From Zero to Multiple Remote Offers | An incredible freelancing journey

Summary

In this engaging podcast, Vin shares his remarkable journey from a BCA student at a local college to landing a role at a YC-backed startup. Initially a commerce student with dreams of becoming a CA, Vin's path pivoted to computer science, leading him to freelance work and eventually a TA position in edtech. His proactive approach to learning, networking, and seizing opportunities, even when they seemed out of reach, showcases his impressive growth and adaptability. Vin's story emphasizes the importance of hard work, continuous learning, and the power of building a strong online presence to attract opportunities.

Takeaways

• 😲 The speaker was impressed by their own growth and the amount of work accomplished in a short time, which led to recognition from others.
• 🚀 The speaker transitioned from being a Teaching Assistant (TA) in edtech to working at a Y Combinator (YC) backed startup, showcasing significant career progression.
• 🏫 The speaker is pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce (BC) from a local Tier 3 college and has observed a lack of awareness among peers about the opportunities available through hard work.
• 💡 The speaker's initial attraction to coding began in school with Java and basic HTML/CSS, and was further fueled by the desire to create cool applications.
• 🌐 The speaker's journey involved exploring opportunities beyond college, such as freelance work, which provided real-world exposure and experience.
• 🤝 Networking and community involvement played a crucial role in the speaker's growth, including participation in open-source projects and Twitter interactions.
• 🛠️ The speaker's technical skills were enhanced through practical experience, such as fixing and improving a 2-year-old startup's codebase, which led to a job offer.
• 📈 The speaker emphasizes the importance of being proactive, creating opportunities, and not relying solely on luck for career advancement.
• 📚 Learning web development was suggested as a good starting point due to its ease of testing and circulation, and the foundational skills it provides.
• 🗣️ English proficiency, particularly fluency and a good accent, was highlighted as essential for communication and standing out in the job market.
• 🔢 The speaker mentions the importance of Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) for developing problem-solving skills and meeting the initial technical requirements of big tech companies.

Q & A

What was the individual's initial career goal before pivoting to computer science?

The individual initially aimed to become a Chartered Accountant (CA), but later pivoted to computer science after developing an interest in coding.

How did the person's coding journey begin?

The person's coding journey began in their school's ICC curriculum, where they started learning Java in class 10th and basic HTML and CSS.

What was the individual's educational background before pursuing a BCA?

The individual had a Commerce background and studied in the same school for both 10th and 12th grades, without initially being a science student.

How did the person's interest in computer science develop?

The person's interest in computer science developed after being attracted to coding and building applications, which started as a hobby in school.

What was the individual's first freelance project about?

The individual's first freelance project involved building a website for a client introduced by someone close to their family.

How did the person's skills and professional experience grow in the last six months?

The person's skills and professional experience grew significantly through self-learning, networking, and hands-on experience in various projects, including freelance work and contributions to open-source projects.

What was the individual's initial hesitation about purchasing a coding course?

The individual was hesitant about the financial investment required for the coding course, as it was a considerable amount of money for them at that time.

How did the person get connected with the YC-backed startup?

The person got connected with the YC-backed startup through a Twitter DM from the founder who was impressed with their portfolio website and was looking for someone to help with a project.

What was the main task the individual performed for the YC company that impressed them?

The individual impressed the YC company by reviving and improving a two-year-old application, fixing bugs, adding features, and setting up deployment pipelines within a few days.

What advice does the person have for beginners looking to get into programming and startups?

The person advises beginners to start by learning a programming language, explore web development, maintain curiosity, and not lose the passion for learning and exploring new technologies.

How important is Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) according to the individual?

DSA is important for developing problem-solving skills and is a crucial part of the interview process for big tech companies, especially for internships and entry-level positions.

What role did English proficiency play in the individual's journey?

English proficiency played a significant role in the individual's journey, as it was essential for communication and standing out in professional settings. The individual improved their English by teaching a young boy through Twitter.

Outlines

00:00

😲 Impressive Growth and Career Transition

The speaker reflects on their rapid professional development, from starting as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in an edtech to working at a YC-backed startup. They discuss their educational journey, beginning with a BCA from a local college, overcoming the lack of opportunities and awareness in their peer group. The speaker's initial attraction to coding started in high school and evolved into a serious pursuit, leading to a pivot from a Commerce background to computer science. They share their experience of joining a podcast to discuss their journey and the significant contributions they made early on in a cohort, which led to recognition and opportunities.

05:02

🤔 Pursuing Excellence Beyond Academic Constraints

The speaker talks about their proactive approach to learning and gaining industry exposure, which included doing freelance work and seeking out opportunities beyond their college curriculum. They mention building a website as a freelance project and their experience applying for an edtech TA position, which they eventually turned down due to restrictive clauses. The speaker also discusses the influence of online communities and learning resources, such as YouTubers, in broadening their horizons and gaining self-confidence through successful project completions and contributions.

10:02

🔧 Hands-on Experience and Skill Development

The speaker describes their journey in gaining practical skills, particularly in building and improving web applications. They recount their experience with a video preview feature and how they connected with a community member on Twitter, leading to collaboration and recognition for their work. The speaker emphasizes the importance of self-learning and exploration, as well as the role of networking in their professional growth, including how they leveraged Twitter to gain visibility and opportunities.

15:04

🚀 Leveraging Luck and Networking for Career Advancement

The speaker shares their experience of being contacted by the founder of a YC-backed company for a potential job opportunity. They discuss how they impressed the founder by quickly fixing and improving a two-year-old project, leading to a job offer. The speaker also talks about the importance of being proactive, creating opportunities, and the role of luck in their career trajectory, including the serendipity of their Twitter activities leading to professional connections.

20:04

🛠️ Overcoming Technical Challenges and Delivering Results

The speaker details their experience working on an outdated codebase for a YC startup, where they had to quickly learn and apply new skills to meet the project's demands. They discuss the challenges of working with legacy systems and the steps they took to modernize the application, including setting up CI/CD pipelines and improving deployment processes. The speaker also credits a mentor for teaching them about DevOps and the importance of continuous learning.

25:05

🌐 Navigating Multiple Projects and Tech Stacks

The speaker talks about their involvement with multiple projects and the variety of tech stacks they have worked with. They mention their proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript, their preference for the Next.js framework, and their interest in learning Go. The speaker also discusses their experience with freelance work and how it helped them develop unique solutions for clients, as well as their plans to continue exploring different technologies and expanding their skillset.

30:06

🛫 Scaling Skills and Embracing New Opportunities

The speaker provides advice for beginners looking to break into the tech industry, emphasizing the importance of starting with web development due to its accessibility and the ability to quickly test and share projects. They suggest learning a programming language, building applications, and exploring various technologies to find one's niche. The speaker also highlights the importance of maintaining curiosity and passion for learning throughout one's career.

35:08

📈 Creating Your Own Luck and Networking Strategies

The speaker shares strategies for creating opportunities, such as directly reaching out to company founders with offers to improve their products in exchange for potential job opportunities. They discuss the importance of being quick, focused, and proactive in seeking out and creating chances for career advancement. The speaker also touches on the significance of Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) for technical interviews and the crucial role of English proficiency in communication and professional success.

🎓 The Role of English Proficiency and Closing Thoughts

The speaker emphasizes the importance of English proficiency in their career, sharing their personal experience of teaching English on Twitter to improve their fluency. They stress the need for clear communication skills to effectively convey ideas and solutions. In conclusion, the speaker encourages persistence and the development of a strong work ethic, acknowledging the role of luck and support from family in their journey.

Keywords

💡Growth

Growth in the context of the video refers to personal and professional development. The speaker mentions being 'impressed' due to the amount of growth they experienced in a short span, indicating rapid learning and skill acquisition. This is central to the video's theme of self-improvement and career progression.

💡Edtech

Edtech, short for educational technology, is a field that integrates technology into education. The speaker discusses starting as a TA (Teaching Assistant) in an edtech company, which is an important stepping stone in their career journey. It illustrates the intersection of education and technology in the speaker's professional experience.

💡VC-backed startup

A VC-backed startup refers to a startup company that is financially supported by venture capitalists. The speaker mentions working at a VC-backed company, which signifies a level of credibility and potential for growth in the business world. This is relevant to the video's theme of career advancement in the tech industry.

💡BCA

BCA stands for Bachelor of Computer Applications, an undergraduate degree focused on computer science and its applications. The speaker is pursuing a BCA, which is foundational to their understanding of computer science and their career in tech, as discussed in the video.

💡TI 3 College

TI 3 College refers to a Tier 3 college, a classification often used in India to denote the quality and ranking of educational institutions. The speaker mentions attending a local Tier 3 college, which provides context to their educational background and the challenges they faced in realizing opportunities in the tech industry.

💡Coding

Coding is the process of writing computer programs. The speaker's initial attraction to computer science began with coding, which is a fundamental skill in their tech career. The video emphasizes the importance of coding as a starting point for those interested in the tech field.

💡Open Source

Open source refers to software or a product whose source code is made available to the public, allowing anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute it. The speaker mentions knowing about open source and GitHub, indicating their engagement with collaborative and community-driven development practices.

💡Freelancing

Freelancing is the act of working independently as a contractor or consultant, rather than being employed by a company. The speaker discusses their freelancing work, which provided them with real-world experience and exposure to industry-level work, contributing to their professional growth.

💡YC

YC stands for Y Combinator, a well-known startup accelerator that provides seed money, advice, and resources to early-stage startups. The speaker's journey includes getting hired by a YC-backed startup, which is a significant milestone in their career, highlighting the importance of such opportunities in the tech ecosystem.

💡Portfolio

A portfolio is a collection of an individual's work that showcases their skills and accomplishments. The speaker mentions a portfolio website that caught the attention of a YC company founder, leading to a job opportunity. This demonstrates the importance of having a portfolio to display one's work in the professional world.

💡DevOps

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and information technology operations (Ops) to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery of high-quality software. The speaker talks about building CI/CD pipelines, which is part of DevOps practices, showing their involvement in streamlining development and deployment processes.

Highlights

Impressed with growth and work in a short span, transitioned from TA in edtech to working at a VC-backed company.

Pursuing BCA from a local Tier 3 college and facing challenges due to lack of awareness and opportunities among peers.

Experience coding since Class 8 with Java, HTML, and CSS, and pivoting from commerce to computer science.

Developed a passion for coding during high school, leading to pursuing a BCA degree despite initial plans to become a CA.

Secured first freelance project from a family member, leading to significant self-discovery and skill enhancement.

Freelance work motivated by curiosity and the need to explore industry-level practices.

Got shortlisted for a TA job at an edtech company among 25,000 applicants, boosting self-confidence.

Involvement in open-source projects and contributions to the community, leading to a job offer from a YC-backed startup.

Networking through Twitter and leveraging online presence to secure freelance and job opportunities.

Focused on learning new technologies and continuously improving skills, including exploring DevOps and CI/CD pipelines.

Importance of guidance and community support in personal and professional growth.

Building projects and showcasing them online to attract potential job offers and freelance gigs.

Developing a love for programming languages and continuously exploring new areas like Go and DevOps.

Importance of problem-solving skills and Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) for landing jobs at top tech companies.

Emphasis on effective communication and English proficiency in professional success.

Creating opportunities by reaching out to potential employers and offering to improve their projects.

Transcripts

so they were very impressed because the

amount of growth and the amount of work

that I did in the that short span so I

need to do something sneaky to get the

thing done they were like hell impressed

and they said okay you've grown a lot

you know you've gone from almost zero

just starting out applying as a TA in an

edtech to you know now working at a VC

back company so right now I'm pursuing

BC I'm in second year um I'm just

pursuing it from a local TI 3 College

here the the main problem in TI 3 is

like there is not many people who

realize what kind of opportunity they

can have if they just you know kind of

work hard and they don't realize it so

yeah talking about the pr group it's not

that good um it's mostly like the guys

who are just more dependent on College

um that's when I got to know that yeah

you were launching a code and I was very

hesitant should I buy it should I not

and it played out really effing well

man can't thank you enough so hi

everyone welcome to a new podcast in

this podcast we have Vin who has

recently joined a ycy bag startup and is

in talk in getting into another one

we'll understand his journey from the

top he's been coding for a really long

time he was part of cohort 2.0 he was

one of the highest contributors right

from the beginning we'll understand what

it takes to get hired at a YC backed

startup so um I'm originally from West

Bengal India and right now I'm pursuing

BC I'm in second year um I'm just

pursuing it from a local TI three

College here and like about my schooling

I have done from the same like same

school I've done both 10th and 12th and

I'm from an ICC background along with

that like I'm not a science student I'm

a Commerce student initially like my

dream was to like become a CA but it

like at the end it pivoted to computer

science and like being a commer student

I didn't had the privilege to you know

get admission to a B Tech get a btech uh

admission so that's why I like thought

that okay if I if I have to pursue

computer science I think BC is just my

way and I had maths so I was able to get

it and like talking about like um the

coding attraction like the thing that I

got for the coding was just initially I

I remember that in class 10th like

initially what happens is in ICC um in

the I syllabus itself we have like a

Java in class 10th from it starts from

Class 8 and it's there to class 10th and

there is some high level Java towards

class 12th if you choose Compu science

so initially I started coding there

itself um along with some basic HTML CSS

thingies used to flex all of the little

Pro that I made just by copying some um

guy on the YouTube and Just flexing it

around my friends so yeah that that was

cool and that's probably like the only

um you know uh motivation I thought that

like okay pursuing computer science

would be cool because people you know

when they see cool things just in front

of the eyes they kind of crazy so I

think that this was just the thing for

me and initially like the attraction

towards the whole computer science thing

and taking it seriously started it

around like at the end of 12th probably

yeah before that I had the mind of like

getting into CA um the whole story goes

back from like in class 8 itself CU as

the school that I study in allows us to

choose what stream we want to pursue

from Class 8 on Words itself so we got

to you okay do you want to go to science

stream do you want to go to Commerce

stream or do you want to go for like

Arts what's your choice so initially I

thought why why should we like why why

would I study three subjects to get a

good marks in 10th when I can just study

just one and I can get good

marks so and initially like C Papa was

like okay by C so I thought like Okay C

was the thing to go so that's why I took

it then class 11th I got to know that

okay life is getting serious I need to

see think something for myself and what

I have to do so I

thought and then initially what

something happened they got attracted to

computer science and coding part and

stuff started doing L react and building

out some cool applications like not so

cool but yeah was time play just getting

my own IP address printed on the web

page was a big thing for me so that was

the first thing that I did and I got

very interested okay this I think if I

can do this I can do a lot more so yeah

initially the whole thing really started

from there itself makes a lot of sense

so you were destined to be a c at least

your family wanted to you to be that you

were in

icsc you chose Commerce but yet decided

you want to do computer science and then

you pursued BCA from what kind of a

college is it a good college how's your

peer group over there okay so um talking

about Tire like how is the college I

think it's good enough but yeah talking

about the peer group I think like the

the main problem in TI 3 is like there

is not many people who realize what kind

of opportunity they can have if they

just you know kind of work hard and they

don't realize it so yeah talking about

the peer group it's not that good um

it's mostly like the guys who are just

more dependent on college that they

going to getting everything from college

itself at the end they just right now

they're regretting so yeah that's that's

a it's pretty bad sense so how did you

how you differentiated yourself from

your college and number one two

questions U what made you you know look

out as you said you know you have been

looking out from the beginning not

dependent on your college and once you

did um I know you're part of the cohort

but what other communities have you

found which you know pushed you in the

direction or you know opened your mind a

little bit

okay talking about that um first of all

like

I uh there is it is not like like I I

was not dependent on College from start

it was just like I had that um you know

I had that Curiosity in the inside of me

that yeah okay I have to go and do

something good get uh get something good

for me and do a little out of the things

that all of the college students are not

doing probably go and learn some new

language go and try to get an internship

somewhere get some experience

and most of the thing I think that came

after that was just from Curiosity

itself to go and learn more to

understand like how does industry level

Works happen now there's a little story

behind it actually I got a freelance

work last year from March it was a

website and it was given by someone very

close to my family um very close to me

actually he's my family itself probably

he'll be saying and he'll be saying okay

but no he is my family itself

so and I buil that like okay I'm missing

out a lot of things in me that I have to

improve and building some basic stuff on

my own is not going to help it at all so

I have to find out a way to you know

kind of get those real exposure and

stuff so that's why initially started

doing freelance first of all the reason

was to get to explore the things in a

much more deeper way and in much more

like a pressured way to be honest cuz of

course if you have someone to answer you

will be doing it anyhow right second of

all second of all um I tried to you know

kind of explore all of the opportunities

that I may get so at first I applied for

um for a edtech um ta job and it was it

was like a good one uh I got short

listed among like 25,000 students just

from my resume and stuff so and they

then we like scheduled a call we had

like two interviews I think one probably

two interviews and then I cleared it and

I got the offer probably I rejected it

because the Clauses are pretty tight but

yeah that was the initial self booster

for me uh self-confidence booster for me

that made me realize okay probably like

V you can do something and probably if

you got this you can get other one too

right if you just work hard enough you

can just become more skilled and the TA

job was on months track so you know that

that kind of helped me to get all of the

thing up and going and exploring more of

the opportunities but yeah most of the

things that I realized was um I was

following some YouTubers um for example

EX stver for example like you and all um

that's when I got to know that yeah you

were launching a code and I was very

hesitant should I buy it should I not

because this is a good amount of money

for me at that time it was uh so okay I

thought okay I'll just give it a shot

and buite it and it played out really

effing well

man can't thank you

enough got it it's super interesting

so uh I would love to know how did it

pay out what exactly helped out I

remember so here is how I know your

journey I remember in January you were

the first person who picked up a random

issue in you know the first repository

we open sourced you and eding both

created some segments thingy you were on

the First YouTube live that I did um so

that's how I know you so I would love to

know okay you know what made you pick

that issue you as you as I can tell

already you when you know you throw a

lot of

dots so would that which is you know a

very underrated skill in computer

science people just want to you know

need a very structured path because

that's what we've been taught I would

love to know okay what made you pick

those issues up and what made you

skilled enough to you know either work

with that sing or you know independently

I don't know what was your you know what

level of contribution you had there and

you know just try this out on your own

with like no incentive at all there was

no incentive for you to you know make

money on that specific issue yeah so the

main motivation was like first of all if

you remember like you put out a bounty

for like uh showing up that um I think

it was like U the timeline segment over

the video right over the video preview

thing and like I did it I own that

Bounty it was like for like $50 somehow

huh yeah I did that and then I was like

very interested okay if I did this

probably there are some more issues that

I can you know contribute and build it

so not talking about like the Bounty the

incentive was very good um you know it

was a bonus but that was not the initial

motivation and then I talked with

anur uh okay like if I did this there is

any another thing that you want me to

pick and work on so initially he said

okay we want something for like a video

preview over the thing as you see on the

YouTube so can you make this thing I was

like okay now the main problem was I was

just in my own uh end Sims the Ed Sims

were going on and had like exam the next

day

and I talked with Singh okay like sing

was a very good friend of me um just we

met in the cohort and we discussed and

we built some projects together and

that's how I got to know him much better

so uh I said to him okay yeah idea and

let's collaborate and do it so I shared

him whatever thing I had whatever

findings that I did because I sat on

that for like probably one or two days

that was just in my in between my exams

I was like for seeking my exams so like

okay I'll get this done somehow I'll try

to do this but yeah so I sat for like

one or two days and tried to figuring

out how to do that before that I'll just

like I forgot about it remember you

asked uh I think anura I don't know if

you asked some like one of you asked

yeah if you if you click on that uh

contr buttons over the video if you

click on this double tap 10 seconds

forward 10 seconds back and stuff I

remember like I did everything and I I

like aggressively tagged you on Twitter

okay okay I did this I did this I did

this and you used to reply and uh that

you know kind of initially picked up and

then we did when we did the video

segmentation thing and stuff I dm' you

you got you dm' you back in the Twitter

and then that's how we connected and

that's how likeing also like Exel was a

major part cuz I didn't had any time

contributing in that cuz if I did I

would have failed my exams next day for

sure so I iing okay this is my finding

up till here please can you do something

and probably build it so he of course

he's a very talented guy he he did it

like in just one night probably because

he's just another level so uh he said

that okay I have done this I but just at

that moment only I just shared that um

you

know um I picked up that video and URL

and just posted on Twitter and just

tagged you there and said okay this is

the one and you just uh replied to it

and that's how you made yeah got it

super amazing yeah that's how I came to

know about you and since then like I

haven't really helped you too much

you've you know figur you've had your

own Journey you've picked up companies

yourself and you know in the last six

months professionally you've grown a lot

I don't know if your skills have grown a

lot in the last six months or not they

might have they might not have but at

least professionally from what I can see

from the

outside you know you've gone from almost

zero just starting out applying as a TA

in an edtech to you know now working at

a YC back company so tell me that

Journey tell me how number one uh have

you improved your skills in the last 6

months or did you have enough skills

initially uh but you know you just did

not have the right opportunity

connect okay so um talking about the

skills if I had it before um I would

disagree honestly to be honest I would

disagree cuz the main the most of the

things that I realized that was on on

like the the main idea of like enrolling

the coher was to getting to know how the

industry standed to work around and what

is the thing that is being utilized

right I knew about open source I knew

about how the things work out I knew

about GitHub and stuff I knew all the

basic stuffs and stuff but the main

thing that I was missing was some

guidance that okay this is something

that you should probably go and explore

and learn about and then apply it

somewhere and that was the major pack

that was missing right and probably like

I had no one to guide me like you know

at every step that okay this is if you

have done this you can can probably go

and do this this is the good path and

and I personally like feel very um

privileged that I didn't had that kind

of guidance for the six months also so

it was like okay you have to do it

somehow to figure out what's the good

way what's the bad way so first of all

that helped me grow a lot it taught me

like how to figure things out myself

second talking about the skills if I had

I don't think so I had uh those skills

that I having right now in the last 6

months I think I've grown a lot honestly

both

like professionally both um um

skill-wise and of course talking about

like if if I had uh you know without the

Cod I think I don't think so it was like

mostly possible cuz the network that I

had was the initial Pioneer was uh it

was was initial P that helped me set up

all of the important things that I

needed to learn and how can I do and I

basically you know juggled around

different people and DMS and ask like

okay what's you building I will just get

into it even if I not going to

contribute into it I don't time I know

it but I will just go and look onto

their code what's happening there and

just try to assess okay this is the

packages that are using why is getting

used is there any better alternatives to

there and that's how I picked up and of

course the bonus was the freelance work

that I was getting it was it helped me

to push uh my thinking out of the box

getting you know getting those unique

solutions to the clients making the

benefit from them and stuff and doing

the work all nicely yeah cor you

mentioned guidance could you elaborate

little more on that what what do you

mean by Guidance over

here by Guidance like I don't mean like

one to one guidance I mean like uh a

distributed like group of peoples all

having their own opinions listening to

all of them and then just thinking okay

if this opinion okay this opinion good

or not is this opinion good or not is

this opinion uh you know complimenting

the other one and what is good and what

is bad for me and then understanding and

then going from there and that was like

the biggest thing that I got from the

cad the network that I had and that you

know initially helped me explore devops

explore good full stack um full Stacks

the other Stacks like for example M next

and stuff and then go on from there and

yeah that's that's the story and you

mentioned all of the so all of these

conversations were happening on Discord

primarily you talk yeah yeah yeah it was

on Discord yep totally makes sense cool

uh cool man so let's get into your job

Journey now you know um your first

freelancing gig your next freelancing

gig how did you reach the YC companies

how many Hoops did you have to go

through

okay so talking about the first

freelancing gig um initially it was just

a simple website that I had to build

back in March

20123 and this was for your

friend not not for a friend but actually

for a client it was just given me by

someone very close to

me uh it's like he he knew that I was

into this thing and he asked me okay he

he's also actually a soft not sof but a

cyber security specialist probably I'm

not sure what's his position there but

he's working

right now remotely so it was given by

him and I thought that yeah this is

probably first freelancing thing that I

had and talking about like how got I how

I got into YC company it was like

through a lot of Hoops to be honest and

it was again there is always a luck

Factor honestly there's always a luck

factor to be honest and how it happened

was um for the YC company for the first

YC company um I got a Twitter DM

um the founder loved my

website and you know kind of initially

dm' me that if you're up for Gig or not

if you're up and if you're able to do it

and if you're able to like we will have

our interview and stuff if you're able

to clear it there is something good for

you there so it's like okay I'll do it

I'll pick it up uh I got that work he

said

okay if you're able to do any of them

you're good to

go so I basically like first first first

three or four days may I fixed their

whole deployment stuff I added a bunch

of features I basically uh you know

Undead Undead like Undead the whole

application that was like de two years

ago and got it up and running uh fixed a

lot of stuff added a lot of stuff made

sure the things are working got the

deployment up and running wrote the CSD

pipelines and stuff so they were very

impressed because the amount of growth

and the amount of work that I did in the

the that short span they initially had

just one call with me and after that

they were like okay once you this your

call if you want to start right now with

us and you want to pursue this thing the

whole gig cuz that's going to be

there or you what you can do is you can

just probably build finish this off once

and join us so I initially said okay if

I'm going to be two timing on both of

things it's it's not going to play well

for me right CU I won't be able to give

100% of both of them so it's better if I

complete that first and then I will join

you and he was like okay fine I'll agree

now it was around this was for a double

digit La figure um the first offer so

what happened is there was yeah annually

double digit La figure so and what

happened was for the like recently what

happened was I was just building the

service and we figured out we got to

know that the API that we are

integrating for like you know shaping

out the whole service doesn't provide us

the value that we need them to provide

us it's not up to the Mark it's not

going to do the job so I need to do

something sneaky to get the thing done

and I probably like did it for like two

or three websites um I don't know

some so I got it done and they were like

hell impressed and they said okay we

will hire you and you will get the work

done so it's not in the more like

freelance thing you will get hired hire

and then you can get the work

going and we'll just pay you like as we

playing in the freelancing thing Zia so

we'll just pay you there I'm not going

to reveal any income thing but yeah it's

Tic Tac so we'll do that and then yeah

so this is the first company you said

just the first YC company okay so to

kick things off you said they reached

out to you I would love to know what

made them reach out to

you I don't know I I just said it's fact

that the founder initially out of the

blue dm' me and Twitter he said he loved

my website wanted see wanted is just

like a portfolio website v. V

tech tech all right I'll check it out

afterwards okay but how did he come to

know about your website were you

Tweeting your project your website you

were okay makes sense okay actually what

I did what I do is I I I kind of you

know

um in Twitter you know what works if if

you do if you tweet something very um

catchy or stuff in the first headline

it's just going to be going viral so I

used to do this and I and my all the

tweets just went around like 5 to 10K

every tweet is going more than that so I

was just doing it and I had my portfolio

up in the thing initially the the main

idea for the Twitter posting was to just

gain a lot of followers not to show off

my projects CU nobody gives

a peep about it and they just care just

care about the source they're getting so

I just did that and I was lucky enough

that he did that checked it out and dm'

me right if you a free for a gig or not

and yeah just one more thing I actually

used to pay post a little about my own

freelancing thing and the clients and

how happy they are and stuff so probably

that is all that is what maybe he saw

and DED me for this thing and he said

that yeah if you're able to do this if

you're able to do the job cuz it was

like

mostly it was very tough on their part

probably because they don't have any

staffing there um the thing was the

project was of a friend of the founders

and he was working on it two years ago

but initially he discarded and moved on

so he wanted that to be backed up and

get it up and running so that's why he

was founding some guys but initially

they did hire someone's didn't did the

job didn't like you know met what didn't

met the expectations but like when they

hired me I met the expectations like

within three or four days so yeah that

was good go so it's a 2-year-old ycb

startup or maybe even older and the code

was just not no YC startup is like a

good one uh it's called travel

arrow.io the project that I'm working on

is of his friends um it's called concert

cal.com

right and and yeah so I I have got an

offer letter from the Tav itself and

they have said K okay bro you have got

an offer from us and it was initially a

pro of hours only but we discarded it so

just work on that okay now you were just

working on that so just work on that and

I'll hire you and just get the things

okay so tell me if this is right you got

approached by the friend of a VC

company founder of a y company founder

of a y company to work for his friends

startup is that right friends okay so

you overperformed there and then the YC

founder itself said you can join us as

well makes sense and then there was a

conflict so he said let me finish things

off there and then I will join you full

time that makes a lot of sense okay

great how that makes sense you know ad

Haw you got reached out by someone my

friend needs help us when there are a

lot of people trying out startups you

overperformed there so then that guy was

like work with us makes sense so what

does the teex stack look like there and

how proficient were you at before that

maybe so this other company it's like

very archaic code based you've just seen

it for the first time and you you're

just fixing everything left right and

Center engineer who has there's like

some code that's written years ago and

it's your job to bring it up is that the

case y That's exactly the case got it

makes sense and travel Arrow the company

that you're now getting employed at

fulltime um you've not worked there at

all they've just hired you based on your

skills yeah okay so what does the text

tack over there look like what does

travel Arrow do what's your day to-day

going to look like do you know

already yeah I do so the text tack in

travel arrow and like I'm I have not

given I have not been given the access

to the code base right now because I

haven't signed off a letter yet uh I'll

do it very soon um actually like say you

about that right you already know all of

the source so yeah so about that and uh

what does travel out does is basically

like let's say um you go and look a

flight using Google flights it's just

more user entric so if you go and just

search about a flight there or a hotel

or anything that's you know concerns

your travel and if there is any other

service that has the same Hotel on the

same date for something cheaper it will

just recommend you automatically okay we

have this for this amount cheaper you

want to go there and if you do you will

get some cash back you'll get some

benefits you will get some great points

and in return they also make some money

so that's the basic idea of how travel

works and they have a lot

like to quoting they have around like

three lakh people's user base as of now

and they're doing pretty fine now travel

arrow is like the founder has two

companies with card lift and travel

arrow travel Aro like was making bunch

of money so I don't think so like that's

probably the reason they didn't needed

any accelerator or stuff to initially

back them up but the with card lift is a

v company uh is a VC based company and

that needed the acceleration and stuff

so that's why they applied and they got

it so like if I'm hired by travel Arrow

I have to probably work on with card LIF

2 on travel Arrow 2 or probably in

concert Cal afterwards too so I'm going

to be like jumping around I don't know

go it so founder has a friend whose

company you worked at and the founder

itself has two companies one of the

companies is VCB you'll be working at

one of them okay makes sense cool man um

what's your primary Tech stack uh what

language do you code in what are you

very really proficient

in really proficient uh I would say like

really proficient in like JS of course

and TS uh primary text tag is um next J

initially it used to be M but yeah

initially I thought like next year I

kind of fell in love with it CU I didn't

wanted to write those react routers

stuff again so that's why I was like

okay next year is good I'll just use

this and like talking about which

language I'm professionally like talking

about the back end wise I would say like

I'm more confident in not JS but I'm

thinking of switching to goang very soon

and yeah I'm on the journey right now to

do that but yeah very cool and you

mentioned you built a bunch of cicd

pipelines do you know devops well or was

this Prett ad hoc you somehow

just brought things you're the one who I

have to give the credit for that you

have to

what you are the one who I will give

credit for that for teaching me that for

cicd pipelines and stuff for you know

getting more proficient in devops for uh

getting more proficient in deployments

cuz initially let's say I I didn't had

that much money before so of course I

don't have even a CR card and neither

that like neither did I had that much of

um you know curiosity to go and explore

deop s now cuz I was much into

development and all of the clients were

own handling their own development stuff

they didn't ask me to do it so I I

that's why I didn't explore that thing

that option earlier and even the

deployment that I was asked to work on

the concert Cal was one of the most most

major ones and had zero knowledge about

AWS I didn't even know how to spin up a

ec2 and log into it SS into it so so it

it it was a good journey of 3 days and

initially like your video um P G's video

and all of that helped me a lot and

initially the Cs palan I think you

taught it just in one of the classes

right there's a CSD palan class and that

initially helped me to build it own my

own and get it done and running if

someone wants to learn programming right

now um you know in a very job Centric

manner they want to get a job at YC a

very any YC back startup or generally

any startup for you know double digit

lack param as you said be it college or

otherwise I think double digitom like

lack perom is not at all bad as your

initial offer to I would love to know

you know if you could give them a road

map let's say it's a complete beginner

um what would you suggest to learn what

technologies how should they learn them

and you know how quickly can they reach

their first

offer okay so I I think if you're just

starting out from this beginning if you

have not done anything at all just go

and first of all see what you can make

as fast as possible now for everyone

it's just like web development yeah you

can get it up and running and share it

with bunch of friends very quickly but

in case of like uh OS thing let's

suppose you build something for Windows

an app using electron or a mobile app

it's much harder to get it circulated to

some users or someone you know or

probably use it daily base right in that

case I'll say that you go and just have

a kink of how web delint works because

it actually teaches you a lot of

fundamentals that are needed for any

kind of development at the end you are

going to be building you if you're just

going to be like forward for front end

Centric you're going to have to jump a

lot of stacks but if you are in like if

you're going to go for the back end I

think if you have very good knowledge

let's say you do web development and you

get a very good knowledge of back end

you can utilize this anywhere possible

whether it be like Os Os app development

web mobile anything now if you're

starting from beginning go and get a

like just first of all learn any

language Let Let It Be Like Java um just

pick up the easy ones don't go for like

rust goang cuz this is just going to

miss with your head as start so just go

and pick up a easy one I'll just set

python or C is C is a very good one for

building up the foundation or Java you

can pick any of this three go in from

there build out some basic application

see how this thing works build out some

guy application see how those thing

works and how those things plays out and

if you're interested in any of them

let's say you like python right now you

can move forward okay what are the

things what are the other things that

you can use Python to you know kind of

um use it for other things like build

out um web applications apis anything

like that go out explore the stuff first

thing you first first and last advice

would be like you know just to

never like you know give out that uh

leave that Curiosity that you have

inside of yourself for anything just

could be curious enough go and explore

anything possible anything whether it be

web whether B whether be web 3 anything

possible at last you have to you know

kind of you will get that King that

you're okay this is something that I'm

good at this is something that you know

kind of paying me a lot of money at this

time and probably this can you know help

me get out of my situation whatever

situation you are in and probably do

something good so yeah now talking about

the road if you want to do get a first

of all get a good programing language

that you love and of course you're not

going to get it because you're going to

hit it at first but you'll get you will

you will develop that love for that as

you go and as you master then go on do

web development the the reason that I

suggested this much easier for you to

test and get circulated that's why I

suggest is totally up to you if you are

more interested in mile dub moile du you

can just go for react native and yeah

one more plus more point is yeah of

course if you learn react or devopment

you can use the same logic that you have

in the react native to and build it if

you want to you know kind of go into

Mobile Dev you can go for flutter Swift

reactnative any of that if you want to

it's totally the whole idea is like

endless there endless number of

implementations at equ and endless

number of paths that you can take it's

totally up to you it's totally up to

your curiosity it's totally up to your

um

you know uh the level of love that you

have for the thing just make sure that

you don't lose that uh curiosity inside

of yourself and also General like

develop a kind of a Love or attraction

for that as you go on because of course

this is going to be a long-term thing

it's not going to it's not it's not a

short-term thing some of the peop like

get something in like very short term

and like luck played a lot in this part

in my journey I think God luck and my

family played a lot major role in that I

am not the one who's going to be taking

crade for any of this yeah I worked hard

but I think there is someone up there

who thinking okay this this is time to

reward me something but yeah if you're

going through a heart phase or anything

like that just know that if you are in

this thing long term there's a lot of

opportunities waiting for you wow that's

super cool super super cool um

interesting

uh so that makes a lot of sense for

learning um could you elaborate a bit on

how can you you create a little bit of

luck so that Founders can reach out or

you can reach out to Founders what

should one do if they have built a few

projects have decent amount of skills

other than luck is there something you

can

do yes you can do it's to just create

opportunities if you don't get

it how do I did I I did it for I did it

on one like you know there was one

incident I did it uh there there is uh I

I was interning at end bed startup and

it just ended today itself so what

happened was I just went around the

website and do something good and I can

build out something nice looking for

them so I directly dm' the founder I

said okay this your website is looking

good but I can probably like do

something more good with this thing and

build out something that you will

probably like and this is totally for

free but if I do this I want to make I

want to just you know kind of uh have

any kind of opportunity that you have in

your company and get me hired by

interview anything so he was like I was

very lucky enough he had a design

prepared at that moment of time he just

got a design prep prepared and he said

okay give it a shot I'll give you some a

little amount of money and you have like

2 days for doing this within 7 hours I

contacted back him again with the

landing page and he was very impressed

with it and he said okay bro done next

nice so this is something that you can

do is to be always like see there there

is always someone who's going to be

taking who's who's ready to take your

opportunity you have to be fast when you

get it you have to be very focused and

you have to create it yourself and you

don't get it makes a lot of sense um

last two questions for you

do you do DSA what's the importance of

DSA and what do you think is the

importance of English um in your whole

journey okay um DS of course it's

important the reason why I say so is

like I will just point out like two

important things why DS is important

first of all it helps you like you know

the most General answer that you'll get

from anyone is to develop your problem

thinking solute like the problem

thinking ability of yours and that's

true for the most part second thing is

of course it helps you like all of the

Big Top tire companies for if you go if

you're aiming from Fang or mang like

that if of course they're going to ask

TSA and that's the initial um filtering

out criteria that they have and the

initial technical La this is going to

ask for DS and then they move forward if

you're interning for not interning if

you're interviewing for like sd2 sd3

probably they will ask have some system

Design Round and stuff but for I think

for fresher s interns I think mostly

what they focus on was on DC only

correct me if I'm wrong but yeah that's

what I've heard for that if you're

aiming for that if you're aiming for big

things for sure go for that for sure go

for DSA and talking about English um

honestly like of course English is going

to be the most important um like if if

you know a bunch of things and if you

don't know how to communicate it to the

next person I don't think so it's of any

use if you know a bunch of things and

probably can get his startup scale to a

million dollars if you are not able to

communicate who your idea and your

solutions to him it's of no use what I

did for like improving my English was I

was very lucky enough again uh I I got a

English teaching class like I I was a

Twitter and I was teaching a young boy

he was from like he is from like Class 2

so I twed him and that helped me like

you know kind of flourish and like be

fluent on my own English and yeah this

this this was a very lucky factor of me

but yeah just try to make sure that

you're very fluent on English even if

you do little grammatical mistakes which

I of course do also but yeah you you

have to make sure that you fluent on

most of the Parts cuz this is going to

be the one who's going to be like you

know um making you stand out of the

crowd for most of the part for most of

the time and have a good accent because

sometimes they do like

accents cool man U I think it's getting

pretty late here the dogs on your street

are also complaining we should call it

that's it guys uh that's all we had for

this one I'll see you guys in the next

one bye-bye