When I was younger, like around 14-15 years old my idea of a career I wanted to pursue was that of a software engineer. I wanted to try either programming, the networking side or database/webserver maintenance. That was what I felt was where I should go forward. It also was probably a lot due to the fact that in my extended and close-knit family, the 4 cousins just older to me by 2-3 years were also in engineering college by the time I turned 15. Only 2 have completed their courses and gone on to work in that industry but that wasn’t an indication for me.

I struggled with math and science and didn’t do well in my final years before college. Hence I had to drop those ideas. However as I struggled academically I also looked at possibly doing a non-engineering course, like a diploma in computer science and go with programming. At that time, which was 1997, two big institutes in computer programming offered 2 year diploma courses and most of the students were getting good jobs in the industry. So I applied and did a 2 year diploma. After that I did a 6 months e-commerce course on the advice of someone in the industry.

Once that was done and based on the big project I did at the end of the course, I realized that this dream was over. I wasn’t cut out for this industry and it’s better to try something else. Hence, I joined a call center and have been in the customer care industry since then with a little bit of sales thrown in for a few years. Despite a lot of issues, I have enjoyed most of it.