It is really scary believing in yourself, when the entire world around you is doing what is proven to make you succesful, specially when you’re in college.
I decided to not sit for my placements 6 months ago, not even for an internship.
After studying day and night for two straight years to get a good “rank” and getting into an IIT and a IIIT (different story), the most obvious path and the most easy path is to just sit for placements and get a guaranteed job - even if it’s not super high paying, a good job is sort of guaranteed when you’re in the top colleges of India.
But what did I decide?
I will do my “own thing”, build a business in AI, as a kid who’s barely turning 21 and hasn’t even graduated🙂
I see my batchmates getting placed in MNCs, some getting offers from the US, Canada, some already securing a scholarship for masters - every single day!
Everyone around me keeps telling me to please get a job, work 4-5 years in corporate, get some experience, and then I can very easily start a business any time I want - everyone around me can’t be giving me the same wrong advice, right?
I’ve been hearing the same stuff since the time I gave my 10th boards.
And so, I did do an internship in my 2nd year - a US based VC firm.
That is what got me into the whole AI agents/automations space.
I did another internship right after that - a US based AI company.
This is what actually opened my eyes.
Doing the internship validated the whole idea of building a business in AI, merely because of the fact that they were able to sell high 5 figure offers when the company was barely a year old + I absolutely loved what I was able to build with AI.
After working there for 2 months, I just couldn’t sit on what I’ve been aspiring of doing for years.
It felt if I did not start now, “create” instead of just “speculate”, I would never be able to.
AI space right now is just like the 2010 mobile applications space, 2000 .com era.
And so I dove head first.
Managed to work with close to a dozen clients, build some very cool stuff from fully automated content production engine to voice agents to ai coders.
Even managed to bring some super super smart people onboard with a crazy 21 year old🙃
But these haven’t been easy, I’ve pulled more all nighters than I can count at this point.
And it doesn’t seem to get easier.
A job is very easy - fixed working hours, fixed pay, fixed working days.
Frankly, a lot less uncertainty.
This is the part that scares me the most - what if I miss this window of getting a job because of my stubborness of making it on my own?
Should I just stop and look for a job?
Should I do what everyone is telling me to?
I’m not sure if I’m right and that’s scary.
It’s very scary.
For anyone still reading, thank you!
I’d love to hear your opinion🙌🏻
P.S. I’m on a flight right now and there’s this adorable kid just hanging around, chilling🥹
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