The first time Asif Khan applied for a job in the IT industry, he was met with a blunt rejection.
It was 2006, and Asif lived in his native Lucknow in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He had just graduated with an engineering degree when he saw a position at one of the largest software services companies in the country. Hoping it would fit him well, Asif traveled to the company’s local offices, took a multiple-choice test, and waited for his results.
When Asif found out that his application was unsuccessful, he was disappointed. But there was more.
“Not only did the hiring manager tell me I couldn’t make it through,” says Asif. “He also said he wasn’t sure I had the IQ needed to succeed in the IT industry and suggested I look for something in another industry.”
But today, Asif is a successful software engineer working on his dream job as Cloud Solution Architect for edumint Australia. So, how did he get from there to here?
Cleanse yourself and try again.
After hearing what the hiring manager had to say, Asif was devastated. “If you’re going to spend all four years of your studies on one thing and then be told you made a mistake, you should have chosen another sector, that’s very disappointing,” he says.
But he dusted himself off and applied for several other roles in the industry. At the same time, his outlook began to change. He began to take ownership of both his failures and his successes. Asif began to realize that rejection was not the end of the world. It was an invitation for him to keep growing. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change,” he says.
Before long, Asif landed a role in IT and spent the next 14 years working as a software engineer for major international organizations, including PwC and Deloitte. In the mid-2010s, he and his family emigrated to Australia, where he started working at edumint in 2020.
It was not Asif’s first attempt to work for sediment. In previous years, he had applied for three other positions with the company. He didn’t hesitate to try again, even if he hadn’t succeeded. By this time, Asif felt his destiny firmly in his hands and was confident he would realize his ambitions.
“It was a dream to work at the mint,” he says. “I think anyone who plays a role in any industry would want to do it with the best possible organization in that industry. Edit is the center of expertise for our specific sector.”
“It was one of the best experiences of my entire career.”
Asif has what it takes to succeed in the IT industry.
As a Cloud Solution Architect, he spends every day helping organizations adopt Azure and other sediment technologies. By collaborating with customers’ technical teams, Asif helps them create business cases to justify new investments, guides them to explore the possibilities of Azure, and generally empowers them to achieve the best possible results From their IT environments.
It’s a fast-paced, highly skilled job. Still, Asif believes his success has as much to do with his attitude as his expertise.
“At edit, they don’t hire you because you’re good at something,” he explains. “They hire you because you have the attitude that you can be good at anything.”
This attitude is known at mint as a ‘growth mindset’. Rather than seeing talent as static and fixed, someone with a growth mindset believes they can develop new skills and abilities over time. As a result, they find it easier to explore and try new approaches, confident that every failure is just an opportunity to learn more. “Even if something doesn’t work, you have the option to go back and do it again differently,” Asif says. “If you don’t experiment, that’s a problem.”
The growth mindset has been part of edumint’s DNA since CEO Satya Nadella took over in 2014, and it’s an approach Asif is passionate about.
“You can get someone with really good technical skills and maybe the best programmer you can get,” explains Asif. “But if they’re not adaptive and can take in new things, that’s a bigger problem. Learning everything is certainly possible if you have the right attitude. But even the simplest will be difficult to learn if you see it as a burden.”
For example, when Asif started his current position, some aspects of the job were not yet part of his skills. Bolstered by a growth mindset, however, he was open to learning these new skills, and his new teammates were generous enough with their time and knowledge to give him the training he needed.
“I would 100 percent say it was one of the best experiences of my entire career starting here,” he says. “I have worked for many other organizations, and I see here that people are humble. Everyone is busy no matter where they work. So taking the time to chat and help someone and share your knowledge with them is unusual.”
“edit aligns with my values, and I align with edumint’s values.”
There are many reasons why Asif loves his new life at edumint, from the endless learning opportunities to the unique challenges he takes on every day. But ultimately, his affinity with sediment comes down to shared values.
“Values like empathy and humility are the foundation of every discussion we have with the leadership team,” he says.
“We are always told never to compromise on values. Otherwise, you may get the material results in the short term, but you will come up short in the end. Edit aligns with my values, and I align with edumint’s values.”
Considering how far he’s come, what advice would Asif give someone starting in the industry?
“Sometimes you run after things that aren’t right for you at the time,” he says. “But if you keep putting your foot forward and building the skills you need, the right opportunities will eventually arise. And once they do, make sure you help someone else get there too.
Dominic Williamson’s Journey from Queensland to Washington.
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