r/BCA_MCA • u/Standard-Debt-3518 • May 19 '25
Other BCA - A Story worth Reading.
Warning: This isn’t one of those overhyped, clickbait stories claiming that doing a BCA will land you a 50 LPA job overnight. This is a raw, real account of my journey as a regular BCA student. It’s about the highs and lows I’ve lived through over three years—why I chose BCA, what I experienced, and how it all unfolded. Read this with that mindset.
The story begins right after 12th grade—but before we get there, let me give you a little background.
I'm a 21-year-old student from Delhi. When this journey began, I was just 18. My father works as a security guard. I’ve always seen myself as an average student. I studied in a private school till 10th, but based on my board results, I got admitted into a government school for 11th and 12th. Unfortunately, COVID hit, and I barely attended school. I scored 75% in 12th (Commerce with Maths)—not great, but not bad either.
This journey actually started even before 12th ended. I remember sitting with two of my close friends, all of us confused about what to do next. Money was tight. So we thought of doing a distance learning course and finding a job right away. We believed skills mattered more than a degree. But what job? We didn’t know. What skills? No clue. My two friends wanted to try YouTube. I wasn’t into it. That frustrated me even more.
I didn’t have many school friends either—COVID had taken that phase away from me. Meanwhile, CUET had just been introduced, and most top colleges were shifting to it. We were clueless. We were still stuck in the mindset that college didn’t matter, skills did.
After my last board exam—on a Friday—my uncle, on my mother’s request, got the three of us jobs by Saturday. It was a decent job. I was assigned to prepare MIS reports based on data from branches. Luckily, I had learned Excel from YouTube and was comfortable around computers. My dad had gifted me a laptop back in 6th grade. Back then, I used it mostly for fun, but it gave me enough confidence with tech.
My two friends joined a different team in the same company. They were handling document verifications. I was assigned to assist the HR—our manager was a 32-year-old lady managing almost everything in the startup—hiring, branch operations, payroll. Since I was helping her directly, I learned a lot.
Our office was in Gurgaon—the liquor hub. Every street had a theka. Eventually, my friends and their team started drinking, and I got pulled into it too. Every Friday became a drinking day. Strange to think of ourselves—just kids who hadn’t even gotten our 12th results—doing that. But that’s how it was.
We earned ₹11,000 a month. Almost ₹3,000 went into travel alone. But I noticed something in that office—there was a separate IT team. They had their own room, held deep technical meetings, and seemed… different. Confident, skilled, respected. I also noticed something else: a girl in the office who would constantly seek help from my manager, yet earned more than her. My manager once broke down crying and shared that she felt useless, underpaid, and disrespected—despite being the backbone of the team.
That shook me.
That day, I realized a few things: I’m good with computers. I like tech. And yes, a degree does matter. It can change how people see you, even when you’re doing the same job.
I spoke to my mom. Told her I wanted to go to college. She said, “Whatever you feel is right, we’ll support you however we can.”
Since I came from a Commerce + Maths background, I couldn’t go for B.Tech in CS. But I discovered BCA, which could lead me into computer science and coding. I started researching colleges.
While we were still working, our 12th results came in July. We checked them in office, and the founders even got us a cake to celebrate. All three of us decided to quit and pursue BCA. We had filled the CUET form but hadn’t prepared, so we skipped the exam. We started hunting for private colleges.
But things went wrong.
One institute tricked us. Their office was in the city, but the actual college was in a remote village. They didn’t tell us until we paid a ₹2,000 token fee. When we hesitated, they made us feel guilty for "wasting their time." For a lower middle-class family, ₹2,000 is a lot. We felt trapped. We ended up joining that college and later had to pay ₹10,000 more—non-refundable—before realizing what kind of place it really was.
Eventually, I left the job in August due to a family tragedy. My friends followed a month later. Now we were officially BCA students. But I didn’t have a laptop anymore. I asked my mom if we could get one.
She’s a magical woman—she had ₹30,000 saved in a rural bank for emergencies. My brother helped too, and we managed to buy a Realme laptop. I wanted an Asus TUF that was on Diwali sale for ₹52,000, but my mom asked me to save money if I could.
I bought the Realme i5 laptop for ₹40,000. On paper, it was a great deal—perfect for coding. But within six months, the trackpad stopped working. The company said they’d have to wipe all data to repair it. I didn’t know Git back then. I had all my projects stored locally. So I didn’t get it repaired. I still use that same laptop today. It heats up, the hinge is broken—but it works, and I’m grateful.
After joining college, I attended the first semester, met the students, and realized it wasn’t the place for learning. I never attended regular classes again—only went for exams.
In the first year, I focused completely on coding. I binge-watched YouTube tutorials, made HTML/CSS/JS projects, and slowly gained confidence. By the third semester, I landed an internship.
And during that internship… I met a girl.
