With a Bachelor's in CS & Master's in AI and ML, I Am a Digital Marketer Now

By - Nikhil Patil, Board Infinity Alumni

1. Early Life

My name is Nikhil Patil. I am 25 year old. My hometown is Dhule, North Maharashtra. I grew up in an officer’s colony as my father is a government engineer. As a kid, I have led a very disciplined life but I was always an average student academically. But, there was something I was really good at which was anything and everything creative. I do anchoring, I am a singer, and I am also a theatre artist. Now, I am trying my best to be a Digital Marketer.

2. Early Career Background

I did my Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering from D.Y. Patil College in Pune. During my graduation, I realized coding wasn’t my cup of tea at all and decided to go for an MBA once I was done with my degree. But, because of a family mishap, I couldn’t go for the MBA.

In 2018, while I was in college, I was introduced to Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning and I pursued my master's in the same. But, it couldn’t keep me interested for long either!

During my master's, there was a seminar in college where I got to know about this upcoming field - Digital Marketing through a Social Media Influencer in the same field - Digital Prateek. We had a seminar with him on the values of Digital Marketing and why there was a boom in the market. This seminar was the turning point in my career. I was very much interested in the field, it seemed like something where I could put my creative energy to use.

I did an internship in Digital Marketing with Digitize Brand Pvt. Ltd. in Pune for five months and got a better understanding of the field. It was something I could be good at with experience. I started looking for a full-time job in Digital Marketing. Once I was done with my master's, I finally got a job at Synectic Global as a Junior Digital Marketing Executive. When the pandemic happened in 2020, the company had ramped down its processes. After a few days, we were called for a meeting where they said they wanted to give us a “break”, which was a subtle way of saying “you have lost your job”. I didn’t get any response from them for six months.

I was completely shattered as finding a job without a degree in Digital Marketing was extremely difficult and that too during a pandemic. Expectations were high at home and the opportunities that were coming my way were usually unpaid. It’s the harsh reality of the creative fields. You only get paid well if you have a proper degree to encash. I was in my hometown in Dhule while all this was happening and I couldn’t dare to go to Pune because my family was scared to let me go.

When all of my options closed, I started searching for online courses in Digital Marketing for a better hold of the field and a certificate. That's when I stumbled upon Board Infinity’s website. I got in touch with the counselling team. After one and half hours of discussion, I was convinced that if I could master the course well, I could easily get good jobs with a handsome salary.

3. Learning Experience at BI

My journey with BI was very productive. Coach Ashwini Desai is a very knowledgeable person and is one of those people who know how to connect with students. The activities, guest lectures, other than the course were also very helpful. For me, I would say, it was a Paisa Vasool kind of an experience. Coach Ashwini is extremely talented, she also used to share her experiences with us to make us understand everything our way.

The reason why I chose Digital Marketing over Engineering was that I have seen people code. They usually follow the same pattern and I wanted to break free from that pattern. With Digital Marketing, building strategies, troubleshooting them, and using different tools, helped me channel my creative energies. It’s a beautiful field and I am very happy to be a part of it.

Now, I am waiting for the placements. I am all boosted up since I am already experienced in the field and now I even have a certificate to certify my talents and my skills.

Connect with Me

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