Testimonial Stories - Raviteja Banka
“Millionlights helped uplift my spirits and also my entire village's too."
Hi, I am Raviteja Banka, an alumnus of Millionlights University. When I came to Millionlights, I was at the brink of a break-down with no job, no experience, no money, and a year’s break. But in a month, my life changed. I got placed with DXC Technology as a Java Developer. Surprised? Let me tell you my full story.
I was born in a small village, Bankapalem, in Andhra Pradesh to a farmer’s family. I watched my father toil daily at the fields. As I looked around, I saw many others also doing the same or doing some odd job as a daily wage labourer and barely making ends meet. It disturbed me. I wanted to try something new in an attempt to make their lives better. With this in mind, I chose to become an engineer.
My days at engineering college were no less than a roller-coaster ride. Having studied throughout in Telugu-medium, English as a mode of teaching at college was a challenge for me. But I was determined and with the help of my friends, started working on my English language skills. Grasping concepts which were a task for me initially, started coming to me with relative ease.
Then came the final job placement day that made us all nervous and excited at the same. This was a tough time for me as my weak English communication made me face rejections over rejections while my batchmates were receiving offer letters. I felt dejected and often sat alone and cried on my luck. This slowly instilled self-doubt in me and before I could realise it, I had lost a crucial year.
Now, amid the pandemic, I found myself under-skilled and with a career break. My family was in no shape to spend thousands on upskilling courses for me. That’s it, this was the end of my IT dream and I decided to call it quits. Disappointment not just for me but for my entire village too.
Just as I was preparing to head home, I came across Millionlights Java Bootcamp which was providing free Java training with a job placement opportunity as well. “Free” resonated with me. I promptly applied and to my surprise, got selected too. The three words “You are selected” gave me goosebumps as it re-ignited my hopes.
I gave my 100% at the Bootcamp and with full earnestness attended each session. The Bootcamp was upskilling me and simultaneously its mock interview sessions were helping me improve my English communication skills. By the end of the Bootcamp, with regained confidence, I was ready for the job interviews. I appeared for two interviews and got rejected. The two consecutive disappointments shocked me and self-doubt again took over.
I had lost all my hopes but Millionlights never gave up on me. Jaya ma’am, our dean, came as my guiding force. It was her counseling that gave me the strength and confidence to appear for my third interview with DXC Technology. I could not believe it when I got selected. My happiness knew no bounds. Back home, when my father announced that I got a job in an IT company, my entire village celebrated along with my family. I still remember the day when tears rolled down my mother’s eyes as I handed my first salary to her and how my father’s chest swelled with pride at this sight.
I aspire to be an entrepreneur and start an IT company in my village. I want to provide better job opportunities to the youth of my village and save them from the vicious cycle of self-doubt, that I had to face.
My journey at Millionlights can be summed up as, “I was a sapling struggling for its space in the forest, and Millionlights University’s nurture strengthened my abilities to survive and grow stronger as I aim to reach for the sky.”
Ravi spoke to the Millionlights Team - the above is a takeaway from that conversation. We wish him all the best and look forward to his career growing and helping his community.