Story of Usha Waghmare

I am Usha (Medhe) Waghmare, from Solapur. I currently reside in Pune for my job at BNT SOFT. Not that it was my dream job. I aimed to become a CID officer, as I never liked any wrong thing happening around me. Yet, the dream stayed just a dream.

Though I live with the happy memories of my childhood, I remember the struggles of my family. My father was a rickshaw driver and education was never considered essential. I wanted to study but could not.

So, I was married at the age of 14 years and my life completely changed. I became a mother within a year. When I was just 15, I had a daughter. Yet, as my daughter became one year old, I started working but it wasn’t a good experience.

I had to walk to work every day but seeing the children sitting on the sidewalks used to make me upset. One day a thought inspired me, Abdul Kalam Sir had said “Teach someone how to earn bread instead of giving him bread. He will never go too hungry in life.”

It was a life-changing moment and I decided to continue with my education. Although my family opposed my decision, I was adamant and thankfully my husband supported my decision. I finally passed my 10th standard and ranked number one. I got another daughter at this age, yet I continued my studies.

My mother was very supportive, and she took care of my children while I attended my classes and exams. I finally completed my graduation. However, the lockdown happened, and it was a challenging time for all of us. Yet, I utilized this time to focus on my health and started taking a free Yoga class. After doing other jobs, I realized I needed to learn a professional course and enrolled in a Java Full Stack Development course. My family was not willing to allow me, yet I went against their will and completed my course.

After the course, I gave my first interview at BNT. I cleared the aptitude test and Yogeshwar sir took my second round of interviews. I cleared the round and in my third round, the HR told me that I needed to improve my programming skills.

In the final round, the HR said, “You are selected. “I could not believe it”.

I started working and now I know one thing, if we decide to achieve something, we must believe in ourselves and then nothing is impossible. I have been learning new things with BNT and it offers a friendly and supportive environment.

As a mother, I know how important education is for my children and I aspire to set up educational institutions to educate the children who are deprived of this right. I also wish to work for women's empowerment that can help them seek new hope in life and support the parents who have no one for them.