How Hard Work Can Sometimes Feel Like It’s All for Nothing – A Day in the Life of a Software Development Student

How does it feel when you give your time, sweat, and blood for preparing for a test or an exam all night, staying restless and giving your 100%, only to find out that all your hard work has gone to waste? Something like that happened to me today. Let’s walk through what happened.

Hey there, welcome back! Today marks my Day 18 at the Software Development Institute, and today’s date is 11th March 2025. I woke up for Sehri and asked my roommate if he was going to join me for Sehri. He said that he had a good dinner the previous night and wasn’t in the mood to come; he just drank water and planned to fast the rest of the day. I was confused because I was depending on him to go to the masjid for Sehri, and I hadn’t packed my tiffin the previous night. With no other choice, I decided to go alone.

So, I freshened up, got ready for the institute, packed my bag with the necessary stuff, including my laptop, and opened my Uber and Rapido apps. I set the destination on both apps and searched for a ride. Luckily, the riders were available. On Uber, the ride was cheaper, but there were fewer riders available, while on Rapido, there were more riders but the price was higher. Seeing the price difference, I initially booked the Uber ride, but after waiting for 5-10 minutes with no ride confirmed, I switched to Rapido. Just in time, a ride was assigned, and he was very close to my location.

I packed up and was putting on my footwear when the rider called to let me know he was standing outside the PG. I went downstairs, but it turned out he was at the building next to mine. I called him back, and he came to pick me up. He dropped me off at a friend’s PG, and I called my friend. He wasn’t ready yet and had some stuff to do, so I decided to head to the masjid as time was running out.

At the masjid, I waited and ate the almonds I had soaked the previous night. I kept waiting for my friend, but he still hadn’t arrived. I went inside and saw that everyone was seated in groups of four. I was assigned a piece of plastic sheeting to sit on. It was meant to catch food particles, but as I sat there, I realized I forgot to bring water. Everyone else had their own bottles, but I didn’t. I thought I could drink from someone else’s bottle, but no one offered, and we kept waiting. Eventually, food came, and when they brought a tray of rice with gravy, it was devoured quickly. By the time it got to me, the gravy was finished, and all I had was white rice. Some people in my group wanted more rice, so I agreed, and more rice was brought for us.

After eating, I threw the plastic foil in the dustbin and went back to the masjid to offer my prayers. After Fajr, I decided to sleep in the masjid for a quick 30-minute nap since it would take me 30 minutes to go back and forth to my room. But it was cold, and there were many mosquitoes, so I couldn’t sleep. With the institute time approaching, I decided to study instead. I went to the masjid veranda and revised my notes until 7:30 AM. By 8:00, I needed to be in class, so I packed up and headed to the institute.

When I arrived, the door was still closed, and no one was there. The teacher eventually arrived and opened the class, asking why I was early. I told him I had a test, and he said, “Didn’t you see the message in the app? The test is at 9:30.” I quickly opened the app and saw the message. This was the first time I had neglected my phone while studying, and I missed an important notification about the test. It was about the test structure: 3-4 rounds, starting with MCQs, followed by code analysis, code execution, and finally a face-to-face round. I was shocked because I had spent the whole night revising the theory portion, thinking it was only theory-based. But in the test, the theory wasn’t even covered, and the coding part was the main focus.

Despite all my efforts, my preparation didn’t match the actual exam. I didn’t go back to my room to sleep, choosing to stay on time. I ignored coding concepts, which turned out to be essential. This left me in a bad situation.

I went back to the masjid to charge my laptop and revise more. I texted a friend to see if she had seen the notification, and she said she hadn’t either. She also arrived at the institute without her laptop, and we both rushed to figure out what to do. She tried asking people to lend her a laptop, but no one agreed. In the end, she booked a rider to bring her laptop from home to the institute. We all gathered in class to wait for the test.

When the test started, I had to keep my phone and notebooks aside, and plain papers were distributed for answering. The first round was MCQs, but they were different from what I expected. Instead of multiple options, the questions required simple yes/no or true/false answers. I answered 17 out of 20 correctly on the first try, and for the remaining three, I solved two confidently and guessed the third one, assuming it was correct.

The next round was code analysis. I had to read code snippets and find the errors. I got stuck on the first question but eventually answered all four questions after rethinking and correcting my mistakes. Then came the coding round, where I had to solve four coding problems in 60 minutes. I solved the first question easily, moved to the second, but struggled with it. By then, everyone else was screaming for the next question, so the teacher moved on. I skipped the second question and solved the third and fourth ones. When time ran out, the teacher displayed the questions again, and I quickly revisited the second question and fixed my code. In the end, all my programs ran smoothly with no errors.

When the faculty evaluated my work, I was thrilled to see that I received full marks for the coding round. I felt a mix of excitement and embarrassment, as I didn’t want to seem too happy. I went back to my seat, discussed the experience with my friends, and then waited for the final round: the face-to-face interview.

During the interview, I was nervous about my communication and confidence, but I answered all the questions to the best of my ability. The interviewer gave feedback for improvement and provided my score. Afterward, I met with my friends, and we shared our experiences. They had already seen their scores, but I hadn’t. I went back to check my score, and with a little sneakiness, I finally saw it.

We all left the class and headed to the park. My friends and I ate lunch and chatted, and we discussed what to do next. We learned that the next class was canceled, so we all decided to go home. My roommate usually drops me off at the PG, but today Pawan gave me a ride. When I got back, I realized I hadn’t offered Zuhr namaz yet, so I did that. I rewarded myself with some social media scrolling, then wrote yesterday’s blog and today’s blog before heading to the masjid for Asr.

After Asr, I went out for iftar, offered Maghrib, and decided to treat myself to some ice cream. I was about to order a badam shake, but I saw faluda being made, and I craved it, so I got one. Later, my roommate and I decided to grab some food for Sehri. It started raining as we were heading to the restaurant, but we waited and got our food. On the way back, we picked up some essentials, then I went to my room, took care of my stuff, washed my tiffin, and filled up my bottles.

Now, I’m finishing this blog. That’s it for today—let’s see what happens tomorrow. Stay tuned for the latest update, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to my blog.