Believing in Destiny, Created by Hard Work
Since childhood we’re told that Hard Work is the key to success. With or without believing it, at some point in life we did work hard to achieve our personal goal. While sometimes it gives the result we want and we savour the achievement, at other times we fail and it hits us hard. The sorrow of not making it is always greater than the joy of making it for the same amount of effort put into any work.
Failing despite putting in a lot of effort makes us wonder whether hard work can really change what is in our Destiny ? Maybe we can keep on expending ourselves to our conducive level of comfort and reap the fruits of life predefined for us ? While it may be interesting to ponder upon such things in a pensive mood, I, like many others believe only in what I see and experience.
Although, recently, certain series of events in the past two years of my life shook my beliefs and maybe led to a new level of perceptive understanding about the relationship of hard work and destiny in one’s life.
I have the privilege to be studying Computer Science at one of the finest engineering colleges in India. Despite the intense competition for scoring the highest grade point in college, I departed from the herd mentality and immersed myself in the thrilling and dynamic world of technology. I put in a lot of hours into making exciting little projects and participating in hackathons. I got a good reputation for my skill and an impressive CV after winning said hackathons. I was one of the most well rounded techies in the college. Then came internship season ( In India, companies come to campus to conduct interviews and offer internships ) and I could not be more excited about my prospects of cracking Google, Microsoft, Uber and the likes !!!
I made the final interview rounds of some great companies like Microsoft but did not get hired. Eventually, I got placed in a pretty decent company ( Fortune 500 ) but I wasn’t satisfied. A few people with great GPAs but no programming skills got placed at better companies. I believed my years of hard work in college was now a waste and the time spent making projects could have been spent on studying to get a better GPA. A little disheartened, I reached Bangalore, India next year for my internship.
This company had a really relaxed work environment. They always had completely stocked refrigerators with juices and also coffee and snacks. Add to that massage chairs, a gym and gaming rooms, life was really comfortable. Even the project I received was a piece of cake. I finished a project for which I had 9 weeks in 2 weeks. Now what to do with the remaining time ?
Rather than cruising through the never ending selection of Netflix series at work, I decided to work on my programming skills harder than before. Luckily my flatmates were great programmers and I learnt a great deal from them. I participated in more difficult hackathons than I ever had before and hence increased my mastery over coding. After an amazing few months I came back home and it was time for the placement season ( Companies come for hiring to campus ).
This time I applied to select companies which were top notch. None which would not pacify my inner desires. I got the chance to interview for Cure.Fit, one of the fastest growing start-ups in the country. I sailed through their interview rounds which are considered one of the hardest in the industry. Finally I got an offer from them. Their CTC ( Cost to company ) and/or Base salary are higher than a lot of great companies. After this entire sequence of events, I couldn’t help but wonder.
Was it my destiny to fail initially, work harder, and eventually reach a place better than what I wanted ? Or the incidental hard work helped my case ?
I now realise that maybe, the answer is not that simple. Working at your normal pace will get you the pleasures destiny has planned for you. But, when you work harder and continue working hard despite the outcome, destiny charts a more rewarding course for you which will now or in the future reap bigger fruits.
