During my graduation, in the 4th semester, SAP came to our college for an internship drive. I sat for it but, unfortunately, was rejected in the first round—the coding round.

Out of our entire college, only three students were selected for the internship, and only two of them went on to complete it.

As graduation approached, SAP returned for placement. This time, I decided to try again. Miraculously, I cleared the first round, which was the coding round, by passing 50% of the test cases. From our college, 50 students out of 400 were selected for the next round, TR1 (Technical Round 1). A week later, I received an email informing me that my TR1 was scheduled in two days. I began to prepare intensely, studying everything I could from Javatpoint. Honestly, I just started cramming all the topics like Operating Systems (OS) and Database Management Systems (DBMS).

On the day of the TR1, I felt somewhat prepared. The round went quite well, although I struggled with 1 or 2 questions. Later that day, I received another email stating that I had cleared the first round and that my second round (TR2) was scheduled for 3 PM the same day. Only 8 students out of the original 50 had advanced to TR2, and I was one of them. Feeling ecstatic, I grabbed some snacks and got ready for the next round.

Then the disaster started. My TR2 interviewer was a senior programmer who seemed quite stern. After introducing myself, he asked about my strong subjects. I mentioned Java, but he asked questions about topics I hadn’t studied, like multithreading. I became nervous and couldn’t answer a single question. He then asked for another subject preference, and I said DBMS. He questioned me about normalizations, especially the 3rd Normal Form, and although I answered, my response was confusing. He asked more questions from DBMS, and I managed to answer some.

However, the initial nervousness had taken its toll. If you get nervous in any interview, your rejection is almost certain. He moved on to questions about OS, another subject I had only crammed. Questions about memory management, thrashing, and more left me floundering. I was extremely nervous, sweating profusely, and afraid. After asking one last question about Java interfaces, the interviewer concluded the session. As expected, I was rejected.

Learnings from Rejection

1. Start Early: You can’t prepare for interviews with good companies in just 2-3 days. Start your interview preparation as early as possible.

2. Understand Concepts: Mugging up theoretical concepts, even in programming, is not effective. You need to truly understand the concepts.

3. Overcome Fear of Failure: The fear of failure can be paralyzing. It can make you nervous and doubtful even if you haven’t answered a single question. Confidence is crucial.

4. Confidence is Key: If you are confident, even incorrect answers can sometimes be overlooked. Confidence plays a big role in interviews.

5. Accept the Variability of Life:Life isn’t the same for everyone. Sometimes less deserving individuals get the job, and deserving ones don’t. Don’t stop trying.

6. Failure is a Teacher: Sometimes, failures provide more valuable learnings than successes.

In conclusion, these experiences have taught me more than any success could have. Each rejection is a stepping stone to greater understanding and better preparation for future opportunities.