I joined Scaler School of Technology after quitting my gifting business – Stoned Santa.
~Shashank Shekhar
Back in October 2023 – I QUIT my last job to pursue re-building Stoned Santa – A personalized gifting company that works with artists, and enables them to earn and get recognized for their work,
But after 6 months of pursuing Stoned Santa, I realized a couple of things about myself, and the business –
- I wasn’t as interested in gifting, or art, as I was back in 2019 when I was running it full-time. Something else excited me – Perhaps it was Education, teaching, or sharing stories – But not gifting.
- The Opportunity cost was high – While I was making enough money to sustain myself, and live a decently good life, the question was – Am I learning enough?
Do I need to take the journey of 0-1 of re-building my venture?
Introducing Scaler School of Technology
I had been following Scaler for a long time, and had admired the organization for the things they were doing,
and in November 2023, Manmeet – The Program director reached out to me to explore a potential job opportunity, but I had to decline, as I had just quit my job to pursue Stoned Santa full-time,
But looking at how fate turned out, I wrote to Manmeet in March about my interest in exploring a role with Scaler School of Technology,
Although I had written to some more folks, I found this idea of SST exciting, and here are 3 reasons I joined SST –
- Learning “How to Build a College?” – I am a product of a broken educational system. I have a CS degree with an 8.5 GPA from a Tier-1 private college but am still alien to the world of computer engineering.
Joining SST was an opportunity for me to be a part of the system, and a part of that change. SST’s mission is to revolutionize tech education in India, which is an opportunity for me too. - Dive deeper into my love for Education – When I started building my gifting company, I stumbled across teaching and it changed my life. I’ve been teaching for the past 4 years, and that’s become a part of my life.
So exploring how a college is built brings me closer to my mission of understanding – “How can we make Education better?”
As a kid, I used to tell my father – “When I grow up, I will start a school”, I guess life will manifest that somehow, and this step of joining Scaler School of Technology or becoming a teacher is somehow interconnected to that mission. - Learn more about Organic Marketing – I have been using different marketing channels, but realized that I love organic marketing, more than paid media, and with this job role, I have a chance to dive deeper into this realm.
My current role involves growing the YouTube channel of Scaler School of Technology, along with growing their Instagram, and LinkedIn handles, unlocking the power of SEO, activating User-generated content, community building, and more.
and doing this for a reputed institute like “The Scaler School of Technology” is a matter of privilege.
It’s been about a month since I joined Scaler School of Technology, and it’s been a nice ride, I look forward to building an Ivy League college in India.
So I am excited about this opportunity and curious as to how I will turn out, what learnings will I have, and most importantly – What kind of impact will my work create?
Will I, and my team be able to deliver on the expectations?
Time will tell,
For now – Heads down, and focus on work.
Wish me luck, and strength – Would need buckets full of it. 🙂
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