The Infosys Tag That Came With a Cost

2004. The year I passed out from a reputed engineering college in Navi Mumbai with dreams stitched tightly in my chest and hope clinging to every heartbeat. But dreams, as they often do, met the hard face of reality — a reality that wasn’t too kind to fresh engineering graduates seeking a break in the IT industry.

 It was a sluggish season for campus placements. While IT giants like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro did visit our college, they picked only one or two students. I wasn’t one of them. What followed was nearly a year of grinding — an off-campus placement hunt that tested every ounce of self-worth I carried. Rejection became a familiar tune, and hope started wearing thin.

Eventually, in August 2004, I landed my first job at a modest firm named Atkom Infotech, based in Andheri, Mumbai. It wasn’t the big leap I had envisioned, but it was a beginning. The daily commute was nothing short of an odyssey — two buses and two local trains, taking two hours one way. That daily grind, coupled with long hours at work, drained not just my energy but my spirit.

But amidst the struggle, there were silver linings — Pradnya Panhale, Dayanand Shinde, and Mahesh, my first work friends, whose camaraderie made the chaos feel bearable. We shared lunches, jokes, and even the quiet despair of missed opportunities.

I still remember the feeling of holding my first paycheque — ₹7,825/-. That crisp amount was promptly used by my family for Diwali shopping that year — a simple joy, but significant in its own way. Mr. Ashutosh Karnik, the Director of Atkom, appreciated my dedication and wanted me to continue. But deep down, I sensed the clever calculations behind his praise — and more importantly, I knew I needed to move on. What stung the most wasn’t the money or the exhaustion — it was the look in Papa’s eyes. The quiet discontent he masked in conversations with his friends. My younger brother, just a year behind me, had received offers from both TCS and Infosys. In comparison, I was the underdog in his stories — a well-meaning disappointment.

This silent judgment pushed me harder. I knew I couldn’t cling to comfort.

After a brief jobless phase, I took up a new role at DNC Data Systems in CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai. It wasn’t glamorous, but it gave me something Atkom couldn’t — space to grow technically. My programming skills found direction, and I found friends and co-strugglers like Subha Fernando, who, like me, was quietly chasing something more.

Together, we prepared for the Infosys entrance test. She made it first and left for training in Mysore. Soon after, I cracked the test too. I was selected for Infosys, Hyderabad.

July 25, 2005 — the day I became an Infoscion. It wasn’t just a job offer. It was redemption, validation, and a long-awaited balm to all the humiliation I had swallowed over the past year.

It came at a cost.

It was the first time I left home, my parents, and my brother. I’ve never truly returned since — not in the same way. That moment marked the start of a new life and the quiet end of an old one. Looking back, that year of hardship gave me more than a job. It taught me resilience, the value of friendships formed in trenches, and the silent power of persistence.

If you’ve ever felt like an invisible name in a crowd of achievers, know this: sometimes the struggle itself carves out your story — one worth telling. And sometimes, it takes a whole year of being an underdog to finally hear pride in your father’s voice.

Picture shot by me in 2005 at Mangalore, Infy