IITian's Journey From Self-Doubt to Google

Vedic Mishra, an IIT graduate, struggled with self-doubt throughout his career in top technology companies. Despite getting into prestigious firms like Samsung and Salesforce, he felt like an outsider due to his coding struggles and technical discussions. He recalls that as a fresher at Samsung, he was not a skilled coder, but instead of giving up, he used his IIT experience as motivation to improve.

Mishra spent two months preparing for his next career move by studying data structures, algorithms, system design, and technology stacks. He focused on online courses, books, and Medium articles, dedicating around six to eight hours a day to learning. His efforts paid off when he secured a role at Salesforce after clearing rigorous interviews.

However, even landing Salesforce did not alleviate his self-doubt. Mishra began questioning whether he had simply been lucky, feeling like an outsider among his peers. This experience pushed him to continue studying and upskilling, often working on DSA questions and learning design practices in the evenings.

Mishra's desire to prove himself once again led him to leave Salesforce for Google. He wanted to test his abilities and settle the question of whether his achievements were a fluke. For him, joining a bigger technology company like Google was about personal ambition and proving that he deserved a spot in the room.