"This is my first blog on Hashnode. Instead of writing about technology, I wanted to begin with the story that brought me here."
If someone asked me today why I chose engineering, I don’t think I could answer it in a single sentence. Was it because I loved computers? Was it because I wanted to become a software engineer? Or was it simply because engineering seemed like the most practical path available at the time?
Most people assume career decisions happen in a moment. A student discovers a passion, sets a goal, works toward it, and eventually gets there.
My story wasn’t like that.
The path that led me to engineering was filled with unexpected turns, delayed plans, and decisions I never imagined making. Looking back now, I realize that engineering wasn’t something I chose overnight. In many ways, it was something I kept finding my way back to.
This is the story of how that happened.
When Plans Changed
Long before engineering became a goal, I had a different dream.
As a student, I wanted to become a scientist. Looking back, I don’t think I fully understood what that meant, but I was fascinated by the idea of discovery. I admired people who spent their lives searching for answers and contributing something meaningful to the world.
One of the people who inspired me the most was Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Like many students, I grew up hearing stories about his journey, his work, and the impact he had on millions of young minds. The way people spoke about him made science feel exciting and meaningful.
Ironically, Physics was never my strongest subject. Mathematics, however, was a different story. I enjoyed solving problems, finding patterns, and working through challenges that required patience and logic. The harder the question, the more determined I became to solve it.
At that point in my life, I assumed my future would somehow be connected to those interests. I didn’t have a detailed plan, but I had a direction.
Then life began introducing its own plans.
Around that time, my family believed that pursuing a Diploma through Polytechnic would be a good path for me. As a son, I didn’t want to disappoint them. They wanted what they believed was best for my future, and I respected that decision.
So I prepared for the Polytechnic entrance examination.
I studied for it, practiced regularly, and got myself ready. Whether it was my dream or not wasn’t something I spent much time thinking about. I simply believed it was the next step I needed to take.
But before I could even sit for the examination, the pandemic arrived.
And suddenly, everything changed.
A Different Road
Like millions of students around the world, I found myself facing uncertainty during the pandemic. Plans that once seemed clear suddenly became unpredictable.
The Polytechnic entrance examination I had prepared for never happened. The path I had spent months getting ready for disappeared before I even had the opportunity to take the first step.
Eventually, I enrolled in Intermediate and chose MPC.
At first, it felt less like moving forward and more like starting over. The roadmap I had imagined for myself had changed, and I was trying to adjust to a direction I hadn't originally expected.
Yet, looking back now, that unexpected turn introduced me to opportunities I might never have explored otherwise.
During this time, my curiosity began expanding beyond textbooks and classrooms. I spent more time around computers, learning about technology, and exploring how software was built. What started as simple interest gradually became something much deeper.
The more I learned, the more fascinated I became by the people behind the technology. Developers, programmers, engineers, people who could take an idea and transform it into something real through creativity, logic, and persistence.
For the first time, I began to see technology not just as something I used, but as something I wanted to understand.
I didn't realize it then, but my interests were quietly changing.
The dream was evolving.
And so was I.
The Two Years That Felt Longer
By the time I completed Intermediate, I knew one thing with certainty.
I wanted to pursue engineering.
What had started as curiosity had grown into genuine interest. I wasn't just fascinated by technology anymore, I wanted to learn how to build it, understand it, and be a part of it.
Like many students, I appeared for entrance examinations and began looking toward engineering colleges. For the first time, the path ahead felt clear.
Or at least, I thought it was.
Unfortunately, life had another obstacle waiting for me.
Due to financial circumstances, pursuing higher education immediately after Intermediate wasn't possible for my family. It was one of those situations where the desire to move forward exists, but reality asks you to wait.
And so, while many of my friends were preparing to begin their college journey, I found myself standing still.
What followed was a two-year gap.
At first, it was difficult to accept.
There is a strange feeling that comes with watching time move forward around you. You see classmates joining colleges, making new friends, attending classes, and beginning the next chapter of their lives while you're still waiting for yours to begin.
Naturally, there were moments of frustration. Moments of doubt. Moments when I questioned whether things would ever work out the way I had hoped.
But despite everything, one thing never changed.
My interest in engineering never disappeared.
If anything, it became stronger.
The more I waited, the more I realized how badly I wanted the opportunity to learn, build, and grow in the field that had captured my curiosity years earlier.
Those two years weren't the years I had planned for.
But they would eventually become some of the most important years of my journey.
Learning Without a Classroom
When people hear the phrase "two-year gap," they often imagine two years of doing nothing.
For me, it was the exact opposite.
Even though I wasn't enrolled in an engineering college, I never stopped learning. In many ways, those years taught me something that classrooms alone never could
the ability to learn on my own.
I spent countless hours exploring technology, understanding how software worked, and learning concepts that genuinely interested me. What started as curiosity slowly became a habit.
I wrote code.
I made mistakes.
I broke things.
I fixed them.
And then I broke them again.
Every project taught me something new. Every bug forced me to think differently. Every challenge reminded me that learning wasn't about getting the right answer immediately, it was about staying with a problem long enough to understand it.
During those years, I realized that engineering was much more than a degree or a profession.
It was a way of thinking.
It was the process of looking at a problem and asking, "How can this be solved?"
It was the excitement of turning an idea into something real.
It was the satisfaction of building something that didn't exist before.
The more I learned, the more certain I became that this was the path I wanted to follow.
Ironically, the years that delayed my engineering journey also strengthened my desire to pursue it.
Though I wasn't sitting in a classroom. But I was learning.
And perhaps for the first time, I was learning because I genuinely wanted to.
Why Engineering?
After everything I've shared so far, the question still remains:
"Why engineering?"
The answer today is very different from what it would have been a few years ago.
I didn't choose engineering because it was the most popular option.
I didn't choose it because someone told me it was the safest career path.
And I certainly didn't choose it because I had my entire future planned out.
I chose engineering because it gave a direction to something I had always carried with me the "curiosity" .
Whether it was solving mathematical problems as a student, trying to understand how computers worked, or spending hours debugging a project, the thing that connected all those experiences was the desire to understand, learn, and build.
Engineering gave me a place where those interests could come together.
It taught me that learning doesn't stop when you find an answer. Every answer leads to another question. Every solution reveals another problem waiting to be solved.
Perhaps that's what attracts me most about it.
There is always something new to learn.
Always something new to build.
Always something new to improve.
The more I explore this field, the more I realize that engineering was never just about earning a degree or finding a job.
For me, it became a way of thinking.
A way of approaching challenges.
A way of turning ideas into reality.
And maybe that's why, despite all the delays, detours, and obstacles along the way, I kept finding my way back to it.
Because engineering was never just a destination.
It became part of the journey itself.
Final Thoughts
When I look back today, I realize that my journey to engineering was far from straightforward.
There were dreams that changed, plans that never worked out, unexpected delays, and moments when the future felt uncertain. At the time, each obstacle felt like a setback. Looking back now, I see them differently.
Every detour taught me something.
Every delay gave me time to grow.
Every challenge helped me understand what I truly wanted.
Perhaps that's why I don't regret the road that brought me here, even if it wasn't the road I originally planned to take.
This is my first blog on Hashnode, and I couldn't think of a better story to begin with than the one that started my own journey. If you're reading this while waiting for an opportunity, facing a setback, or questioning whether you're on the right path, all I can say is this:
"Sometimes the road takes longer than expected. That doesn't mean you're moving in the wrong direction."
Thank you for reading.
