The Safe Path: Leetcode, Internships, and Corporate Life #
In the summer of 2018, just before my final year of B.Tech, my friends and I were deep in the Leetcode grind. We lived on HackerRank, battled on Codeforces, and even dabbled in CodeChef contests. All that effort paid off—I landed an internship at OpenText, a giant in the CRM and OCR space. (Spoiler: Leetcode does work, at least for getting your foot in the door. I hate doing leetcode now, more in another post)
Three months later, I had a full-time offer in hand—before I’d even graduated. A stable job at a global tech company, complete with great benefits, zero stress, and a predictable 9-5 routine. My family was thrilled. By all traditional measures, I’d “made it.”
But something didn’t feel right.
The excitement I’d felt when I built my first website? Gone. The thrill of solving hard problems? Fading. I was comfortable, but I wasn’t growing. That’s when I realized: I didn’t just want a job. I wanted a journey.
The First Jump: Into Startup Chaos #
So I did the unthinkable—I quit.
No backup plan, just a gut feeling that I needed more. Luckily, a friend was working at a tiny, newly minted startup. I reached out, interviewed, and within a week, I had an offer.
Then came the hard part: telling my parents.
To them, startups were synonymous with risk, instability, and recklessness. Why leave a sure thing for chaos? It took days of long conversations—explaining, reassuring, and finally convincing them to trust me. (I’ll always be grateful they did.)
The Startup Reality: Highs, Lows, and COVID #
The new role was everything I wanted—fast, intense, and unpredictable. I was writing production database scripts (no room for error), jumping between backend fixes and frontend tweaks, and learning at a pace I’d never experienced before.
Then, COVID hit.
The startup—like so many others—collapsed. My parents’ worst fears had come true. For the first time, I questioned my choices. Maybe stability was the smarter play?
But giving up wasn’t an option.
Rebuilding: Unemployment, Side Projects, and a Pay Cut #
While job hunting, my friends and I started working on a side project (I can’t share details, but it was the kind of thing that kept me sane). I led backend development, hired interns, and got a prototype running.
After two months of uncertainty, I finally landed an offer—at a 30% pay cut. It hurt, but I took it.
This was an AI/ML startup, and my role was a mix of backend engineering, ops, and occasional full-stack chaos. I built CLI tools, wrestled with ClojureJS, and even dipped my toes into infrastructure. It was messy, but I loved it.
The Breakthrough: A Call Out of Nowhere #
Then, out of the blue, I got a call.
A startup in another city had found my resume on a job portal (one I didn’t even remember updating). The team lead and I clicked instantly—bonding over our love for Go, our disdain for Java, and strong opinions on static vs. dynamic typing.
I aced the interview, got the offer, and faced a tough choice: Take this role or join an early-stage blockchain startup (fully remote).
After some back-and-forth, I chose the first option.
The Silicon Valley of India: A Humbling Ride #
The new city was India’s startup hub—fast, competitive, and full of people way smarter than me.
My first two weeks were a brutal reality check. I felt like an impostor. The engineers here operated at a level I hadn’t seen before. But I adapted. I had to.
Soon, I was:
- Debugging critical issues on live client calls
- Building internal tools that scaled
- Designing infrastructure that didn’t collapse under pressure
It was the most challenging—and rewarding—job I’d ever had.
The End (For Now) #
Eventually, I decided to pursue a master’s degree (a story for another post). But looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
What Startups Taught Me #
- Stability is overrated—if you’re not growing, you’re stagnating.
- Failure isn’t fatal—it’s just data.
- The best learning happens under pressure—even when it feels unbearable.
I took risks, screwed up, fixed things, and fell in love with the chaos. And one day, I hope to channel all of it into my own startup.
Until then—the grind continues.
Final Thought #
If you’re hesitating between safe and uncertain, ask yourself:
“Will I regret not trying?”
For me, the answer was clear.