This story is being prepared
Saaid had attended fifteen days of CCNA classes when he walked into his first networking interview. He could not answer most of what they asked him.
What he told them instead was that he would learn it. They hired him anyway, into the company’s first-ever batch of freshers.
What the full story covers
Before that came six months of unemployment in Bangalore, arriving in May and getting the offer in December, in the final month before his accommodation ran out. “I was telling my friends that I am going home, I am tired.”
He is unusually direct about what employers actually look for:
“The companies, they are just looking for a skill. They don’t need your degree. They don’t care about that.”
The larger part of the story is what he did with the lockdown. Remote work let him come home to Kashmir, and he spent roughly a year and a half rebuilding his foundations (CCNA, CCNP, and the security tracks) at Techboxx. He describes the pandemic, without irony, as having been favourable to him.
What came out of it was a set of offers, and a negotiation he had not expected to be in a position to have.
He also has a lot to say about something that isn’t on any syllabus: that in his first job it was his ability to communicate, and to write a clear email, that kept him afloat while he caught up technically.
While you wait
Saaid’s full story will be published on this page. In the meantime, you can read Mubaid’s story, a conversation about rejection, direction, and what happens when somebody finally tells you the right thing at the right time.
