It is a very renowned saying by David duChemin that ‘Failure is a much more faithful teacher than immediate Success’. Pradeep Kumar, a winner of Capital First Scholarship 2018-20, also believes firmly that failure is a stepping stone towards success.
Clearly, such exceptional thinking coupled with loads of hard work has yielded fruitful results for him. A topper throughout, Pradeep Kumar has never learnt to give up. Preparing for exams while working and tackling financial burdens was not at all easy for Pradeep. Read below how sheer determination and hard work has yielded successful outcomes for him. Given below are the excerpts from his interview with Buddy4Study.
Buddy4Study: Tell us a little about your academic and professional background before joining this management programme.
Pradeep Kumar: I completed my schooling from Lions Club English Medium High School, Salur. Salur is a small town in Andhra Pradesh. After that, I went to Sri Chaitanya Junior College to complete my intermediate education where I secured 97.8% marks and stood among the top 1% of the state. I completed my graduation in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam. I got selected in TCS from On-Campus recruitment process and started my professional journey as an Assistant Systems Engineer at Synergy Park, Hyderabad Campus. I worked there for 31 months on various technologies like Java, Selenium and Accessibility services.
Buddy4Study: What influenced you to pursue an MBA course?
Pradeep Kumar: My professional experience provided me with a great opportunity to work closely with clients and know about business along with the latest technologies in the market. This interaction built my interest in business work and broadened my perspective and understanding of my previous notions. So, I decided to pursue management education as it will help me in understanding the business better and provide more opportunities to grow further.
Buddy4Study: What were the key challenges that you faced while preparing for MBA entrance tests?
Pradeep Kumar: My earnings were the major contributor to the income of my family. Leaving a job and pursuing education became the biggest challenge given my family’s economic condition. Apart from that, it became very difficult to manage time while working to pursue my dream. I worked very hard by attending classes after the office hours and attempting mock exams during weekends.
Buddy4Study: What has been your source of inspiration?
Pradeep Kumar: My mom is my main source of inspiration. She is not educated, but she knows the importance of education and how it can impact anyone’s life. Right from my childhood, she worked very hard to support my education. My success at every stage of my life is because of mom’s support. There are many situations in which she sacrificed her dreams to support my education. All her hard work helped me to achieve the success I am enjoying now.
Buddy4Study: How has your family supported you in your venture to pursue this course?
Pradeep Kumar: I come from a poor working-class family. My parents worked very hard to support my education during my entire educational journey. They always encouraged me for higher education, even though they knew we couldn’t afford that much fee. My parents’ support is the reason for my success.
Buddy4Study: How did you come to know about the Capital First Scholarship? What were the steps you followed to avail the scholarship?
Pradeep Kumar: I came to know about this opportunity from my college seniors who received this scholarship previously.
The steps followed to avail the scholarship:
- Applied for this scholarship on www.buddy4study.com
- Completed the application process and attached all the necessary documents
- After a few days, I received an interview call (telephonic interview) from Capital First team.
- The second round of interview happened a few days later (telephonic round).
- I received an email communication from the team stating that I have been selected for the scholarship.
The Capital First team helped me at every stage of the process by providing help and guidance about each and every step.
Buddy4Study: What are your ambitions for your future endeavours and how do you plan to achieve them?
Pradeep Kumar: My ambition is to establish a school for children residing in rural India, where most of the talent is not recognised. My school will offer proper foundation not only in academics but also in arts and sports. I believe the arts and sports also play a very important role in shaping a child’s personality.
My plan is to work in the corporate world for 5-6 years to gain enough knowledge on management and expertise on people management. It will also help me gathering funds to establish my dream school on my own.
Buddy4Study: Any piece of advice that you would like to impart to other potential aspirants like you who are constrained by various challenges towards pursuing higher education?
Pradeep Kumar: Failure is not the last step, it’s just the new beginning to another opportunity. So, always be ready to grab the opportunity.
To know more about scholarships, click here.
Also read: Merit Scholarships – All You Need to Know
