Looking Back to Look Ahead!

"When the road ahead seems too long, look back to see how far you've come."

A couple of weeks ago I hit a special milestone in my life, I turned 20! As exciting as it was to leave teenage, I slowly started to realize that I'm entering what is called "The Defining Decade". The realization made me reflect on my jouney thus far to prepare for the future ahead.

I'm Divina John and this is my story...

Gliding through the School Years

Right from a young age I was very dedicated and focused. In school I was called many things like "Topper girl", "Teacher's pet" and as much as I hate it... "Nerd". I was awarded as the Academic Achiever for 6 consecutive years and the Overall Outstanding Achiever when I graduated. Most people thought I was lucky but that's far from the truth. I worked incredibly hard, studying till 1am everyday, perfecting every assignment and throrougly preparing for each test.

While academics was important to me, it wasn't my only point of focus. I'm a classically trained Bharatanatyam dancer for 14 years, had lots of fun performing throughout Bangalore. I was the Prefect, went on to become Editor and later Core Student Council member. I played Chess competitively and learnt Ballet, Keyboard & Karate over the course of my school years. So yes, I had a lot of interests and the most supportive parents who encouraged me to pursue them.

My parents always emphasized on helping the lesser fortunate, to support this cause I took up the role of Community Development Volunteer at a local goverment school. My friends and I also ran a crowdfunding campaign and helped 500 families during the Covid lockdown.

School life was fulfilling, fun and jubilant. I had the best of friends and teachers who made the journey beautiful. Little did I know, the journey ahead would be so much more beautiful.

Falling in Love with Tech

I fell in love with programming in grade 8 and went on to choose Computer Science in grade 11. I wrote several entrance exams and got into one of the higher ranked engineering Institutes with a good scholarship. While adjusting to hostel and moving away from home was tough, college opened a gold mine of opportunities for me to explore my interests. I applied for and got recruited into some of the leading technical chapters in VIT, namely IEEE, ACM and WIE. I had fun learning new technologies from seniors alongside talented peers.

This was when I got selected amongst the top 250 women engineers in India for the Google Talentsprint WE program. The WE program has helped me grow exponentially in both technical and corporate skills.

I was working on a few projects on the side and found Machine Learning interesting so I did an internship with IIT Mandi's Trish-I. We developed a model which predicted different aspects of bone health from an X ray. It was a great learning experience. A couple of other interesting things I did was - becoming a Microsoft Student Learn Ambassador and getting selected under the 'Creation Labs' of VIT. Most recently, I was elected as the Technical Head of my college's IEEE WIE chapter, which is an honour.

My Tech journey has been great so far. I've taken multiple sessions, participated as well as hosted hackathons, and played with different tech stacks. But more than what I've done I'm excited to see what the future holds.

What You Do Not Know - my personal journey

Many of my friends look at my resume and say "Wow, how did you do so much?" I personally feel I haven't done much but whatever I accomplished in my first 1 and a half years of engineering has been because I looked out for opportunities and tried for it inspite of being scared of failure.

It has not been an easy journey, behind every so-called 'achievement' stands countless hours of effort, sleepless nights and a lot of self-doubt. When I look back and read my diary entries I feel bad for my younger self. I realize that I've put myself under a lot of pressure and made sacrifices that were uncalled for. So I want to take this opportunity to share with you what I know now, maybe just maybe it'll help you or someone you know.

Your Achievements do not Define You!

I have this bad tendency to tie my self-worth to my goals. While it helps me stay focused, it puts me under tremendous stress. Recently I was preparing for an internship opportunity and felt I would be a failure if I didn't clear it, I spent months crying myself to sleep scared all my efforts will go in vain. With the help of my family and mentors I now understand how wrong my thinking was. You are so much more than your professional goals or achievements, the person that you are is special and valuable. So never make this mistake and disassociate yourself from your goals to have a clear picture.

Being the Best YOU is Important.

I put my heart and soul into whatever I do, which is one of my defining qualities. But somewhere along the way I got confused between working hard and over-working myself to the point of burnout. This quote really gave me perspective :

'Your Best' doesn't mean pushing yourself to the breaking point. 'Your Best' means the best you can do being your best you. Get enough sleep, give yourself breaks, listen to your limits. 'Your Best' is better when you are happy and healthy.

It's okay to feel confused

Many of my peers and mentors think I'm very 'sorted' but in reality I'm just as clueless as anyone else. Doing research and talking to people with expereince helped me get a basic idea of where I'm heading. Amongst the myriad of opportunites and career paths out there, I tend to feel overwhelmed. That's when I remind myself that I can't do everything (sadly) and as long as I'm working on what I love and exploring, it'll be okay.

Give Yourself Some Credit!

Oftentimes we belittle everything we've accomplished and move on too quickly to the next goal. I felt it was even wrong to be proud. But now I realize that it's important to pause and celebrate. Celebrate your efforts and learnings irrespective of the end result. Not only does it help you recharge, it gives you confidence to take on the next challenge.

Together We Can!!

If I am who I am today, it's firstly because of my beautiful family. My Dad, Mom and sister have always been there for me and pushed me to achieve my true potential. My Dad was and is my first mentor, he's the strong pillar standing behind me. I've been blessed to have the most amazing friends, both in school and college. These people made my life so fun and were there for me in the hardest times. I have also had some of the best mentors who encouraged me and corrected me when I headed off-course.

Find your people, the ones who will love you and be there for you. They make the journey worth the while. For professional growth, it's important you reach out and find mentors who will invest in you.

I've poured my heart out in this article... Sharing my story is by far the scariest thing I've done. If even one person reads this and relates or feels inspired, then my purpose is achieved. Looking forward, I'm excited for the coming decade and all the success, failures, happiness and heartbreak it brings with it. It's going to be a great ride and I'm grateful to have each one of you, my LinkedIn fam, to share it with.

Cheers,

Divina John