#5 The 6 PM Story - Part II

“A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, & a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do”

― Osho?

Today is not an ordinary day. From the morning itself, a lot of strange things happened to me. Let's start from the start. So, my 4th semester just finished, and now it's summer vacation. Some companies are hiring for my batch, the class of 2026, but it's all off-campus. If you know anything about off-campus hiring, you know it's super tough. But hey, we love a good challenge, right?

Rule number one: don’t just talk, act. Following this rule, I talked with some of my mentors about what to focus on. One of them is my senior, Abhinav Bhaiya. I've mentioned him in one of my newsletters. He told me to do a project in Machine Learning and sent me some resources. So, I decided to dive into ML during these vacations and also started applying for intern openings for my batch. But guess what? In off-campus hiring, you apply today and get a response tomorrow. And what’s the response? Rejection. That’s when I thought, “Itne se kuch nhi ho paega” I need to do more, not just in technical skills but in soft skills too.

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As you know I’m really fond of books, though. This semester, I was mostly working on my technical skills, so I didn't have much time to read. But I still managed to read a few. Some of them are "I Don’t Love You Anymore" by Rithvik Singh, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" by John Gray, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. Now you know my taste in books. So, tell me, what's your favourite one?

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So, I was on realization. After figuring out how tough it is to stand out with your resume, no matter what skills you have or what amazing projects you've done, there's still a slim chance your resume gets shortlisted, especially for FAANG companies. So, I started reaching out to people on LinkedIn and sending cold emails. At first, I got zero responses, but I kept learning and, luckily, a few people started replying.

If you want, I can share some of the cold emails that got responses with you—just DM me. They’re a treasure, and I can’t share them here. I crafted them very carefully over a month. So, I started getting a few responses, but it was still really hard to turn those replies into referrals. Most people who replied asked me basic questions like how my skills align with the job and why I’m a good fit.

Among those who replied, I found one really amazing guy. I can’t disclose his name, but he's from Salesforce. After a few Q&A sessions, he gave me a referral with some great advice that I want to share with you. These are his exact words:

“Done. Good? luck!

My suggestion to you is to go for mid-sized startups where work-life balance is not that toxic, as learning is usually better than in big MNCs. Since you are starting your career, try to go for companies with microservices and open-source tech stacks.”

I took his advice. He’s an amazing guy. If you’re wondering what happened with the application, it’s been almost five days and I haven’t heard back yet. But let's see what’s next in this journey.

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Now let's talk about today. But wait, let me tell you a bit about the day before yesterday first. So, that day I applied for an internship at Microsoft and also sent some cold emails to people at Microsoft. Unfortunately, no one replied, and the next day (which was yesterday), I got a rejection email. It was quite disheartening, but okay, it's just one more step towards my dream.

Now, back to today. I opened my mail and saw that an amazing person replied, saying, "Hi Robin, I have seen your resume and your coding profiles. I feel these are good enough to have an interview at Microsoft. Give me a few details like your name, email, phone number, and resume in PDF." I sent them immediately, and after a few minutes, I received a mail from Microsoft saying, "Hi Robin, your name and contact information were sent to us by 'that amazing person' (I can’t disclose their name) who thinks you’d be a great fit for the open job at Microsoft."

I was very happy, but wait... yesterday, I got a rejection email for the same job application. What does it mean?? I already got rejected for the job I got a referral for after so much effort and hard work. Honestly, I don’t know the answer. If you know, please comment and let me know.

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So it's 6:00 o'clock. I was doing some LeetCode after watching the fantastic movie "Chandu Champion." If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for? You should watch it—your two hours will be completely worth it. It's a beautiful evening. The rain has just stopped, and I'm sitting in the veranda. It's open, and the yellowish sunlight is spread everywhere, making it warm and beautiful. You can imagine the view after the rain—the crystal clear sky. This beautiful evening reminds me of one day exactly a year back, the same evening when our sections changed. I was very unhappy that evening, but today I am proud of myself and happy. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, my friend, you have missed a very beautiful and adventurous story. So go and read "The 6:00 Story Part I" first, then come back here.

Suddenly, my phone starts bombarding with text messages on WhatsApp. I don’t like to be disturbed when I’m working or writing because it ruins the mood. You have to live in that memory to write about it. But what can I do now? Let me just check what's going on on WhatsApp and who is sending messages so fast. I'll be right back...

Do you believe in magic? Because magic just happened to me. "Aaj samay khud ho doraha rha hai but in a different manner." The message is another list of new sections, and this time I got... B2! The journey from E2 to B2 is phenomenal, and tell me tell you that in total there are 26 section in my batch. After seeing this, I was so happy that I just saw it and, without even replying to my friends, came here to write about it. This is the perfect time to write. Hard work pays off. If you read my last newsletter where I wrote about the start of this journey, then only you can relate. I am very happy that I got an upper section. Now I can discuss projects with the teachers I always wanted to work with. This evening is really beautiful.

But, as always, it's a rule of the universe that everything has a cost. And this time, the cost is the beautiful people in my section E2—very amazing people. Now we'll only meet in corridors, not in classrooms. All my friends' sections changed this time too. None of us are in the same section. Ayush is still in A1 because there is no section higher than A1. Gaurav moved to B1 from C1. Mayank went to C1 from D1, and Deepanshu got into D1 from F1. But fortunately, Himanshu and I are in the same section i.e. B2. We all are promoted, we all are very happy and ready for more hustle, more momos, more short trips to Deem campus and Buddha Temple and more crowded bus rides. And this time, one more person is added to the story. I will share more about her in the next newsletter. Her? Yes, her. :)

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All the hard work I've done is flashing before my eyes—those late-night rides on crowded buses, those quiet evenings in the library, reading books on the bus, listening to countless podcasts. Believe me, when you really work hard, things eventually fall into place. This might not be a huge achievement, but we should enjoy the small wins because they add up to something big. My mom always says, “Boond boond se sagar bharta hai,” and it's completely true.

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There's also a beautiful story I want to share with you my dear friend—a story about how I met her, a story of me and her in those crowded buses and autos, and definitely some lessons from this story as well. I am very excited to share it with you, but this newsletter has already become too lengthy. So, I’ll write about this story in Part III. Till then, stay tuned and enjoy the journey.

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A beautiful quote I read –

Take hold of your own life. See that the whole existence is celebrating. These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious. The rivers and the oceans are wild, and everywhere there is fun, everywhere there is joy and delight. Watch existence, add little dance to it, add little music to it, add little poetry to it, listen to the existence and become part of it.

---- Osho

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Stay tuned and enjoy the journey : )

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-- Robin Rathore