I’ve always been exceedingly fond of puzzles, rubik’s cubes and other “solving” diversions since my boyhood. Seeing my troubleshooting skills and my hunger for problem solving, my parents brought me more “problems”, this time math ones, to feed my brain and thats how, errm no.. no that’s not me. That’s someone who I never was. So the puzzles that I mentioned, were picture puzzles, specifically dinosaurs and of other animals and I hardly got them right. But yes, I loved rubik’s cubes and I had one or two with me back in the days. I used to mix it up, reorganize, scratch, grind, play catch with and didn’t even hesitate to launch at my brother when I get annoyed but never really cared to solve it, never really served its purpose. I just liked seeing how the colours aligned and that was pretty much it.

My parents however were very particular about my taste for music and tabla. We used to have these chairs with broad legs which had an appeasing sound when hit with less force and ofcourse I used to hit them just like someone played tabla and with a lot of love. So that got them interested and i was “forced” to learn the instrument. I used the word forced even though I loved my rhythmic “bang” on the chair because I just wanted to stick with my “rhythmic banging” abilities and not do class sessions which I hated at the time. My mind envisioned it as going to school and as a result I used to hate going to tabla classes. My parents somehow was able to read that and invited my tabla guru to resume teaching from home. That came as a relief for me at first and we got well together playing tabla and learning each day until my guru started screaming at me in front of my parents for obvious reasons ofcourse and that came in as a major blow to me. I was a very lazy student and I believed that my “natural” abilities will somehow get me through and win competitions at the time which it did, not because of my “speciality” but because my guru believed in me and started investing more time with me. You must probably be thinking as to how my random stories come anywhere close to the title. In a minute guys. patience

So I was able to win competitions on a local scale and also on a major scale as well. I’ve won prizes across kerala and had the opportunity to play in programs in major channels as well. Why sudden mentions of my accolades? I just felt a momentary pride rushing in and that’s probably the reason why. However I still carry those fond memories with me as I move forward in life. From a boy who never wanted to really learn tabla, to falling in love with the very instrument and also collecting prizes and recognitions along the way is a wonderful feeling and something to always ponder upon.

The very foundation of my “developer” life has also been laid in a very similar fashion from the beginning. I never really wanted to be a “software guy” neither did I have the mind to work for it but as it turned out I’m here, I’m a software engineer and I’m loving every bit of my days as one(not every, but almost. “Every” would be an overstatement!). I had low grades for my higher education and as a result I had to take up something(branch for engineering) which is less hard to learn so that I can get through my college as well. After brain storming sessions with my parents and a few friends, I decided to take up information tech as my trade which seemed easy to learn for people close to me (never knew the reason why!). As the story goes, I never really got fond of the trade nor was I talented in it. Infact I somehow went about without getting a year back for my low attendance and obviously did not pass with flying colours. I survived.

After my graduation however, I was fortunate enough to get into a 13 year old(At the time) company in 2015 and slowly made my baby steps as a programmer. Firmusoft, that’s what the company is called was a relief for a jobless me at the time. I wasn’t even confident enough to pass by in front of people who “cared” for me more than my parents before getting this job. The job came in as a welcome surprise for me and cancelled out all the questions from you know who. I was very proud of what I became that day. A very big hug to my friends who helped me pass the aptitude which was the ultimate key. So as it goes, I started receiving this strong lust for learning and slowly became passionate about coding and its intricacies. I started believing in myself and took a lot of help from my mentors along the way which changed the way how I looked at problem solving. There were also times when I lost all hope and was forced to discuss my “connectivity issues” with coding to my family. That’s how it works and nothing comes easy. You need to always stay focused and never learn to settle. All the help and motivation that I received from my mentors and colleagues shaped the developer in me and made me better than who I was yesterday.

From never really wanting to learn/be something to falling in love with the same thing when you get/be it is not that bad at all. I personally believe an ascent in life is always prone to a gentle push from the world. You just have to keep falling in love with whatever you do, have the patience and also remember to stay humble while you are at it. I’m an “average” guy who fell in love with programming along the way and I’m proud of what I’m today. This is for those people who never really longed to be a software professional but happened to be one anyway and found joy in it, who is quite happy with their “arranged marriage”.

Keep learning!

Happy coding!