Although the meaning of ‘being awesome’ is different for different people, everyone wants to be the awesome guy. Everyone wants to do something more than the routine, something beyond convention, something ‘awesome’. But only a few, dedicated and hard working get there. And once they get there, they won’t stop , they go for more. Here’s a guy who surely is more than the routine, beyond normal, who is ‘awesome’.
Aneesh Jajodia is a web designer, a web developer, a hacker, a businessman, a photographer, an innovator, an inventor and yes, KMITian, Information Technology, third year. Well we believe he is not just a person, he’s an idea.
So Aneesh, tell us about your education before KMIT happened to you. What kind of a student were you ?
“Well, I’ve done by schooling from St. Pauls, and intermediate from Little Flower Jr. College. Honestly, I was never a person to be a star in studies. I’ve always managed to keep my grades over distinction. But never was too bright or book-worm kind of a person.”
When and how did it all start ? The web designing, developing, the interest, the everything ! I mean, the turning point.
“Well, it all started when my father bought a computer 16 years ago. So the very interest in computers/technology got into me through my dad. I started to play around with computers ever since. The little tinker in me always went behind the operating system files and other sensitive things I wasn’t allowed to play with. And during this process, I came across a lot of new things I did not know about, so whenever I got a chance, I used to explore the internet so as to find the scope behind them.”
“Eventually, I started building applications for some small groups on a Social Networking Website, using the Visual Basic, Visual C++ by using Google as my arsenal. These applications were quite useless and inappropriate, as those were for making fake IDs in websites like Orkut, Google, Yahoo etc. And I never got paid for doing any of them, but then I was learning new things and I liked that.”
Heard you were a hacker as well, what about that ?
“Yes, I was one. As I was entering my teens, I got into hacking phenomenon. I slowly started hacking small websites as I learnt it all myself. In this process of exploring and learning new things, I came across web development. Once the web-development interested me, I started researching more and that’s when it led to making of my full-fledge self-owned website in my 7th standard, and I barely knew algebra then(laughs)”
What was your source of learning ? Any tips for your fellow juniors? Any specific tools you used while learning ?
“According to me, the only thing that can make you pull up your socks to learn anything is the passion. I’ve never been to any course to learn any kind of computer-knowledge I have right now. The only source for finding the source of learning was/is the mighty search engine, Goddess Google.”
“I experimented with a lot of tools available in the market to work with. Initially, when I started with the web-development I used ‘Dreamweaver’, but then because of it’s additional features which didn’t help me in any way (at least at that point). That’s when I shifted to ‘Notepad’, cause that was just the perfect thing for coding/programming web.”
Was /Is there a mentor for what you have been doing ? Or is it just you fighting the world ?
“Mentor, none as such. Just the interest kept me going. Back when I was into hacking, Ankit Fadia, a prominent ethical hacker, was the man I dreamt of being.”
How did your parents feel about you making websites at the age of 12 ? It doesn’t happen so often you know.
“My parents were very proud of me with the fact that I was making websites at that age. And like everyone else, they kept boasting about my work to friends and family. But I did not let that get to my head, because I knew a few people who build far better, functional and heavy websites than I did. So I always tried to be down to earth and kept learning as much as I can and my parents never stopped me from doing that.”
What about the ‘recharge.im’ you started ?
“My friend (from Ludhiana) and I started ‘Recharge.IM’, in early 2011, which was built for recharging a mobile phone or DTH connection etc. through online banking. But gradually due to the management problems and low-margins, we had to sell it.” Is it still out there? “No, I think it’s dead now(laughs)”
‘Creative Cases’ is the start up everyone around us knows, specially the iPhone users. Tell us about it.
“Creative Cases is a start-up initiated by my brother and me. It took us quite a while to put up things upright. Basically we build cases of high quality (which actually protects your phone), designed by creative young designers across India. As the desired quality couldn’t be achieved in India, we make them built in a factory abroad and procure them to our warehouse, which later gets packaged and marketed.”
“Currently we are dealing with designer phone cases for iPhones only, but gradually we’d enter the markets of other phones as we are in talks and process of setting up a manufacturing unit here. ”
“Throughout the process, my parents have always believed in us and supported us.”
You were always on the rise, didn’t people pull you back ? Does it affect you anyway ?
“Well, people obviously try to pull you back with negative feedback. Maybe out of jealously or anything else, but then when things are properly planned, and you want to keep improving, you become quite confident in what you do and what you can do, and you tend not to deviate from your thing. And it isn’t like I don’t lack confidence, sometimes I do. But it’s fine, you know.”
There is a huge collection of pictures taken by you. We believe they are very professional. Do you have any plans in that field ?
“Photography has always been a passion for me since a long time. I’ve clicked a lot of pictures, and have done professional shoots earlier. I used to run a website and a page of social media websites, promoting my photography. But on just any day, I deleted it off. Cause there was a lot of crowd which thought that owing a DSLR makes them a professional photographer. I did not want to be named as such, so I left it as my hobby. I still click pictures around at times for shoots, but it’s purely for myself, so no professional future at all.”
Tell us about your recent work.
“Well, recently I’ve been working out on my personal start-up, i.e. www.creativecases.in. Otherwise I deal with projects of clients around my friend-circle/country.”
” www.marigoldweddings.co.in, www.sandhyaconvention.com,
www.fadjuice.in,
www.kamalkiranphotography.com, www.feplengineering.com, all these were just completed. I’ve got a few on my hand too right now, so I have been working on them. I try to take up as many different kind of projects as possible as I keep learning more through them.”
With all this going on in life, how are you putting up with the college ? JNTU is not so easy after all.
“Like most of the JNTU guys, I listen to the classes and tend to study in the month of exams, cause otherwise I’m just too occupied. I respect academics but with all this going on in my life, it’s so not easy to balance it all. But I’m trying everything I can.”
So any future plans ? Anything big coming up ?
“Nothing yet, just working on my start-up. Hopefully according to the vision, things can go big. Let’s hope for the best.”
“I never thought I was special but thank you kMITRA, for making me feel like one.”
Thank you Aneesh for sharing your work and ideas with us. kMITRA wishes you all the luck and success with your start up.
In some way or the other, Aneesh teaches us that through zeal and hard work, one can do wonderful things, even beyond one’s level. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Aneesh gives us the real definition of ‘awesomeness’. He has set a bench mark to a class of upcoming computer geeks in the college. It is a privilege to have someone around us who can make a difference in lives of people around him as well. As they say,
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in life.”
Aneesh achieves it as he is passionate about his work, something he finds fun to do, isn’t it something we all look forward to ?
Check out his start up at:
Check out Aneesh’s work at:
Contact Aneesh at:
me@aneesh.me
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