Getting into IT

While applying for engineering, I had 2 likings: Computer Science and Mechanical; and my board exam results decided that Mechanical was the branch I had to take.

Growing up, I was always amazed by machines. The way every component in a machine aligns itself in synchronous motion in perfect alignment is just fantastic. Like all beautiful artifacts, the design of something like the engine is so simple that it masks the cleverness behind it. 

But after an hour of filing metal in the sweaty Workshop in my college in my first semester, I had already started disliking Mechanical Engineering. 

It was obvious that I wasn't 'cut' out for it. The manual labour in the workshops was one big deterrent and then my shabby drawing skills. Drawing was one reason I didn't take Biology in Plus Two and it was the most appreciated skill in Mech undergrads  with most of the subjects requiring intimate portrayal of machinery and design on paper. 

Also it is prohibitively expensive and hard to build things and experiment. For e.g. you can conceive a design for a highly efficient hybrid engine, but the time and money it will cost you to assemble the parts and then experiment with it doesn't seem worth it.

The air conditioned computer science labs were much more welcoming. A field where everything is abstract, it only requires logical and analytical skills to become good at. You only need a computer to build, test and experiment your design. Also, I loved programming to the extent that some of us from school would write small gaming programs during holidays and compare them.

I was lucky that IT companies were desperate enough to hire from all branches of engineering in the year of 2004.