Afsan is the first software developer from his village

Afsan comes from a small town in Uttar Pradesh. His father is a truck driver and his mother is a homemaker. The parents had great ambitions for their children from the very beginning. While they did not have the opportunity to attain education for themselves, they wanted the very best for the children. Since the local schools in the village did not follow the English medium of education, their eldest son Afsan was sent to a school in Mumbai for 1 year to understand how quality education could truly add value to his life. 

After coming back from Mumbai, his parents enrolled him in an ICSE board school in Allahabad which was 7-8 km from his village. Owing to his keen interest in Mathematics, he opted for Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology (to weigh different options) in class 11th. Once he gave his board exams, he realised that he was more suited for B.Tech. in Computer Science rather than having a scope in the medical stream. 

He took admission to Kochi Institute of Science & Technology in his desired field. Interestingly, his determination to become a software developer was so high that he chose to live in a far away city from his village to avoid possible distractions while studying. 

So how did he come across Masai School when everything was going well? Let’s find out.

Tell us about your time in college.

I did not study Computer Science when I was in school – which meant that I had to learn everything from scratch during my graduation. In the 1st semester, we had C Language and Javascript in our syllabus, out of which I knew nothing. I took the help of the internet and video lectures to equip myself with some basic knowledge about these languages. Soon enough, I was able to match up with the speed of other students and this is how I spent the next 4 years.

Did you get placed anywhere through campus placements? 

Oh yes. I got placed in Infosys as a developer and it made my parents super happy. However, I had a clear goal that I wanted to work with a product-based company to be able to build everything on my own. I believe product-based enterprises have more room for error and that is what I needed – I knew that the curriculum of my college wasn’t enough to cater to current industry trends; to flourish as a developer, it was important for me to have an in-depth understanding of how things worked on a corporate level.

So how did you come across Masai School?

While exploring my options, I got to know about Masai School when I took part in a coding contest conducted by it and got a chance to join as a student. Being a college student in my 6th semester, I could not spend a fortune on joining a new course just because I did not feel confident while being in college. After a lot of contemplation, I decided to give it a shot and enrolled myself.

Which course did you opt for at Masai School?

In October 2020, I opted for the part-time course which was 6 months long. This course was specifically designed for college going students and working professionals who could not dedicate a lot of time during the week to attend classes. 

The 9-9-6 routine was so helpful for me that I became a disciplined individual from being a casual person in just some weeks. After attending a few classes at Masai, I felt very motivated and enthusiastic to attend every class on time and never took leave in between.

Now tell us about what all you learnt at Masai School. 

Coming from a computer science background, I already was well-versed with the fundamentals of different languages but what I needed was to learn how to apply this knowledge in real-life scenarios.

I worked on a project with four members which was related to managing the clone of an already ongoing project. It was a great experience and I still use the knowledge I acquired during this time in my current job.

What about the placements?

I got placed after the course and it took me some days after the completion of the course to get a product based company where I could live up to my own expectations. To all the aspiring coders who wish to connect with Masai School to revamp their career, I would just say that they should go for it without having second thoughts.

To become a software developer, it is necessary to understand the core of programming and Masai truly helps people like me who have nothing but big dreams in their eyes. I believe to learn new things, one should be accepting of the new change and give their hundred per cent to unlearn and learn again.

The Masai Experience

Even though he belongs to a small town, Afsan did not let his personal struggles come in the way of achieving his dream. We are truly mesmerized by his passion for software development and feel fortunate that we were able to assist him in having a career of his own choice.