From NEET Aspirant to Writing Code: A Journey I Never Planned

This is a submission for the 2026 WeCoded Challenge : Echoes of Experience If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be writing code and leading developers, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. Because my journey into tech wasn’t planned at all. I actually started in a completely different direction. A Different Dream I studied in the medical stream until 12th grade. Like many students in India, my goal was to clear National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and pursue medicine. During the COVID period, I joined a coaching institute to prepare for the exam. That phase of my life was intense. Our routine looked something like this: Early morning classes Self-study the entire day Practice tests regularly Studying late into the night Sometimes we studied until 3 or 4 in the morning. And Sundays weren’t holidays. Sundays were test days. It was exhausting, but I was determined. I gave it everything I had. When Things Don’t Go As Planned Despite all that effort, I didn’t clear the e