img-experience.py

As I try to recall my experience at IMG, the first vision that flashes in my mind, was the warm welcome day when all of us — the new recruits — were freshly introduced to this one big family. I still remember the ecstatic feeling and the spirit of enthusiasm bubbling inside me on seeing so many new faces of my seniors, who, I knew, would be playing the guiding light for me in my journey of web development and beyond. A great deal of memories, learning and bonding has only constructed thereafter, over the matter of an year, and let me also take you for a walk through of my journey and experience so far in this amazing club.

Setting up the environment | python3 -m env

So the days roll back to the initial times…when I stepped into a premier engineering institute, unaware of the new culture, the new genre of learning that prevails here. Owing to the tedium of online classes, little was I aware of the student activities that this college has fostered through the years and how these very activities shape the student.(actually more than the typical academic curriculum in a college life) Moreover, as every other senior had added the very word ‘explore’ for (I don’t know!) countless times, I too set out to roll the wheel in the vast sea of possibilities and turned my leaf to competitive programming at my first shot.

But the real awakening arose with the STC intro-talks of the multitude of technical clubs, and they literally spanned almost every imaginable domain I could think of!! No matter what one says, the most popular ones among us newbie freshers remained CP and dev related groups, as clubs like PAG, SDS, IMG, MDG became the talk of the batch.

With passing time, these clubs also held lectures on interesting topics of their domains, and I must say, they imparted real boost in getting to know about these domains to a closer extent. But the real test that lay ahead was getting into these clubs.

Activating the process | source env/bin/activate

Now I had been taking the ongoing activities around me little lightly (JEE break not yet over?), and had missed several intro-talks and lectures too! But soon, discovering that competitive programming seemed to take the better off me in the PAG recruitments, and with no other skill in my hands, I tried to give a shot at web development (after all, I too was desperate to get into a technical club). My mentor, who once had been a part of IMG, was honestly the best person whom I freely approached regarding any guidance, and when the winter projects for IMG recruitments were announced, I wasted no hour and began learning and working on HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Now being from an atmosphere where every resource was at my hand’s disposal, the new way of finding stuffs in real life was simply no less than cracking a hard nut. I must definitely remark upon thing, that if there was one extremely valuable skill that I acquired from my winter project, it was no other than the subtle art of using Google (if you don’t do webD, trust me, you don’t know it!😤).

After 2 long months of hardcore coding, I ended up finally submitting a successfully working (and good-looking :D) Typing Speed Game (YAY!!🎊). Although, later I just simply screwed up at IMG’s recruitment test, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the interviews.

Installation (Bingo!) | pip install django

Before I get to the serious part(mudde ki baat😅), the coolest stuff I have ever played in my life was the VR Occulus game, that I first ever tried in the lab, while waiting for my interview, and you know, by the time I was done with the game…I had come up with a pretty cool reason in my hands for giving a good interview ahead :P.

The technical interview passed an intense 30 minutes, perhaps I was too desperate to not screw up and make it into the club. But it all eased, thanks to the comforting interviewers, who helped with hints, just adequate for me to strike upon with the answers. The HR round went pretty decent too, and I firmly believed that I had not failed to satisfy what they sought inside me.

After a day or two, when I received the awaited news, I was confronted with a dilemma, as I had been appearing in other technical clubs’ recruitments too, but I could only be a part of one such club at max. Well, after consulting several opinions, I finally took my shot of faith for IMG, based on the positive suggestions of several people and owing to the wonderful community, the alumni network and the learning environment, and till date, I never ever felt a contrast to what each of them had told me back then.

Starting off | python3 manage.py startapp IMG

So came the introductory day, which I described at the beginning, all cheerful faces, of seniors present to induct us into the family and the large space, filled with desktops and the complete IMG people. Lectures began without ado, and the newness of making into this club still seemed to alight me with spirits high. We started receiving assignments, and here, I gotta admit that they seemed so well pretty challenging, but then you gotta know that the wheels start rolling once you don’t move out of your laptop for hours. All so much of the efforts I had put in making the winter project now seemed to be happening over for each individual assignment. Bugs started taking more time than successful executions and the cool puns in the posters of our lab walls seemed to appear cooler now(iykyk).

In a matter of time, all these started becoming an inherent part of this Web Development package and our learning curve, as we slowly progressed from basic HTML, CSS, JS, Git, Linux to Databases, Design, PHP, Django and React. The process seemed so much like a continuum, where countless hours had gone by resolving merely one single issue, apparently wasted, without progress, to the present times with me having so much tech stack at my hands, merely within 8–9 months. But hold on! If you have created an early impression of IMG based on simply lectures and assignments, then the next section will be bound to topple your opinions upside down(for the good u know).

Work Hard… Party Harder

I seriously doubt whether any other club in campus has organized as much grand and lavish chapos as IMG, in the tenure since I have been a part. The freshers, being my first dance chapo in campus itself, was just an absolute blast, following soon by the farewell chapo that was just another in class by itself. What I could not really perceive was how cool this community could be despite the sincerity I have seen in them while in at work. The past months have been so much full of celebrations, be it on account of some alumni visit, or any kind of movie night, the very formal fresher induction😝 at Solani Walk, the intern chapos and lately being the cool funky Halloween chapo ( I bet no other club in college did this one…YES..NONE DID!!:D). The environment here is so much more than just developing stuff on web, mobile or even games, it’s more about learning things and enjoying things as they fall on your plate— the epitome of which reflects in our tagline…”Work Hard, But Party Harder!”

Role models | import models

Over the course of months, as I have gotten to know more and more about the community and the alumni history, that has been the club’s integral part, my dedication to push myself has ever since only fuelled harder. Some of my seniors here have really really mastered their domains and have a rich vibrant treasure of achievements and experiences, that has often inspired me to struggle and strive.

People here have been cracking down amazing competitions like GSoC and remarkable internships and placements every year, and many alumni are currently pursuing their careers in top-notch profiled companies as well as prominent universities all around the world. Many of them have carved a distinctive path against the common roadmaps and made their exclusive mark, as they continue to grow ahead in their life. As I say this, the final hours of the farewell chapo make a flashback in my mind, where some of our seniors could be seen with tears and cracked voices in their speech, for they appeared so closely attached with this family that has helped them grow so much and the everlasting bonding they have developed over time.

The time since I have been a part of this community has enriched me with so much more than just the skill of WebD. The advices, the togetherness, the bonding I share with IMG at date, is as precious to me than any other aspect of my college life, and I look forward to lay my steps on the footsteps of dedication laid down by our seniors and achieve much more for not only myself but as a whole for the IMG family as well. And last but not the least, this one’s to my fellow juniors and budding programmers, who too will be gearing up for making it into the various coding clubs…Guys never fall back if ever you find yourself stuck in an endless loop of errors in your codes, coz debugging is what the real learning comes from, and not the successful executions (sad but true🥲). And that you will also consistently meet people, who shall be there to pull you out of this loop. So, with my best wishes, keep debugging! Keep rolling🤘!!

Bon Voyage, Amigo!!