19-year old Sahil became the youngest developer from his Masai batch

19-year old Sahil became the youngest developer from his Masai batch

What if someone told you that they had a well-paying job just at the age of 19? Well, that someone turns out to be Sahil Sachdev from Udaipur. He had not only found himself a stable career right after school but also acquired the confidence to flourish as a software developer at such a young age. He currently works at INAI, a Bengaluru-Chennai based company. 

While he loved playing football more than he liked to study in school, his interest in mathematics and logical reasoning deepened as years passed by. His father is an entrepreneur and his mother is a homemaker who never pressured their son to pursue something he didn’t want to. Instead, they left the decision on him to choose whichever path he saw fit for himself – as a result of which he went on to utilise his likeness for mathematics and reasoning. 

We had an interesting conversation with him to know more about how he developed an interest in programming and what led him to Masai School

How did you find your calling for development while still being in school?

After passing class 10th board exams, I was confused about which stream to take in class 11th. As my parents gave me the freedom to choose the subject of my choice, I opted for commerce with mathematics, owing to my likeness to the latter. 

Fast forward to a few months later – my brother, Harshal Sahetiya, who works as a financial manager in Ireland sent me a video that showed how coding and programming is a promising field for the current generation. He also talked about some of his friends who are doing great in their careers as software developers. I got so intrigued by the video that I started learning about different languages online while still studying in school. By the time I finished my board exams, I was clear that I had to build myself as a professional in this field.  

When did you come across Masai School?

I finished school in the month of April and post that, I started researching for options that would allow a Commerce student like me to pursue software development. My brother once talked about a U.S. based company that provided a short-term course to aspiring coders belonging to a non-computer science background; it really caught my attention and I looked for similar institutions in India. This is how I came across Masai School. 

So after you found out about Masai, what was your next step?

I enrolled myself for the Full-stack Web Development course that enabled students like me with no background in computer science to learn industrial level programming within 7 months. Moreover, the ISA mentioned that I would only have to pay the fees once I get a job of more than Rs.5 LPA. It was a perfect opportunity for me as I did not want to bother my parents to pay for the course of my dreams. 

I cleared the basic entrance exam with the interview and I secured myself a seat for the upcoming batch. 

How was the initial experience?

After joining Masai School, I took admission to a private college for B.Com. As a backup plan; in case things wouldn’t work out, I could always go back to where I started from. Also, this college didn’t require me to attend the classes regularly. I only had to go to give the exams once a year and this aligned with my current goals of becoming a developer. 

This meant I could completely focus on my course at Masai.

I was the youngest student in the batch with absolutely no past experience in the tech field or the professional world. For me, this signified a new beginning. I was determined to try my best. 

Describe the life change you witnessed after joining Masai.

I was a regular 19-year old boy who had no sense of discipline or sincerity when it came to living my life. However, the 9-6-9 schedule followed by Masai brought in a kind of change that I had never expected from myself. I felt inspired to wake up early, study for 12 hours and rest to rejuvenate my mind and body – something I hadn’t felt before. 

This newly found confidence helped me to build both my technical as well as soft skills. 

What did you learn throughout your course?

Being a young student, I would often ask vague questions from the mentors because I wanted to be 100% sure of what I was doing – and I was so fortunate – all the mentors were always available to clear my doubts and motivate me throughout my learning journey. We were taught the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, Node, JavaScript, Express, React, MongoDB and Redux along with day to day assignments so that we could prepare ourselves for applying our knowledge on a practical basis. 

Was getting a job difficult for you considering you are so young?

I will be honest here. I was initially very sceptical about getting placed considering I am just 19 years old but as soon as I got placed with a lucrative package at Inai, all my family members both at home and at Masai were super proud. I am also the first person in my friend circle to have a job while most of them are either studying or interning. 

At present, I am thoroughly enjoying every bit of working professionally and feel fortunate that I am able to execute my learnings in a smart and solution-oriented manner. Being at Masai was the best decision of my life and I would 100% recommend it to every aspiring coder who wishes to do something meaningful with their life. 

The Masai Experience

Sahil Sachdev is a living example of how an individual with no professional experience can achieve exponential growth in just a span of a few months with Masai. 

The young generation of today is full of potential waiting to be nurtured to their full limits. We at Masai encourage such individuals to come forward and give us the opportunity to add value to their already rich skill sets.