code7 min read
Balancing Code & College: Carving My Path in Data Science as Life Changed
I am an Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) graduate. When it came to jobs, as an ECE student, I had two options — I could either go for an electronics job like VLSI or chip design, or opt for a software job. I chose software as the word implies better opportunities and a ‘posh’ life as seen in the movies. But there was a time during my B.Tech days when I needed to choose either FullStack or data science for a minor college course. I went through a lot of research and decided on data science. Advice started to pop up around me, things like, “Data science? Are you serious? It’s not for freshers, bro; just do FullStack like us”. But my inner intent and interest veered towards data science. I was lucky that my parents supported my choice and encouraged me. And guess what! All my hard work and my mom’s prayers came true, as I landed an internship with Factly in my seventh semester; I joined as a full-timer in my final semester. While my friends were busy working on assignments and searching for jobs, I was occupied with office work and related deadlines. Everyone had questions about how I joined as a full-timer while in college: How did I manage both? How did I get permission? What about the offer letter? My college principal allowed me to take up the job on one condition — I had to go to college every Saturday, and finish my projects and assignments on time. I thought it was a fair condition and since I anyway had no choice, I accepted. While my college and office are in Hyderabad, they are in different locations, with the office being in Kukatpally and the college in remote Shamshabad. I had to rush to college on Saturdays just for attendance, and scramble to the office on weekdays. In theory, the idea of earning while in college seems great. But the real-time pressure of meeting deadlines both in my college projects and at work every day was stressful. Since childhood, I was put up in hostels, meaning I never had to commute to school or college. But now, I found myself having to travel five days a week to the office, then to college on Saturdays, and finally return to someplace near work on Sunday, so I could make it to work on time on Monday morning. So, even Sundays were not devoid of stress. There were times when I felt like giving it all up and just going away on road trips, which I had no time for back then. It’s unfortunate, but my predicament at the time proved the saying, ‘You can’t have time to enjoy and money both at the same time’. For every B.Tech student, college life is more memorable than any other time of their lives, but for me, my entire first year disappeared into the COVID-19-induced lockdown, while by my final year, I was a working man. I only have two years of B.Tech memories, which made me feel like I was not as lucky as those who enjoyed their full four years of B.Tech. But I should say that those two years gave me lots of nice memories. My roommates and classmates were from different courses, so I had opportunities to have fun times with two sets of people. I still remember those days of roaming around Hyderabad — late-night walks, birthday celebrations, friends’ love stories, one-day batting for semester exams, and betting apps (where I lost money, which taught me a good lesson). All these ever-lasting memories became my sources of comfort during that gruelling year when I was shuttling between office and college. But somehow, the days passed and I completed my semester exams. My friends moved to different cities for their careers and I started to focus on office work. Write on Medium My work at Factly is to collect data from different sources and convert it to clean, structured datasets, which you can find at our in-house portal, Dataful. Since Factly is a young company, each member of the team performs multiple tasks instead of being laser-focused on just one repetitive task. As for me, I was building complex databases by scraping data and updating the existing libraries. I have recently also gotten into LLMs. We integrated our cleaned data into LLMs and created a unique product named Tagore AI, where we can ask questions related to government data and get the relevant answers. Tagore is unlike other chatbots and GPTs (ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, etc.) as these work on data collected from all possible sources, including ones that may contain misinformation. But we only collect data from trusted government sources, making Tagore your best bet for vetted data and information. But to return to my routine, I found myself stuck in the same loop of work–office–home and back. And because we spend more time with our colleagues than with our families, the friends we make at work either become our best friends or our worst enemies. Luckily for me, at Factly, we went the friend route! In the beginning, I felt like my colleagues didn’t match my Gen Z vibe, but as time passed, they became my close friends. On Friday, a message pops up with a WhatsApp poll to choose between badminton and cricket. We mostly choose badminton like we are pros at the game (while no one actually is). After badminton, we roam around Hyderabad at night hungrily, in search of good food. We eat, tease each other, discuss office gossip and go home safely. We also have ‘official’ fun with our month-end Friday events, where we play games, eat delicious food and have team discussions. During the annual Secret Santa celebration, everyone needed to guess who gave them their gift, and many people guessed that I was their Santa, which led to a hilarious situation where I found myself as the centre of attention! Our office lunch breaks are practically mini stand-up comedy sessions. All this brought us close together, making us realise that we are friends and not just colleagues. Laughter became our secret weapon against the chaos of coding. Of course, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. We dealt with difficult web scrapers that sometimes broke, cleaned up messy data that felt impossible, and built seriously complicated databases. As for working with LLMs, I sometimes wonder how I conquered those digital dragons. Many believe anyone can do a techie’s job, assuming we just copy-paste from ChatGPT. Of course, we use ChatGPT, but its response doesn’t always fit our needs. At these times, we need to go through the documentation pages of the respective libraries and seek what we need by ourselves. We then write our own code, which non-tech people cannot do. Afterall, we develop technologies to finish our work efficiently, so what’s the point of not using it and slogging for the sake of slogging? If I still don’t find a solution, I ask my team, having realised that asking for help is a superpower, not a weakness. What I’m essentially saying is that contrary to popular belief, software jobs aren’t just endless deadlines, stressful work and tears. You can have fun and find your work–life balance if you choose to look for them. In fact, let me share a pro-tip for this: When you’re stuck on a bug, take a break, crack a few jokes, and watch your brain restart like a charm! Apart from working in the office and hanging out with my colleagues after, I love going on road trips with my bike. I recently went to Manali, and it was an incredible experience of just chilling, soaking in the beauty of the place, leaving behind all sense of work and responsibilities for a while. I highly recommend that you do something similar that works for you when you can. Looking back, I realise that every struggle, every doubt and every moment of uncertainty was actually a stepping stone towards my ultimate success. When I chose data science against everyone’s advice, when I balanced a full-time job with college, and when I navigated the complex world of technology, I was not just building a career — I was building myself. Time changes everything. People who once seemed permanent in your life gradually fade away, replaced by new faces, new relationships and new experiences. My college friends moved to different cities, my colleagues became my closest companions, and the environment around me constantly transformed. This is the beauty of life — nothing remains static. So, here are my final words to all you career explorers: Ignore doubters, and believe in your knowledge and your interests. Remember, the best path is often the one you create with your unique approach — and a bit of stubborn determination!
