(MENAFN- Live Mint) Abdul Salim, a software engineer at Zoho, traversed through a dream journey from a blue-collar job to obtaining tech expertise in developing apps. The class 10 dropout documented his career growth from serving as a security guard to a noted tech expert. Hailing from a humble background, the developer crossed several obstacles that came his way, undeterred to build a bright future for himself.

In a LinkedIn post, which went viral, he stated,“In 2013, With just 1000 rupees, I left my home, spent 800 on a train ticket. After roaming for 2 months on the streets, finally found a job at a security desk.”

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Acknowledging Zoho's senior employee's role in changing his destiny. he wrote,“One day, one of the senior employees of the company, asked my name and said - Alim, I can see something in your eyes (sounds filmy I know). He asked me about my studies and my computer knowledge.”

Abdul Salim claimed that the senior employee entrusted him and provided him motivation to learn and hone up his skills, despite the little computer knowledge of HTML he came up with from school days.“In school I learned a little bit of HTML. Then he asked me If I want to learn more, and this is how My learning began,” he said.

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He spent time learning new concepts and tech details after finishing 12 hours security shift. The senior employee's belief in Abdul bore results, who created a small app after about eight months of training. The application he created took user input and visualised it.

The breakthrough in his career came when“The senior employee showed the app to his manager and he liked it. He asked if it is possible to interview me.”

Confident over Abdul's skills, the senior employee had said,“In Zoho You don't need a college degree, What matters here is.... skills” when he was approached for interview.

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As Abdul marked his 8th year at Zoho, he wrote,“I want to thank Shibu Alexis (the senior employee) for all the knowledge and lessons and Zoho for allowing me to prove myself.”

Concluding his post, Abdul remarked,“And on the final note, It is never too late to start learning.” The inspiring journey of a school dropout who never went to college has left an indelible mark. Currently, Zoho has 30 offices spread across 24 countries with over 18,000 employees.

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