, hardworking people will invest the same amount of limited working hours building an asset that will “catch” money for them.

For example, spiders will NEVER work hard chasing flying insects to make a living. Instead, they will work hard building a spiderweb that will catch abundant flying insects for them.

That’s called an asset. It works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, catching flying “money” — even while the spider sleeps.

That’s the secret.

Schools won’t tell you this. They will teach you to chase money, which leads to the paycheck formula:

(College degree) x (Time) = Paycheck

Warning: That’s an energy-draining trap!

There’s only one solution: Entrepreneurship.

Stop making excuses and start building your “SPIDERWEB” today!

-Hector Quintanilla

Being a Drug Addict......

8 A.M — Wake up, rub your eyes and look at the clock. Ugh, it's still pretty early. Lay back down and try to sleep again. You can't sleep because your mind starts racing. How much money do you have? Just cashed your paycheck yesterday but there's not much left. You think you have something like forty bucks left. That won't get much. How could we get more money? Have we asked Dad recently? He might be good for twenty bucks, but we never paid him back last time so we can't ask for more than that. We just asked mom last week. Maybe my co-worker would front me some cash if I told her I couldn't cash my check. Roll back over. Try to sleep.

9 A.M — Frustrated. Can't sleep. Thinking too much and my legs are getting restless. Wake up my boyfriend. Don't have to work today. Man I wish I we had saved more money yesterday. Open the cupboards. I don't know why, they are empty anyways. Grab my phone and send some texts. Lie to dad about needing money for gas. Lie to mom about losing money yesterday and being stuck because a bill is due today. Lie to co-worker about my check getting wet and having to wait for another one. Lies, promises and I feel like shit about it.

10 A.M — Boyfriend and I argue a little because we should have saved something for this morning. We are both feeling a bit sluggish. I'm hungry. I want to go to the store but he says we need every penny. He's right. Mom text back. She mentions last week. Says she can't help today. She's sorry. I'm angry. She could help, she's just being a bitch. I sit down to watch TV but I can't focus, my mind is trying to think of anyway I could get some cash. Do we have anything to sell? Would anyone front?

11 A.M — Really starting to feel like shit. Most of it is probably in my head because I can't stop thinking about it, but I can't sit down because my legs feel like fire ants are crawling through my bones. Call Dad. Did you get my text? Oh you can't today? Well what if I drove out to you? Oh, okay. Now I'm pissed. I thought parents are supposed to help their kids. Boyfriends getting the same run around from everyone he's texted. Could we find anyone else looking and over charge them?

12 P.M — Co-worker feels bad. Said she could lend me like sixty bucks but only if I absolutely pay it back ASAP because she has four kids and a tight budget. Sure I can pay you back as soon as I get the new check. I think I even start to believe it. Fool myself into believing I have every intention of paying it back when the check comes but its not coming. Maybe I have to fool myself so I won't feel bad about taking money from a single mother. Either way … we are in business!

1 P.M — Met with Co-worker and got money. Now to get our drugs. Oh, dealers not answering. Shit. Anyone else good? Make some calls while sitting in a parking lot. I can smell food cooking in a restaurant nearby. We have more money and I am starving, but we have just enough to get a certain amount and if we spend any that will mean less drugs. It's hot. Car doesn't have AC. Nobody is answering. Shit. If we drive home we would have to put gas in to come back to town, that would mean less money, less drugs. We sit in the hot car, waiting, and smelling the food.

2 P.M — Still waiting but someone thinks she might have a connect lined up. She just needs a ride. We pick her up, drive her across town, but the guy only has what she was looking for. We don't want crack. He can't get Anything else. He never could. She used us for a ride. We thought we would be driving away with our shit and now we are still empty handed. What now?

3 P.M — We break down. We are hungry. We go to the dollar store. I pass by things we need, things I want to buy, things we cannot afford. Imagine, being unable to afford something in a dollar store. He gets a pack of ramen noodles and I get a bottle of soda. We sit in the car chomping on uncooked ramen and drinking soda. Phone rings. Dealer will be good but not until about six tonight. Fuck.

4 P.M — Went back home. I'm sick. I have one cigarette left. We have to get more, that means even less drugs. I can't sit still but I'm too lethargic to do anything useful. My stomach is churning and cramping. I pace the floor. Is it six yet? I could take a shower, maybe they would make me feel better? I don't have the strength or motivation to do all that work. I can't nap. Can't get comfortable. I feel drained of energy but when I sit down my arms and legs feel restless and they hurt.

5 P.M — I can't sit here anymore. We head out. Stop for gas. Sit and wait.

6 P.M — Call dealer. He's still waiting for his guy. As soon as he knows something he will call. I watch people going in and out of the store. Carts full of groceries and other household items. I wish I was them. I wish I was anyone but me. I watch young people dressed in name brand clothes. I'm wearing my pajamas still. I'm embarrassed. Why couldn't I be one of them. Shit. Do we have any rigs? We need some. I can't go to the pharmacy dressed like this. Boyfriend goes in, but the lady wouldn't sell them to him because he didn't have a prescription for insulin. What? Since when is that a thing? Drive to another pharmacy. Put my hair up. Put makeup on. Go in and buy needles. Everyone looks at me. They all know. I know they know and I shrink under their condescending glares. Don't judge me, help me!

7 P.M — Dealer calls. Meeting his guy now. We have to meet him in a half hour. God, more waiting! Why couldn't there just be a drug store? We sit in the car longer. We don't have a fancy phone with internet and movies. We literally …. Just …. Sit ….. and …. Wait. I'm sick. Im hungry. I'm miserable

.

8 P.M — Finally met with dealer. After having to put in more gas then we wanted, getting cigarettes and buying food we got less than we wanted. Just enough. Not enough to get high, but just enough to sleep tonight. Tonight will be a good night because tonight I will slam my shit, lay down and fall asleep. Tonight I won't toss and turn. Tonight I won't be up puking. Tonight I won't sit in the corner of my bedroom sobbing because I want to sleep but cannot lay still for more than five seconds. It was a close call, but tonight will be good.

But tomorrow …. Well that's another story.....  

 -Meagan Ireland

( I was really afraid to write this. Going back to those days — even if only in my head — is hard.)

Why you are middle class.....

1. Dreams. Many dream of being rich. They imagine exotic cars, yachts and mansions. Yet, never get beyond dreaming. The rich figure out how to turn their dreams into reality. And stop dreaming.
2. Dreamless. Many think they can never build wealth. So they never try. And prove it. The rich believe they can build wealth. And prove that too.
3. Flow. Many just go with the flow. Do the same as everyone else. And accomplish the same also. The rich go against the flow. And accomplish what others aren’t willing to.
4. Victims. Many view themselves as victims of society, luck and their past. And stay stuck. The rich view themselves as victors. Able to overcome. And they accomplish their future.
5. Thinking. Many think only about today. What’s popular, interesting and fun. And never break out beyond it. The rich think about the future. What can be instead of what is. And accomplish it.
6. Time. Many simply kill time. Waste moments. Not accomplishing, simply being. The rich treasure time as a gift. Waste little. Use moments effectively. And accomplish far more than just being.
7. Knowledge. Many fill their minds with sports, politics, Facebook and Twitter. And accomplish little. The rich fill their minds with useful information. And use it to accomplish much.
8. Love. Many focus only on riches rather than relationships. And fail in both. The truly rich focus on how they can care for those they love and better serve others. And find both.

Middle class?

What do you think?

You’ll break free from the middle-class only when you break free from the middle class mindset.

-Doug Armey

Why wealth is not sustained by grandchildrens......

If you only know how to spend, and never learned how to earn or manage, you won’t know how to keep it from running out.

Easy money spends easier. It’s why most lottery winners end up broke, or why people who win at the casino blow it on upgrading their room, expensive dinners, or trying to win more instead of paying off their car. It’s why actors who go from waiting tables to box office success buy ostentatious houses and a million dollars worth of cars, while small business owners who make the same or more money every year as they do refuse to.

Hard earned money is spent more responsibly than easy money. Easy come, easy go, as they say.

The first generation learned how to build wealth and keep it. Their kids didn’t have to learn how to build it; they only learned how to sustain and manage it, maybe even grow it, but that’s a different skill than making it in the first place.

By the third generation, whatever market trend that was responsible for the original wealth will have changed, but they won’t know how to navigate that the way Grandpa could have. They’ll never have experienced the “getting through the hard times” part like he did. They won’t know how to fix what isn’t working, and won’t know how your money management style has to adapt when you’re in that situation.

When market trends change, they’ll need both sets of skills — how to make it like Grandpa did, and how to manage it like Dad did — but they’ll have neither. Without both, eventually the money will run out.      -Ron  Rule

Learning in Life...........

I love it when things are smooth and painless and simple, love the expression “easy as pie.”

I would be happy idle, relaxing while learning convenient, manageable, accessible things.

There is no life lesson that is best learned the hard way.

 The easy way is much, much better.

It’s just that, tragically, “easy” is not how we learn.

-Dushka Zapata

Everyone Uses Me and fools me.....

If you feel like being fooled by everyone, you are perhaps a fool.

When I was in Government service, I had a colleague, who always used to complain how people had been misusing him.

He would frequently complain against all his previous bosses and even his colleagues who took his goodness for granted and fooled him.

Once I was discussing his case with another colleague, who also had the opportunity to work with him and he too had frequently listened to his chant.

He said, ‘Awdhesh! Why people only use him or fool him? Why they never do the same with us when we had worked under them?”

I agreed with him.

I too had worked with many bosses include some bosses which were common to both of us.

However, I never got a feeling that I had been fooled or used.

• If anyone tries to use me, I refused to be used.
• If anyone tries to fool me, I refused to fall in his trap.

If people are fooling you, it is you who is to be blamed and not the people.

As a matter of fact, fooling a fool can’t be said to be an act of fooling.

You must use your mind and refuse to be fooled by people, instead of first giving to their way and then complaining against them.

               -Awdhesh Singh

You should know this aspect of life also....

It was during the 2008 recession. I was 5 months unemployed at the time and have nearly used up all my savings. I was also a single mother of a boy whose father I've met once — the day he was conceived.

As I walk pass the eviction notice on the fridge to pick up my car keys, I remembered reaching through my pockets to pull a few dollars out. I then hand those bills to my 8 year old son for his school lunch. I could see it in his face that he knew that I was barely able to make ends meet. He said, “thanks mom” and hugged me tightly. I smiled and proceeded to take him to school.

After dropping him off, I went back home and opened my laptop to send more resumes. But who would want to hire a real estate agent when the housing bubble just popped? So I became desperate and started looking for any job. I must have sent 30 emails that day… yet no calls back.

A few hours have passed and I realized it was time to pick up my son from school. As I am driving, I noticed that I have yet again skipped 2 meals. I guess that month I was getting used to it seeing that I needed to wear a belt for my jeans for the first time.

When it was time for dinner, I opened the fridge to see the same leftovers we've been eating for the last couple of days. I warm up the spaghetti and called my son to the dinner table.

He sees the plate of food that he had the day before and then suddenly I see him get all excited.

“Mom, mom! We don't have to eat spaghetti today!”

I was confused. He probably just wants something different.

“I'm sorry Jacob, I promise you that I'll make something new tomorrow”

He then runs to get his backpack and opens it to reveal the school lunch he saved.

“Mom, I didn't eat it so that we could share it for dinner! There's enough for the both of us. I asked Henry who didn't want his sandwich!” he said with a big happy smile.

At that moment I broke down into tears. My little boy was so tired of the spaghetti that he’d rather save his food from school. I hugged him and kept telling him that I was sorry. He brushed me off. He was so hungry that he started to take bites out of his sandwich.

Things eventually got better. I found a job and I never had the same food for dinner for more than 2 days. That was also the last and only time that my son skipped his lunch. My son is now 19 and in college. He's going back to the dorms tomorrow and I couldn't help but remember this story.    

-(The Person who shared this incident does not want to be named)

Peace of mind...

A teacher asked a simple question from his class.

Teacher, “Tell me, what exactly you would do, if you get 86,400 dollars but a pickpocket snatches 10 dollars from this amount and runs away?”

Students replied, “We’ll let him go and enjoy the rest of the amount.”

Teacher, “Why? Wouldn't you want to get that stolen money back?”

Students, “Rest of the amount is still big and what could possibly these 10 stolen dollars have made the difference? And going for them might also lead us in losing rest of the amount.”

Teacher, “Right. But what if I tell you, you are only saying this? You wouldn't actually do this. You wouldn't actually ignore the thief. You would go for him.”

Students, “But why do you think so?”

Teacher, “Because that's what you do in your daily life.”

Students couldn't understand what teacher is trying to say. So they just asked how they do it on daily basis.

Teacher replied with a kind smile, “Look you have eighty six thousand and four hundred seconds to live each day. But if someone spoils your ten seconds, you let him spoil your whole day over it. You keep on reminding yourself how he spoiled your 10 seconds and forget that you still have eighty six thousand three hundred and ninty seconds and it's enough to make your day great again.”

Thing that we shouldn't forget is simply it's just a tiny wheeny portion of time in which we faced some sort of problem or heart-rending words from people around us. We have rest of our day and sometimes rest of our lives to make it great again. Don't spoil your day or life for the smallest portions of your time.

-Abeeha Farooqui

Minimum wage job Experience....

I learned a lot from my minimum wage jobs in fast food, landscaping, painting, and construction.

I learned that manual labor is physically exhausting and painful. You feel it the next day, but you have to go in and work even more regardless of how you feel.

I learned that if you're holding a 5 gallon bag of liquid milkshake mix above your head, and the cap on the bag catches on something, don't try to jerk it free. Those caps aren't as tight as they look.

I learned that a lot of people have trouble doing basic things like showing up on time or at all, and that a lot of people are lazy.

I learned that paying taxes sucks.

I learned that a lot of people have had pretty terrible lives. I met people from other countries whose family members had been killed by war or criminals, forcing them to flee to a country where they knew nobody and didn't speak the language. I met a person from the US whose parents were alcoholics and couldn't get her to school regularly. For her, making assistant manager at the fast food place was a true accomplishment. She also bought me booze when I was underage, so that was cool.

I learned that some people are very disrespectful to those they consider inferior, and some people are just rude to everyone, even their own families.

I learned that some people who run businesses are desperate for good workers: I got two job offers from customers.

I learned that some organizations flagrantly break the law while others rigorously follow it.

Most of all, I learned that I never wanted to work for minimum wage again.

     -David Seidman

Why Indian engineering college still teach C as first programming language? Should not they upgrade to Python?

I am a sophomore at IIT Kharagpur. Here at KGP, there is a compulsory computer science course for all freshmen entitled 'Programming and Data Structures'.

The programming language used in this course (theory + lab) is C. Prior coming to IIT Kharagpur, I was quite proficient in Python programming language (I had Computer Science as elective subject in my +2). Being a Python programmer, C was quite tough to master, atleast for me. In Python, we don't need to worry about the memory allocations, declaring data-types of variables and pointers were the real pain in the ass. Python provided vast libraries to carry out specified operation. However, in C, everything was done from scratch. Thanks to our course-coordinator, we were not allowed to include even <string.h> header file. We had to write every function from ground zero. In the initial days of my freshmen year, I used to think how old is this IIT curriculum, they haven't yet upgraded to Python.

Only later I came to realize how important is to introduce programming concepts to begineers via C programming. It was necessary to teach begineers how memory is allocated, why pointers are necessary. Most of this concepts are hidden when you are programming in say Python. These concepts are the very basics for computer science. If you have mastered C, then learning a new programming language is a cup of tea. Instead if Python was taught to the freshmen, they would understand only from the surface only, not what actually happens inside the computer if you execute a command. As a result, the objective of the course, to teach fundamentals of computer programming to freshmen would have failed. Every course in IITs are designed by experts in that field with great insights. So before raising a question against it, analyze the situation (as in my case) and think why other alternative will not go that further.

   -Utkarsh Patel,Electrical Engineering,IIT-KGP