A Hyderabadi guy overcomes obstacles in his job by upskilling in data science

Rakesh, a 30-year-old data administrator working for a private business, has a common experience with many Indian early-career professionals. He happened upon a chance to upskill, which enabled him to make a big professional move. Rakesh was raised by a single mother who sold vegetables to pay for her two children’s schooling. She was born and reared in Hyderabad. Rakesh attended a private school and received a government scholarship to complete his BTech at Narsimha Reddy Engineering College.

“After passing the EAMCET, I had to pursue an EEE (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) degree even though I had a strong interest in the chemical area. Rakesh said, “I had trouble getting a job after I graduated since I had no references from the recruiting organizations.

He began taking tuition and doing other part-time jobs to assist his mother and younger sister since he had no one to mentor him on his professional path. He also made fruitless attempts to get a few government positions. He secured his first corporate position at a computer business in 2015, but the pay was not sufficient to support him. Following many job changes and skill development, he was hired by a major IT service provider. Rakesh earned somewhere between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 but had some difficulties learning about the business sector. Just when everything seemed to be coming together in 2022, a slew of regrettable incidents occurred.

It was a business engaged in the field of education. They were creating an application for schoolchildren that acted as a one-stop shop. Three times my former income, or Rs 35,000, was what they proposed to pay me. I was unable to see that this was all a test because I was too consumed with the prospect of landing a better-paying job. When they opened the app, they had no idea what they would do. I was only paid for three of the six months I worked there. Additionally, they failed to provide me a letter of release, thus these six months appeared as a gap on my résumé.

Rakesh was able to get employment at Cognizant after this, where he worked for four years. He learned about data analysis while working in product quality management. Despite the vastness of the area and his limited expertise, he had a strong curiosity for it. Just four days before he was scheduled to start work, he was rejected an offer letter due to a failed background check on his dream project, which had been transferred to another massive IT services company. Rakesh chose to persevere despite his mounting student loans and lack of income and continued to provide for his family by working as an Uber driver and taking part-time classes.

He made the decision to further his education in 2023 and enrolled in a data science course at Newton School in February of that year. He was hired as a data analyst at AATPL exactly a year later, receiving a 30% pay raise from his previous position.

I looked at other schools as well, but Newton was the only one who would listen to me and could relate to my difficulties. They also let me to pay my tuition in installments of Rs 5,762. I studied data science for a whole year, picking up Python, PowerBI, and SQL. I’ve only been able to master the fundamentals of Python so far, but if I put in the effort, I can even learn more complex concepts,” he remarked.

Rakesh informed CE that he is 40% yes and 60% no in response to the question of whether he feels threatened by the young people who are learning these ideas at the college level. This is because he also has more than six years of experience managing a team in a corporate environment. My ability to support myself in the corporate sector is a benefit.