The journey from a boring MNC to India’s hottest startup

This story is continuation of my previous blog , Why a programming enthusiast or techie should not start his career in a service based MNC.

Life had become so boring , resignation was around the corner. I had to quit. I knew where to go , there were plenty of start ups in and around Chennai ( where I was working ). But the only thing I did not know was how.

I started browsing through all the start ups in Chennai. Freshdesk ( Place I’m working now) easily caught my eyes. I had already heard plenty about Freshdesk from colleagues in my company. And once I went through the Glassdoor reviews , Freshdesk suddenly became my dream work place.

I had already sent applications to almost all start ups in Chennai including Freshdesk were job vacancy was available. To my dismay all I got from most of these places was an automated mail thanking me for the application. Life became more desperate , I woke up every morning cursing myself for the work I am doing.

I knew I was doing job search the wrong way. The one most important fact I realised during the cumbersome job search — You need to show others what you can do , just writing a list of technologies on resume just won’t work. The first thing I did was stop spamming different inboxes with my useless resume. Next plan was to build a powerful resume. By this time I had sent resume to Freshdesk five or six times , and my inbox had same number of automated mails from Freshdesk.

As I mentioned earlier I love to work with the Front End. And I knew I was not good enough for Freshdesk standards. What followed was long nights of caffeine and coding. I made a decent Github profile for myself , updated Linkedin and designed a portfolio website. I read a lot during the free time at office hours ( well, I had plenty ) .

Then it was spamming time again , but with a better resume. This time within a day or two I got two calls from start ups . I passed the online rounds and was waiting for a date for formal interview. Still no luck , no call from Freshdesk.

I concluded that I was not good enough for Frehsdesk , and I had to move on. That evening I was doing the routine browsing at office , and my phone rang. I picked up , and the moment I heard the name Freshdesk , my heart skipped a beat. It was like getting the first text from your long time crush in the college. I stuttered in the beginning , then held the nerves together and completed the call. Things happened fast. I had to attend interview the very next day. That was a sleepless night.

What followed was one of the most important days of my life yet. Interview started at around 11 and after many rounds , tasks and talks by five in the evening the good news came. I’m usually a cool person , but in that 20–30 minutes waiting for the HR in the small corner room I had no nails left on my fingers , and like Will Smith said , that small part which followed is called happiness. That moment your long time crush says ‘ I love you ‘ to you.

At Freshdesk you make friends , not collegues. You find happiness at work , and the culture cant get any better.

Now , here I am still continuing the journey , coding happily every single day.