Building a Career in the IT Sector with a Commerce Stream
by Amol Golvelkar, MSc IT from DAIICT, 12+ Years Experience
Love for computers at an early age resulted in fulfilling IT career, which I am happy with so far. As a child, my father got me the computer when I was around in 6th standard (which would be around 1997), and the power of computing mesmerized me since those days.
<br/>Getting into the computer engineering field.
I had only one career goal in my mind to get into the computer engineering field. In 10th after securing 88%, I took a quite risky decision to get into the commerce stream. The positive side was I could have opted for either CA or IT, after completing the 12th, but risky because in case of IT I had limited myself to few courses like BCA or IT (specifically I had only one college in mind K.S. School of Business Management, M.Sc IT integrated course) colleges.
When in 11th, one of my friend’s cousin was already in that college, and we used to do some level of programming as fun since 11th and 12th standard itself.
Things did not turn as good as I had hoped after securing 79% in HSC Gujarat board. Another hurdle was everyone scaring us off, with IT bubble burst in 2002, and I was about to get into a risky career. My passion for the field still did not dissolve, and though I would have secured admission only on payment seat, with my parents’ support, got admission in K.S.School.
<br/>Taking admission into DA-IICT
As the years progressed, I realized around the end of 3rd year, that we may get better options for post-graduation, rather than continuing in the same institute. Then heard about DA-IICT in Gandhinagar. We were short on time, only had 2-3 months to prepare for our entrance, along with my few friends. We could sense nervousness and were a little less hopeful when we were at the college entrance exam. There were around 300 hundred students from many different cities from India, for a selection of 60 seats. It was supposed to be an aptitude+computer skill test, followed by an interview. We still gave confidence to each other and we all got selected.
One thing I realized at DA-IICT was what good professors, good infrastructure & good evaluation structure can do to your education. We had a very good time studying at DA-IICT, along with very joyful campus life. Another thing I realized is lack of career guidance at least in Gujarat at that point in time. Our fellow students from other states, knew a lot of career courses and institutes, with good knowledge about how they rank, how good are placements at different colleges.
Finally, from DA-IICT, placements were good, and most of us got placed, and into fulfilling careers. CareerNaksha has identified the right problem to solve and one point contact to guide people to pursue careers in the field of their choice. I feel lucky to have landed in the field of my choice, which gives me work satisfaction and at the same time pays well.