Sonali Goyal

My father lost his business when I was in the seventh grade; it was our main source of income. The loss incurred was so high that no one wanted to assist my father in setting up the business again. My mother began working as a teacher in the primary school, our grandparents helped us financially. We started living hand-to-mouth.

I was good at academics, despite all the difficulties, I managed to secure top rank in my district in both 10th and 12th grades. My teacher advised me to prepare for the IIT exam in Kota. My family was unable to cover my coaching expenses and accommodation, even after I had received scholarships from different coaching institutes. I accepted what fate had in store for me and I appeared in the exam without any preparation. I failed in IIT but cleared RPET and ended up in a Govt. Women’s Engineering College, Ajmer, whose expenses were covered by the scholarships I got.

But these four years of my engineering passed rather quickly. I did not choose placement as all the companies were hiring for coding roles and I had a background in electronics, which drove me to prepare for GATE exam, where I failed to secure a good rank in my first attempt, and with that my college phase had ended. At that time, I was nothing more than a burden to my family. They were expecting me to help them financially, but I was determined to get a good rank in GATE.

Clearing GATE without coaching was difficult, and I needed to support my family, so I decided to start filling out exam forms for others for some extra money, and I soon became an agent for the E-Mitra platform and began filling out exams and government scheme forms. I worked at the shop during the day and studied at night and during my free time at the shop with the help of notes provided by my senior. It was tough, but finally, in 2018, I was able to secure a good rank and got admission to IIT-BHU.

I was aware that my younger sibling would face numerous challenges if I left for IIT-BHU, but my family stood by me and reassured me that they would handle everything. I trusted them, and after two years of pursuing a master’s degree, I was finally offered a position at Ericsson with a respectable salary.

I have experienced the worst times during my journey, but I never questioned my abilities or my belief …. that one day, I would improve our circumstances. Today, I am able to fill the hearts of family members with pride, making their lives contented, happy and fulfilling, giving them what they deserve!

Total Work Experience : 4 Years (Ericsson Global India PVT. LTD.)