‘I Grew up in a Hut With No Ambition, Here’s How I Turned My Life Around’

In a viral Quora post that prompts the question ‘What is your salary? Are you happy with it?’, Odisha resident and assistant executive engineer at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited, Pritish Nath, wrote about his inspiring journey. He lived in a mud hut and now earns a gross salary of Rs 1.3 lakh a month.

The post has received over 22,000 upvotes and has more than 400 comments.

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The 27-year-old’s story entails numerous years of preparation. “There were countless hours I toiled during my preparation, forgetting the cold winter nights and hot summer days. I isolated myself for four long years to get my dream job,” wrote Pritish.

He graduated from Tier C college with no career goals and gradually started preparing for various competitive examinations.

He adds how losing his father, which was a devastating experience, made him more responsible.

“I gave 12 interviews consecutively but failed everywhere. I was lost again, four years passed and a common question asked in all my interviews was, ‘What were you doing from 2014 to 2018?’ I was clueless,” he shared.

Later, he attended interviews for the Union Public Service Commission, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), ONGC, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited and many other public sector undertakings. But all his efforts were in vain.

In 2018, after facing multiple failures, he got a contractual job as a site engineer in Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. The same year, he was selected as an assistant engineer in the State Electricity Board. In between, he cleared two levels of UPSC CSE but didn’t qualify for the next round for just 16 marks.

This didn’t deter Pritish, who went on to clear the GATE exam with a good rank and he then joined ONGC.

“I must say, it’s all because of the guidance I got from my parents. If my father was alive, he would have been very happy,” he concluded.

Pritish’s life is a wonderful example of perseverance. The boy who lived in a mud house now owns an apartment, a car and also gifted himself an Apple computer.

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Edited by Yoshita Rao