Sometimes the Road of Life Takes an Unexpected Turn and You have No Choice but, to Follow it to End Up in the Place You are Supposed to Be.
- Anonymous

A thought that’s crossing my mind while I type this is I never expected myself to be here as a writer. For me, since childhood, I have always been told that I’d end up being a doctor. And I always thought I would. But as I grew up, I realized that it wasn’t what I actually wanted at all. Life did take an unexpected turn and I am where I should be today. Something like this hits each one of us at a point in life. 

At OpenSense Labs, we have Lakshay, who started off working as an Electrical engineer and went on to become an Acquia-certified front end developer. Let’s look at his experience with OSL and Drupal! 

Tuba: So Lakshay, I heard you pursued electrical engineering. Tell me about your education.

Lakshay: I switched to three different schools in the last 3 years of my school life. I wanted to start something of my own while I was in high school but my parents always told me I lacked experience. Although I studied electrical engineering, I have had a lot of interest in developing websites for a very long time.

Tuba: How the shift to web development finally happened and how did it all begin at OpenSense Labs?

Lakshay: A very old friend of mine was already working with OpenSense Labs. He told me that he was working with a web development company and asked me to come and join them. So, I gave it a shot and joined OSL. When I reached there, I had no idea what I had to do, because everybody there was a professional developer. So I joined them as an intern and started watching tutorial videos and studying how to build a website and then tried coding it and showing my work to senior pros like Vinit and Pritam at the end of the day. After 3 months of the internship, I was hired as a full-time front end developer. A year later, I was an Acquia-certified front end specialist. I was promoted to the position of a senior frontend developer. Since then a lot of interns have worked under me and I’ve trained them sharing whatever I learned during my early days as an intern.

Tuba: That’s amazing! How is your experience with Drupal?

Lakshay: It’s been 3 years now and the experience so far has really been great. The Drupal community is really amazing. I’ve attended many camps where I got a chance to interact with people working across the globe.

I got to learn about different emerging technologies and how Drupal is rising with these technologies thereby embracing innovation always. I’ve presented sessions in DrupalCamp Delhi 2019 and DrupalCon Amsterdam 2019. 

Tuba: Do you think you made the right decision?

Lakshay: I definitely think I made the right decision. While I was working in the electrical industry for 6 months, it felt like a job, but working here felt like something that I willingly wanted to do. I’m following my passion, working with Drupal.

Tuba: That’s great! Thank you for your time Lakshay. It’s been great talking to you. I hope people are inspired to make decisions and accept the turns that life takes as you did. 

These turns can be the most challenging thing to experience, but it is the starting point of something great in your life. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, take your time to find it! The journey, I promise, will be way better than the destination. Good luck!

For more such interviews on The Unlikely Drupalists series, read about a/an:

Aeronautical engineer who became a Drupal developer

DJ who became a web developer