The Start
I did my undergrad in India, a bachelor of science in computer science to be specific. I’d loved tech since I was a kid and knew I wanted to work in the tech industry.
Unfortunately for me, I did a B.Sc and not a B.Tech, and in India, a B.Sc in computer science is not considered as good as a B.Tech. Besides it always was, and always will the fact that big tech doesn’t really look at non Tier-1 College students (although there may be the occasional exception). So, I knew that if I wanted to work in big tech, I had to do something about it.
LeetCoding was always happening, and I used to handcode projects (this was before LLMs were a thing), and this meant I was learning a truckload of stuff on the way.
So, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Germany to improve my career prospects. I did also consider the US, but the cost, and even the job situation didn’t look very reassuring, and I didn’t want to gamble.
A couple of reasons why…although to be quite honest, the main reason was that education was quite cheap (although it’s free for citizens…which makes sense considering the taxes they pay), of course I’d also looked up the courses and they seemed really interesting.
I ended up applying to Universität Stuttgart, and I got in.
The Study Experience
It’s quite different from India! Ahahah :)
You have just 1 exam per paper per semester, and the semester is 6 months long.
The exams aren’t like India where you can just mug up and pass. You have to understand the concepts, and the exams are designed to test your understanding of the concepts. You’ll sometimes have questions that are not directly related to the course material, but you can solve them if you understand the concepts. But then again…it’s not very likely you’ll be able to solve those. In reality you don’t have to get all the questions to score well — if that’s even a goal.
Atleast in CS, nobody really cares about your grades outside of academia. If you’re into research, then your grades matter, but if you’re not, then they don’t.
Companies are more interested in your skills, and what you can do, and not your grades. So, if you’re a student, don’t worry about your grades too much. Focus on learning, and building stuff. The interview step is quite decisive…they ask you questions to probe your understand of stuff, and if you can answer them, then you’re good to go. If not, then you have to work on your skills.
Speaking of companies…I worked at Mercedes at their headquarters in Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, and it was a quite an experience.
Mercedes Benz
The interview process was straightforward,
I learned a lot about the automotive industry and how things work in a big company. I had a fantastic boss, a very flexible work schedule, and a great team. There were other students as well, and we all got along really well.
I learned a lot about the automotive industry and how things work in a big company. I also got to work on some really interesting projects.
I also got really good at predicting S-Bahn delays in Stuttgart though ahahah…ahem 😬…especially that notorious S1, which caused me to miss an exam in my first semester at uni!
I was really fortunate to get to work here for a year…I got in just around the second sem and this really made me financially independent, as this was around the time that my Sperrokonto (blocked account) was running out of money, and I didn’t want to ask my parents for money. I was really happy to be able to support myself, and I was also able to save some money as well.
So yea…big thank you to Mercedes for giving me this opportunity 🙏
Berlin
I’d had a lot of people tell me that Berlin might just be a great fit for me, and I somehow landed up there, and I must say…so far…so good :)
I applied at Superhuman (formerly Grammarly) during Christmas 2025, and in Jan 2026 I got shortlisted for their interview process. I had a couple of interviews, and I got an offer from them within 2 weeks of my first interview. I was quite surprised…I mean that’s kinda nuts, all said and done.
The interview process here was along the lines of american big techs — I had an online assessment, followed by a live coding round, followed by an engineering manager round which was kind of system design-y, as you had to explain a project that you’d built, and they’re basically grilling you about it. It was fun. I really loved how quick the turn around times were. With that said, that’s not necessarily how it happens all the time, ahaha :)
Superhuman
So I had a WG room from the student body in Esslingen, since I was studying at Uni Stuttgart, and I had to move to Berlin for my new job. I was quite lucky to find a WG room in Berlin, and I moved in there in Feb 2026.
I subletted my room in Esslingen…which was…stressful to say the least…but es ist wie es ist :)
The company is great, and the people make it even better. I picked up table tennis!
I got to push to prod in the Grammarly for Mac app, cause app hangs for 1% of users (at 40 million daily active users I was positively on edge), investigate with the on-call and was walked through a fix! Crazy experience!
I also got to build a really convenient features for developer experience, especially for release testing, that the team really liked. Apart from that I got to work on a gargutan intern project which also aimed to greatly improve developer velocity in the Mac team, which was also super cool to say the least.
Last, but not the least, I got a return offer, and will be joining next April as a full time SWE :)
Onwards
So what’s next? Well, I don’t know, or rather…TONS!
I have a lot of ideas, and I want to explore them all. I want to build stuff, and learn new things. I want to play more table tennis — maybe even play in leagues. I want to learn to fly FPV, color correct, the whole nine yards.
Yes, I need to continuously upskill to stay relevant, but I think it’s also time have hobbies and expand beyond being just a tech bro.
I’m already in the best shape I’ve been in my whole life, and I intend to keep that going. It’s just about consistency and discipline, and I think I’m getting better at that.
All in all, I’m super grateful for the opportunties I’ve had, all the love and support I’ve been showered with, and Germany, for being so kind to me, as I started out on this whole adventure.
It’s been a blast. I should be finishing up with my degree in the next semester. Maybe I’ll write about how my thesis went?
Until the next one ;)
(And oh, I’m pushing this post from Baku 😁)