The step-by-step process I used to learn 4 programming languages and clear a difficult interview.
In college, I had to learn three programming languages. For preparing for job interviews, I learned a fourth, a completely new one. As technology evolves every year, being a techie means I have to keep updating my technical skills beyond these four languages if I want to grow in my field. Thankfully, learning a new skill is no longer daunting for me ever since I started using learning journey maps to systematize and increase the efficiency of what I learn.
Doing so has helped me top university among a batch of 400+ students, pick up four programming languages with professional…
The end of a lengthy terminal illness affects each member of the family in its own ways
I lost my father to cancer in 2008.
His loss was the end of a year-long struggle with the disease. That year, according to WHO reports, 7.6 million people lost their lives to cancer. The number mounts still. 2018 registered 18.1 million cancer-related deaths.
It’s true when they say that unlike other diseases, cancer doesn’t just affect the patient’s body. Studies show, and the sufferer’s peers agree, that it deeply affects their family and friends too.
My experience is a testimony to this statement. …
The detailed plan that cut my food costs in half, cleared my skin, and helped me lose weight sustainably
I remember the wintry nights of December 2019 when I used to finish a 300 ml ice-cream tub all by myself in a matter of an hour or two. Yes, the ice-cream melted. But I hardly cared.
That I’d already gobbled up a ten-inch pizza before this didn’t deter me.
I knew something was wrong with me when copious amounts of the tastiest junk foods stopped satiating my hunger. …
If you only read selected books, read these.
If I could go back in time, I’d take a course in communication, human history, world history, people management, time management, and gender studies in school. But I can’t, so I read books to make up for it.
Non-fiction books have been my savior. I read selective non-fiction books based on the kind of knowledge I want to seek. Thanks to this, even though I’ve read only a handful of non-fiction books, all of them have taught me valuable life skills. Reading them has been like a crash course in these skills.
After reading these books, I have:
- Been able…
Revelations of badass women in their 40s and 50s are just what I need to calm my freaking-out self
With just a few months to my 28th birthday in March 2021, I have been freaking out since New Year.
I hail from a country where women adhere to social and biological timelines. Most women get married in their early 20s. They have their first child at 28 and second at 30. As if the social norms aren’t crushing me enough, my potential life partner and I broke up during the lockdown. It will take me some time to get over him. Who knows how long it will take me to find another suitable match?
Top this up with my…
Knowing when, how, and how many times you should say sorry can drastically improve your relationships
“I’ve already apologized countless times. It wasn’t even my fault. It’s been three days, and she still hasn’t returned my calls. I don’t know what else to do.” my friend Ayan told me a few weeks ago.
I sighed. This was the fifth time his girlfriend Nayantara had cut him off for more than a few days following their fight. Ayan was growing restless with every passing hour. His sent messages were full of unanswered sorries. He still thought he needed to apologize more to thaw his girlfriend’s cold behavior.
I, seeing this was not the case, decided to rid…
The therapeutic technique I’ve been using for over six months to uncover core beliefs and keep my emotions in check
Sometimes it takes a combination of habits and practices to make progress on difficult goals. That has been my experience in coping with my own anxiety and negative thinking.
I am an anxious person. My overwhelming thoughts and unchecked emotions get in the way of normal daily functioning. When a negative emotion overpowers me, it takes several days for me to get over it. Being in social isolation during the COVID-19 lockdown aggravated this behavior. I talked to my therapist for respite. She suggested cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to keep my negative emotions in check.
I started CBT about a…
Science says your brain wants you to leave it alone for it to help you. Here’s how you can do it.
Yesterday, I completed a 3000-word article for one of my freelancing clients. I’d done it after days of procrastinating. When I wondered what pushed me to finally finish it, I realized I owed it to a 5-day break.
During those 5 days, I let myself do everything to keep myself thinking about or working on the article. I read, watch a Netflix documentary, cooked my favorite food, took a walk in the park, and enjoyed 8 hours of healthy sleep. When I returned to the article on the 6th day, the results were exactly as I had anticipated. My thoughts…
Enough of indirect, borderline offensiveness
I am 28, a single woman who doesn’t want to look for someone or settle down. I don’t check any boxes of the norms right now. I was never on any social media platform (no, not even Facebook). I don’t believe I should stay in contact with someone just because they might help in the future. That’s not the way I roll.
But even though no one tells things to my face, indirect gestures and snippets of conversations are enough to make me feel I am not “normal.” It is not surprising that I am not the only one who…
Without the consumer, there is no producer
I overheard a colleague remarking the other day, “Quora used to be such an informative question-answer website. These women and their seductive pictures have turned it into a tabloid.”
“But you follow Namita,” I mentioned a woman whose answers he adored. I had heard him speak highly of posts she often complemented with her pretty pictures. “You can’t follow some of these women while maligning the others.” He laughed. “You think I’m selective? I blame all these women, including Namita. They’ve degenerated the quality of this platform by turning it into a skin-show parade.”
Being on Quora since 2015, I…
