I am Farjad Ahmed Khan, a Computer Science Engineer (2018 AUG-2022 JUL), Bangalore, India. In this blog, which is a part of the #4articles4weeks #BlogsWithCC initiative, I've shared my applied and honest personal experiences.

I was working enormously towards getting into the software industry during the lockdown period when I was in the fourth semester of my engineering 2020. First and foremost I had to learn a programming language. I personally loved java and hence wanted to learn it. Through my college, I was introduced to NPTEL courses taught by professors from elite Engineering institutions of the Nation. With some basic knowledge to begin with I could learn java within a couple of days dedicating 5 to 6 hours per day. Later I started learning data structures and algorithms through multiple resources like youtube, Sanket Singh on Unacademy, etc. and started solving problems on geeks for geeks and leetcode.

Meanwhile, I came across a DSA cheatsheet by a YouTuber, and I was intrigued to start solving it. To my dismay, I was totally burned out and realized that it is not practical. Therefore had to take a break to get back on track. Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Kunal Kushwaha's DSA course and the incredibly motivational Community Classroom, which immensely helped me learn DSA and programming.

I conducted my first interview with a company in August of 2021, it went well. After clearing the aptitude, coding rounds, and technical interview, I had to give my managerial round. But after waiting for a week, I discovered that my candidacy was not taken forward. This was primarily due to the fact that I lacked strong projects and development experience in my portfolio. Later, I enrolled in Dr. Angela Yu's Udemy web development course and used it to build a few projects.

As I progressed, I started to incline towards competitive programming out of pure passion. I explored platforms like Code Chef and Code Forces. I also participated in a Hackathon BobHacks by Metabob. I had a great experience learning and collaborating with folks from different states I met through Community Classroom. We managed to make it to the finalists which gave me content for my resume.[twitter.com/Farjad_aKhan/status/14478736154..

Later, I participated in a job interview with a company and made it through all of the rounds, including two rounds of online coding and another two rounds of technical interviews on programming, OOPs concepts, DSA, problem-solving, etc. I was given an offer by the company after acing the interview. Later on, I bagged around six offers from various companies in the following months.

My recommendation to someone just starting out is,

• Never let yourself get overwhelmed; "Rome was not built in a day." The secret is consistency.
• Start by learning a programming language of your choice; any language can be learned on its foundation in a matter of days or weeks.
• Go on by solving problems on GFG, leetcode, etc. You can continue with competitive programming as a hobby if you find it interesting.
• Learn any tech stack in your desired domain and start by building simple projects.
• Hackathons can accelerate your learning in a short amount of time, therefore take part.
• Contribute to open source projects, which can be beneficial in learning and may open up a lot of remote job opportunities.
• Keep posting all you learn on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Add credible achievements to your portfolio.
• Participate in as many interviews as you can. It takes practice to get flawless.

This blog is a part of the #4articles4weeks #BlogsWithCC initiative, where I have shared my honest and applied personal experiences. If you read all the way through and found it useful, please like and share.