My story · Not a highlight reel

I was the kid people wrote off.
Now I help others avoid the wrong map.

I'm not a topper's success story. I'm someone who failed exams, survived bad advice, watched my parents borrow money for school fees — and still found a way forward. That journey is exactly why I do career guidance today.

Where it started

60% in CBSE — and a family that didn't give up

In 2013 I finished Class 12 from CBSE with 60%. In many Indian households, that's treated as below average — because in CBSE, crossing 70 often feels like the baseline, and anything less gets labelled as "not enough."

While other children went to school, my mother was teaching me another lesson — about life, sacrifice, and what education actually costs. My parents borrowed money from our neighbours to pay my school fees. Not for luxury. Just so I could get a decent education. And after all of that, I brought home 60%.

I failed in a lot of exams — and in a lot of real-life situations too. I didn't have the polished trajectory people admire on LinkedIn. I had confusion, pressure, and the quiet feeling that maybe I wasn't built for the paths everyone else was chasing.

Wrong advice, real cost

Kota — because someone said so, not because it fit

Someone advised my parents: "Send him to Kota." They didn't fully understand what that meant. Neither did I. But somehow, we managed — the fees, the survival, the distance from home.

I gave it everything I had. And I failed — JEE Mains, BITSAT, and other entrances that were supposed to define my future. Kota didn't make me a failure as a person. But it made one thing very clear: putting a child on a path without understanding the child is an expensive mistake.

I think about that every time a parent tells me, "Everyone is sending their child for coaching." I was that child. I know what it feels like when the crowd's plan isn't your plan.

College — where I found my instinct

BTech, Suket, and Brainsters — guiding before I had the title

Somehow I got into BTech. College didn't fix everything overnight — but it gave me a stage. In 2014, the same year I started my degree, I started Suket — a Social Help Society at my college — and led a team of 25 members to run social work on the ground: teaching primary school students, organising community initiatives, and learning what it means to take responsibility for other people's growth.

In 2015 we organised Brainsters 1.0 — an inter-school competition. In 2017, Brainsters 2.0 — bigger, sharper, with roughly 5,000 footfall in Raebareli. I wasn't calling myself a career counsellor then. But I was already doing what counsellors do: bringing people together, creating structure, helping young minds see beyond their immediate classroom.

I graduated in 2018. That year I also received an offer from Flipkart — my first big corporate break. Something didn't work out the way we hoped. Life moved — Gandhinagar, then Bangalore — new jobs, new cities, and honestly, a lot of confusion about what "success" even meant for someone like me.

How guidance became the work

It started with my siblings — then the door never closed

While I was still fighting my own battles in the job market, I had another responsibility: helping my siblings find their way. Two of those stories people know today — a girl who went from BSc to NIT Warangal and became a Programmer, and another who spent years in NEET coaching, pivoted with focused guidance, graduated from NIFT Chennai, and today works as a designer at a major fashion house.

That wasn't marketing. That was family. And when people saw real outcomes — not promises on a brochure — word spread. Some came for career advice. Some for referrals. Some asking me to "fix" a job directly. Some for things I couldn't and shouldn't do.

That's when I understood my lane: I am good at career guidance and counselling. That is what I offer. Everything else — direct job fixing, shortcuts, guarantees — is not on the table.

What I will — and won't — do for you

I'm a guide, not a placement agent

I will

Counsel your child on options they haven't seen yet
Help map aptitude, interest, and realistic career paths
Build a gradual plan — what to do this month, this year, this phase
Teach how to prepare, how to apply, how to grow into a role
Say "no" when a path is wrong — even if it's hard to hear
Work with students, parents, teachers, and institutions honestly

I won't

Promise or "fix" a job for your child
Give false guarantees of selection or placement
Push coaching, degrees, or exams that don't fit the profile
Act as a referral broker or shortcut to hiring
Tell you what you want to hear just to keep you happy

If you want someone who will tell your child how to earn their place — step by step, with clarity — that's me. If you want someone to hand them a job, you'll need someone else. And I'd rather tell you that upfront than waste your child's time.

The path so far

Not linear. Not pretty. Still moving.

2013
Class 12 — CBSE (60%)
Finished school with marks that made many people quietly lower their expectations.
2014
BTech admission · Suket founded
Started college and the Social Help Society — 25-member team, social work, teaching primary students.
2015
Brainsters 1.0
First inter-school competition — early taste of organising at scale for young students.
2017
Brainsters 2.0
~5,000 footfall in Raebareli — proof that I could build something people showed up for.
2018
BTech passout · Flipkart offer
Graduated and received my first major corporate offer — then life took a different turn.
Dec 2018
TCS — SAP Labs
Enterprise discipline: SAP PLM, cloud governance, large-system thinking.
Jun 2022
Times Internet — The Times of India Group
Generative AI at newsroom scale — CMS intelligence, AdTech × GenAI, editorial pipelines.
Oct 2025
WeLocalize — Senior AIML Platform Engineer
Production AI at language scale. Full-time tech. Side-time guidance — still growing.

Why this story matters to you

I've been the confused student. The failed aspirant. The sibling guide. The engineer still learning.

I don't guide from a pedestal. I guide because I know what it costs when nobody maps the road — and what changes when someone finally does.

See how guidance works Email me for guidance

Your child doesn't need another person who only knows toppers' paths.

They need someone who understands average marks, failed attempts, family pressure, and the long route to a career that actually fits. That's the journey I lived. That's the guidance I offer.

tanujsh1010@gmail.com Guidance programs Back to home

I was the kid people wrote off.Now I help others avoid the wrong map.