A software development engineer at Sridhar Vembu’s Zoho didn’t join the company as a fresher or intern but as a security guard. Yes, that’s how his inspiring journey began. Abdul Alim, who has been with the company for 11 years now, shared his remarkable journey in a post on LinkedIn.
‘Joined Zoho as a security guard’
Alim said that he joined Zoho in 2013 after “roaming the streets for two months” in search of work. While he was working at the security desk, a senior employee named Shibu Alexis approached him, asked about his background and education, and started a conversation about computers.
When Alim mentioned that he had learnt a bit of HTML in school, Alexis encouraged him to learn more, saying he “saw something in his eyes [read spark]”. That particular moment, Alim said, became the turning point that set him on a path of continuous learning and growth.
Although his LinkedIn post is four years old, it has gone viral online, with people drawing inspiration from him.
“In 2013, with just 1000 rupees, I left my home, spent 800 on a train ticket. After roaming for 2 months on the streets, he finally found a job at a security desk,” he wrote on LinkedIn, before adding, “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. 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.”
‘I gave the interview and passed it’
He revealed that he would learn HTML every day after completing his 12-hour shift as a security guard. “About eight months later, I created a small app. An app that takes the user input and visualises it. The senior employee showed the app to his manager, and he liked it. He asked if it was possible to interview me.”
Having studied only up to Class 10, Alim never imagined sitting for an interview. But he was told that at Zoho, skill and determination mattered more than college degrees. “And the day came, gave the interview and… passed it.”
He ended his LinkedIn post on a thought-provoking note – “It is never too late to start learning.”
Who is Abdul Alim?
Abdul Alim is a software development engineer at Zoho, where he has been working for the past 11 years. Despite having studied only up to Class 10 and not attending college, he completed a one-year computer programming course from Zoho University and started with the company as an engineering trainee.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he developed a COVID-19 tracker in 2020 that also integrated related news coverage. He has cleared several LinkedIn Skill Assessments for technologies, including front-end development, JSON, jQuery, CSS, Node.js, JavaScript, and React.
He has also been endorsed by colleagues for his expertise in Angular, data visualisation, D3.js, MongoDB, HTML5, Java, GitHub, Linux, and PHP.
Alim is fluent in five languages, with full professional proficiency in Tamil and English, and native or bilingual proficiency in Assamese, Bengali and Hindi.