The cloud is one of the hottest techs in the technology world and many enthusiasts are looking to shift their careers to the cloud. There are multiple Public providers and all are performing fairly well and growing at a very faster rate.

Now the question is how and why on earth I decided to shift my career from a Non-technical transactional job to a trending cloud technology.???

So here is my story!!

My education Phase.

I did my engineering in CSE from a tier 3 or 4 or 5 college, not sure which tier my college belongs to!! And successfully obtained an engineering degree in the year 2013. coming from a middle-class family and being very average in my studies, completing my college degree within 4 years was in itself a difficult task for me. But fortunately, I did complete my engineering, but with not-so-flying colors.

With 0-1% coding knowledge and a fair bit of communication, I started searching for a job along with pursuing a crash course in Java programming in Bengaluru. Little did I know that I am a very very small fish in the ocean of the corporate world.

Career Phase 1

This continued for 1 year and with no luck in getting a job, finally in mid 2014, I got my 1st job opportunity to Join an e-commerce company as a customer service representative. I was on the moon that I got a job, unaware of what exactly the job was and what is the future in that field.

So my career started with speaking to end customers and resolving their issues. I was happy that I was finally earning, my parents were satisfied but not that happy. It went on for a year and in 2015 and I was getting a decent salary to sustain a basic life in Bengaluru.

The problems of life

Problems always come in life, that's what life is about. Now the only question that remains is how you will face the problem.?? I had to choose between family and Job and I choose my family.

I had to quit my job in mid-2015, as my father was unwell and needed complete care along with managing the house and other responsibilities. This went on for another 6 to 8 months until my father was completely well and was able to manage things on his own.

Career Phase 2

I came back to Bengaluru after 8 months in search of a job. No idea where to start or which field to choose, and no guidance nor any support, no reference. While searching for the job I came across a job consultancy that hires candidates on behalf of companies for Tech & Non-Tech jobs and the good part was they don't charge any money.

I did not have any idea of technology so I opted for the non-tech job. Now as I had already worked in a B to C support job, I was very skeptical to get into a similar field as I did not find any growth in that field.

I got an interview opportunity from the consultancy that I had registered and the Job was related to Supply chain management. Lots of questions in my mind now!!, because I had no idea about this field.

what is a supply chain?

what are the growth opportunities?

what is the nature of job.? do I need to speak to end customers like in my previous job etc!

After doing some research, I got some insight into the job and role. It is a B-to-B support job where I will be managing the day-to-day transactions of my client using some tools. As my client was US based, I had to do the night shift. Ok sounds good right, it is far better than being unemployed.

So in mid-2016, I joined a 100-year-old company as a Supply Chain Executive. Sounds Exiting!!

I completely involved myself in the job and dedicatedly worked for 5 years. I got good opportunities to interact with clients, Travel to client locations (With India, as they had an office in India) and lots more. Got Promoted as TL after 4 years and was earning far better than what I started in this job.

In 2020 Covid struck!! The beginning of Struggles!!

Chaos was everywhere, working from home was hell. Too much pressure on me to meet the client's expectations as an individual and as a team. All the hard work, hikes, promotions, best employee awards everything was ignored. I was treated as a fresher, with lots of unnecessary communications, meetings and ignorance of all the hard work we were doing as a Team.

In that phase where I was just holding down to the job to just sustain myself, I was getting a lot of emails about Cloud computing, certifications, technology boom and lots more.

For me, the cloud was a natural phenomenon that happens in the sky , funny isn't it? Trust me most non-tech people still don't understand Cloud!!

Now I had reached the stage where I wanted to get out of this struggle and wanted to do something different or something that most of them think is IMPOSSIBLE!!

In 2022 I decided to quit my job, I convinced my family and told them that I want to try this out once in my life, if I succeed then all is good!! and If I fail then I will go back to what I was doing. I was very clear and firm in my decision.

Sounds like a plan right.?? I know many of you might think that practically it is not possible to take such a decision that to in that stage of life!! I completely agree with you. Fortunately, my wife was working and we as a couple did not have any other commitments, so my family stood with me and agreed to what I had decided.

Now that I have made the decision, I had to decide on the path that I should take and also decide on a strict timeline with a proper schedule so that I can achieve what I have decided.

Do or Die situation!!

I opted for multiple courses, watched youtube videos, read blogs and did all the circus just to understand what exactly the cloud is and how it functions. Crazy right!!

After doing all kinds of research and completing a few courses in Udemy and AWS skill builder I was a little confident about getting a job. By this time I had already completed 6 months.

Now the question was

what role I should apply.?

How much experience should I show in my resume.?

Which companies should I apply for.?

No clue about any of these things. No guide, no mentor nothing. I was my mentor, motivator and everything!

I was rigorously searching for a job and applying for many positions with different experiences. As I was aiming to get into a cloud job and not concentrating on position, company and nature of work, I was doing very very bad in interviews and started feeling that I was not going to make it!! It is over!! back to where I was!! all these thoughts were surrounding me.

But I motivated myself and focused on getting a job. I was very active on Linkedin and was actively applying for jobs.

While searching for jobs, I came across a startup that was hiring freshers with 2.5 years of bond.

I applied for the job and attended multiple rounds of interviews. I was very honest about my previous experience and knowledge of the cloud and finally, I got the Job offer. It was very unreal for me!! Though I dint get a great job with a fantastic salary (Which is considered a success by many), I was happy that I was able to achieve what I wanted.

Success has many definitions. Every other individual defines success in their way.

But for me, this was a success!!

The success of defending my decision even after many said you can't do that, it is very risky.

Success, where I throw myself into the ocean with the confidence that I will swim and reach the shore.

Success, mentoring and motivating myself.

Success, On never giving up on myself.

This is what I have achieved! This was my story!! This might not be a fascinating story but definitely will motivate you to make you believe in yourself.

There is no shortcut in life!! Trust yourself !! Work Hard!! and Succeed..........

Please Note: Soon I will be publishing another blog with detailed information about courses and contents that I followed to upskill myself in AWS cloud.