My Journey from TCS to Amazon SDE!

#100Stories is a series of transformational stories of courage and indomitable will to excel, picked from the lives of tech students, particularly in India. Initiative by Programming Pathshala.

Hi everyone,

My name is Manav Bhalla and I graduated in Computer Science Engineering last year (2021) from LPU, Lovely Professional University, Punjab. I was working at TCS as Automation Engineer and have also worked with Startups previously. I had offers from MX Player and Amazon and have decided to join Amazon as their SDE and will soon be joining their team.

My Journey to Amazon:

Initially when I began with my Btech, I never knew the importance of being a good Problem Solver. My seniors may know but as a junior in 1st year, all I was aware about were a few buzz words i.e. be a Machine learning engineer or a good Data Scientist etc but there was not much guidance to be good at Data Structures and Algorithms.

I got to learn that from one of my teachers at LPU, He told me and my friends about the importance of being a good Problem Solver in the first year itself. He even made me aware of few such platforms where I could practice questions and become a good problem solver, but at that time I did not pay much attention to these platforms. My friends and I started solving a few problems initially and took part whenever a coding competition came up, but There was always a Gap between concepts and Real problem solving. By this time, I was striving to be a Good problem solver. As I entered my 2nd year, I felt my juniors were way smarter than me in Problem solving and it kind of made me feel like I lacked something. I have always been an Introvert in my life and due to that I could not approach people much with any kind of help, due to this I could not even learn much from others as I was always hesitant to ask for help/solutions. Soon I learned not to be an Introvert and accept knowledge from whichever source I can collect. I had a firm hand at Mathematics which is also the reason for me getting a scholarship in LPU.

By now, I was searching for Good Institutes to learn Data Structures and Algorithms from, I, in fact even landed at few but could always feel some Gaps with my preparations.

I found Programming Pathshala by the end of my fourth year i.e by June 2021, and always had a regret for why I couldn’t find this place any earlier. The way Vivek bhaiya teaches with the help of a white board and keeping the class so much Interactive is one thing I could not find in any other coaching, they never focussed upon making their students a good problem solver unlike Programming Pathshala, which made me the person I am today.

How I got to know about Programming Pathshala?

There was one Placement coordinator in LPU who introduced me to Programming Pathshala. Programming Pathshala had even visited my college before for some Bootcamp and from there I remembered the face of a teacher who teaches Marvelously, and that was Vivek bhaiya. Soon I received a link from my College to join “Renaissance” by Programming Pathshala.

I joined Programming Pathshala’s course Renaissance in no time and began with DSA. I soon started to enjoy learning problem solving because the way Vivek and Bharat taught, they teach with the utmost basic level and make the course really interesting. I always had my interests Inclined towards DSA as for me it was kind of an Intersection between my favorite subject Mathematics and the subject that I was graduating in, Computer Science.

What I feel other Institutes lack and Programming Pathshala excels at!

When I start to draw differences between other coaching institutes and Programming Pathshala, Trust me there is no number to it haha. What I feel makes Programming Pathshala stand out in this industry is:

• Keeping their classes so much Interactive. Trust me when I tell you that even the recorded lectures of Vivek bhaiya felt like it was a Live class. He teaches with the help of a white board which makes the topic so much understandable.
• Programming Pathshala focuses on making its students best at Problem solving is what I have found nowhere else present. Even your University can train you to be good at DSA but not everyone can teach you how to be a Problem solver, and there comes Programming Pathshala as our savior.
• The course “Renaissance” helped me get a clear idea about recursions and today if I get any question of Recursion, I won’t even think once before giving it a try. That’s the level of confidence I am talking about.
• Even the recorded lectured of Vivek bhaiya are so Interactive, during the video when he gives you a problem to solve, he will ask you to pause and I would actually pause and try to solve that problem myself, I have sometimes spent hours and hours solving a problem with the video being still on pause hahah. The course here got me so engaged that I am only 45% through it as of now and have filled 4 full registers of practicing problems.
• Another difference that I would like to highlight here is, Mentor Mentee relations here at Programming Pathshala. As I have already mentioned that I have been a part of many other coaching institutes as well, but nowhere have I seen teachers replying to their students like they do here, Every person here at Programming Pathshala is just a call/text away and it never felt like I am not a part of Programming Pathshala’s team. I always felt like a part of Programming Pathshala’s Family and it was definitely the best feeling ever.
• Then comes the Peer Groups, I believe in learning from everyone, even if some are junior to you but collect knowledge as you go. Here the Peer discussions are so valuable, it always makes you learn something new and you feel so fresh after having a word with people alike.
• Live classes are definitely like a cherry on the cake to the course “Renaissance”. Every weekend we have Live classes here at Programming Pathshala which are again so Interactive and full of knowledge that all of this makes Programming Pathshala the best platform to learn coding from.

My Resume and Interview Preparations to crack Amazon:

Actually when I made my resume and started applying, I had to face a lot of rejections. My resume was not getting selected for companies with even 5LPA of packages. All of my friends could find their perfect jobs and move on but for me, The very first step of selection, My resume, that itself didn’t get approved at any organization. It demotivated me a lot and there was a phase where I just wished to give one Interview at least, if nothing else.

With no plan, I thought of making a project of my own to enhance my resume, in the hope of it being qualified enough to get selected at a few places. However, in the middle of this thought itself, I got associated with Programming Pathshala and from there onwards, I started enhancing my skills overall and finally managed to crack Amazon’s Interview to become their SDE.

What kept me motivated throughout?

Honestly, I had many ups and downs in this journey, sometimes personal, sometimes related to self doubt. Everytime I felt down, I knew who I had to call, Anoop bhaiya, Anoop bhaiya was one person who I would call anytime I felt not good enough about myself or had self doubts and he would tell me some shlokas from Bhagwat Gita, that’s it, that would keep me going again. He has been like a pillar of motivation in this journey of mine and I can never be thankful enough to him for this.

My advice to whosoever is preparing to become a SDE currently:

If you are the one preparing with Programming Pathshala, I would request you to watch all the videos, even if you solve a problem in the beginning of the video itself, still watch the complete video for you never know if Vivek bhaiya will tell you of a better way of solving the exact same problem.

Please do try and solve the assignments given to you, don’t think that you’ve just studied it then why bother, instead try and practise those to get better at your coding skills, even my Interviewer advised me that your code should be readable, so it matters the most to complete your assignments and not skip those.

Complete your Homeworks, take as much time as you need but do finish the homework, it’s again very important.

After you are through with Videos, Assignments as well as your Homework, then pick up a problem to solve by yourself, make sure you don’t see the tag to know under which it falls and just try and solve it without knowing which direction it is from, evaluate the problem, think of all the possible solutions and then give it a try! I learnt this from Bharat bhaiya and it honestly helped me so much in my preparations.

That would be it from my end and as I believe for all the three Co-Founders of Programming Pathshala, In terms of a well established building, Vivek bhaiya is the base of it, Bharat bhaiya is the the one standing as building along with Vivek bhaiya as two of the best mentors I have ever come across and Anoop bhaiya is the one who is the heart of the building, keeping it a happy and healthy place for all students like me to grow.

Thank You so much!

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