With the fire of desire within me I embarked on a journey to crack NEET 2022 but ended the year as a computer science student. This transformation was not by compulsion but by choice.

I was a student who refrained to study computer science because my lack of knowledge of computers pushed me to fear the same. The first seven months of the year were spent preparing for NEET. The medical aspirant within me persuaded me to work relentlessly to crack the exam. July 17, 2022, the day of the NEET exam did fetch me great results enabling me to get a medical seat. Never had imagined then that something else was preplanned for me. The aspiring doctor is in love with tech.

The holiday season that started after the NEET exam was a turning point in my life. Sitting with my laptop, gaping at the screen, typing a little bit and learning something new. This activity that started just to kill time eventually helped me figure out my niche which was to delve into the world of computer science.

I had the opportunity to either choose to be an engineer or lose it for the sake of my past dreams. I had invested two precious years of my life to prepare for NEET and had increased the expectations of my family to see their daughter as a doctor. The most perplexing situation I had ever experienced. I had two options to choose which were either to become a doctor or an engineer at the cost of losing one of them. Sunk cost fallacy which means to continue to invest just because one had invested in something previously. Well, I decided to break that chain to start investing in what I am truly passionate about which was to be an engineer.

My passion

Learning something new is always fascinating for me. The day I started learning HTML on my brother's compulsion just encouraged me to explore more of everything related to computers. From HTML to web development and then to java and python programming which in turn helped me take a big leap into the DevOps and ML world. My journey has been an exciting one. As I continue to learn more it was all possible because I like what I do. When a person enjoys what he/she does that is when that person is always encouraged to never give up. That is what happened with me. I decided to learn and grow by neither considering a bug to be too big to solve nor believing a task to be too daunting to complete. Today I am an aspiring software developer in my first year of BTech trying to learn various programming languages like java, python, javascript and go and also exploring technologies related to web development, DevOps, machine learning and a lot more. YouTube has become a friend of mine, it is a teacher who is always there for help thanks to all the YouTubers. At school getting a rank 1, and getting good results meant happiness. But now the process of learning itself is an elixir of joy for me.

My biggest mistake

Running a rat race to crack the NEET exam without pausing a moment to try to acknowledge my fields of interest was the biggest mistake I have ever made. I never attempted to come out of my comfort zone to explore the best. According to me whatever I saw was the best. I failed to know my true potential and continued to blindly move in a path advised by others. It came with the cost of me uselessly spending many years preparing for examinations that served no purpose.

What did I learn?

Take wise decisions in time. I realised how important it is to spend time to take the right decision before starting to do anything. Never confine my dreams and aspirations but allow myself to dream big irrespective of my present situation. I realised that my present does not tell everything about my future. I am the creator of my future. My past is my teacher to guide my present actions for a better future. Noting is impossible. Even a person with hardly any knowledge of computers can aspire one day to become a software developer or anything that he/she aspires for. "The master arrives when the student is ready". I can learn anything only if I wish to. Thus I have to be a student hungry to learn more.

Conclusion

2022 was a life-changing year. A lot of ups and downs yet I stand strong to achieve my goals to explore more, learn better and grow as a better learner.

Thank you