hi i'm radha thanks for joining today so as we are discussing this particular videos for this channel we are focusing on people with first generation who are first generation graduates or people from rural areas who would like to have a career guidance and career path the people who have traveled through that path and we would like to meet them and know their experience so thanks for joining and people who are seeing videos in this channel please don't forget to subscribe the channel and let's now start the interview with ridhal can you please tell about yourself how when did you come to canada and what was your background thanks venkatesh for having me uh so i'm originally from delhi i came uh right after my 12th standard i graduated to my 12th standard i had in 11 12 pcm or non-medical that we call it physics chemistry maths and i i came here pretty much because i thought there's at that point as well and even now i feel there's not a lot of opportunities uh to the level of uh and the level of technology and infrastructure is just not there and overall i i did visit canada when i was little i did like it so it was a natural choice um i went to sheridan college for a three year advanced diploma in computer systems technology in which you learn programming basically on different languages the web development and now the courses are also changing so my course has a different name now and different courses that's also something that i knew that happens outside and in canada that um courses change based on the industry needs which is i don't think happens at that pace or it's it's that dynamic in india um right now i i graduate i graduated my college in december 2019 then since then i was working at woodbine i also got laid off due to covered then i got another job at different companies and then i'm back at woodbine i'm currently on a desktop analyst row which is kind of like system admin role and i like it it's uh it has a good work life balance i i like my company i like my colleagues and it's it's a lot of learning opportunities um so you can you get your hands on a lot of different uh technologies and you are able to work with the application guy application team security team networking team uh so it's a mix of everything that's why i like it i'm also a people person i think so i like talking to different uh i like solving problems then i like talking to people so this was a nice role correction so you came directly to for after you finish your 12th standard from india to do your higher education here in canada so how was this research experience like how did you how did how did you start researching on the in colleges that can accept people directly from total standard from the point that how did you prepare your statement of purpose i know colleges here admit students based on the statement of purpose so how did you prepare that on what aspects did you prepare that statement of purpose um and how what was the criteria for the university to admit uh you do you think uh the in uh the if you look on any website in canada i think uh it's very basic that you have to have certain number of marks like an aggregate that this much you need to have either after 12th or after graduation if you're coming for pg even for that they have a certain uh mark so if you you should qualify for that in canada especially uh i the ielts ielts uh that's the examination you need to give the academic work of it um it it consists of four parts reading writing speaking and listening um you need to have a minimum band that the college again like it provides on their website on and it might be different for different courses because um the programs are going to be predominantly here in english so you need they need to know that you understand it to the level that you will be able to successfully uh complete the program right so so was was that your 12th examination board was it specifically anything like cbse um uh cbse right okay yes i i graduated from cbs cbse right so that marks uh uh the the is should we there be i assume you should have got some equivalency to convert it to canadian standards so to for them to interpret the marks or uh was it not needed no so what uh what happens is you just at that point um i was just asked to give because i you when you apply the marks for 12 standard day for finals they come in maybe the results come in may so and the the process of submissions will be over by march or april so for that the college uh requires you to send what they call predictive scores and those predictive scores are written by your teachers and they're signed by the principal so they give you a score based on your performance in the school that this students should get these many marks now there's and at that point you get a conditional offer letter from the college if you are accepted in that condition later there's a condition that too much variation in those marks will uh if that happens we they can't retract that offer you need to make sure that you give a mark you give marks or your teachers give you marks that you will be able to get close to or surpass that's fair so that was one thing um the other is the sop you should again like uh whenever someone asks me why in which if they would just want to go out or come to canada i i do ask them that why they want to come to canada like there are so many other countries there's also u.s there's new zealand there's uk so you need to know why only canada and why really a particular province or a particular institution or a particular course so you need to know um you need to be attracted to something like you need to be attracted by maybe canadian nature it is when it is really cold here sometimes but um it's really beautiful as well um you i am attracted to that i was attracted by the technology industry how much it's growing and so many opportunities so many um big companies coming into canada and setting up their offices so the industry was growing in itself and i genuinely was interested in learning about technology so if you have that drive towards a course towards when you know what you want to do this statement of purpose you just you just mention all those things and yeah you need to mention links that if you're really interested in that how you have been keeping up it could have been that you were a part of a science exhibition competition or you have been making the school website something like that or you have been studying online on your own on youtube some courses and you have made something or you have learned something or got a certification on linkedin as well that's that also counts so just link what you want to achieve to what you have been doing so there's a connection so the officer who reads it or um they know that okay yeah this student really likes this course so he will genuinely be trying to look to learn when he said right um so that's awesome points so apart from this sop and uh the the main objective on the course what what are the other uh criterias that do you think the college needs apart from your prospective marks and the sop are there any more things that someone needs to keep in mind when applying for the university it's it's nice if you have some extracurriculars it's not all about academics when you will come here most probably you'll be all alone on your own so you need to have a hobby and you need to be following that now it can be that you know i i was the head boy of my school so that was my biggest thing for till 12th that i and then before that also i was in student cabinet for multiple levels i was good in sports i was good i like i had so many things to back me up that i will be able to you know have a good life even if i'm alone i'll be able to make just a mix with everyone that i i'll be good with multiple things so it doesn't have to be multiple but you should let them know that you're good at something other than academics i think that's also something to keep in mind and even if you're not if you really lie about it i would recommend that you try something anyways because when you really come here you'll you'll need some hobby to keep you busy keep your mind off you know thinking about back home or homesickness it still happens so if you're busy you you might not think about that too much so it's a good thing so that's something other than that i i don't think there's a much um there should be a tough mind like it'll be tough here for the first couple of years um you'll be doing a part-time job you'll be working along side as uh well maybe two part-time jobs sometimes so um yeah and you need to adjust you'll be moving a lot if you don't find good roommates you'll have to move again then moving in so it's a it's it will be tough but just uh remember that why you're here always what's your goal right and from where you have come and what where do you want to go right before i thanks for mentioning before i come to the finding a settling part of the migration uh i would like to know the second biggest thinking that one will have like right from school to college in a different country going to a different city is a big thing for many people from rural background or first generation kids are going to a different country from the financial aspect how do you think one can get it ready uh what kind of support do we get back home uh from india and in indian banking system or anything or what are the other options can one have uh is there something that you can give more information on that yeah so there are some of my friends who did come here after graduation and they came here on their own money some of them like they did not take any money from their parents so they they had to take like study loans from india and they got it right now i think if you qualify if you have an offer letter from a college getting a study loan is not too much of an issue in india um so that part is good the other thing is that uh i think if you're coming after 12th um or even after p for even for pg you should consider looking at scholarship options for from your college if you're coming in september if you're getting admitted at that point applications usually start in january and the scholarship applications should be complete by february so every college will have different criterias for giving scholarships in that sense like if you have extracurriculars that would help they you just need to prove them that you are you know you are a little out of the herd you you you're not like just academic or or maybe if you're a academic you're really good like you have olympiad medals for you've been uh topper of your class for like the past three or four years so that would help as well so scholarship is a good option um you can also get in touch with the university even before that like you if you're if the applications open in january let's say you can just email the international center at the college you're applying to and ask them that hey do you have you know any programs for me in which i can get some financial aid maybe there are programs that are not listed or maybe if you tell them your situation and what you're planning and if they really like you they might be able to provide something for you so that'll be nice um these are the couple of things you should always keep in mind but because and the other part is when you come here you do a part-time job anyways right to support yourself so that's a whole different thing before coming here i think those two are the most important things just making sure that you're applying your applications on time for scholarships and uh that you're having documentation of your extracurriculars right i know that you did your course in computer science background but just in case if someone um decides to come after 12th how should he or she should get the confidence uh in terms of that he they will get a job for sure um this is a kind of doubt everyone will have like i'm moving to a new country will i will the course that i am going to study will i end up in a job is this this college this course uh will will that be a job prospect because everyone comes here not just for education but to also to find a good job that will sustain a good lifestyle right so from that aspect as a 12th graduate what kind of things how did you research to know for sure that yes i'm going to study this college this course and i know that this will pay me off so again this this pulls down to what interest you have right you should always do something that you like first of all just don't go after the job that's in the market you should also like it otherwise it's it's not really it won't be something that you would want to do it will be something you'll have to do so that's a pretty big difference in a job after that you need to be a little bit proactive if you are into technology you would know um that okay which which companies are the big four big 10 companies and you can just go to the website really you can see how many job opportunities if you filter in any country or if you filter in just toronto how many job opportunities there are compared to that how many you know graduates usually uh are there in a year so based on that um you can get a pretty good idea really just googling the right things um will be important and after that you should also see that a country technology is something that now every country needs so it's a very good industry to be in but something like marketing um some of my friends have did ask me that they wanted to go into marketing and they wanted to be in canada and get a job in marketing and that's a very um there are a lot of people that want the jobs and there are not a lot of jobs so it'll be helpful if you can reach out to someone that is doing that job in the country just reach out to them on linkedin and uh ask them their honest opinion of uh what how tough it will be to get their first job because that's just a foot once you get your foot in the door that's that's like an opening then you keep on growing that's a different thing but to get that first job you sh you you need a lot of uh struggle you'll have to go through and even in technology sometimes uh you that getting that first job is uh it's like so important um because before that any exp if you don't have any experience no one will really you you'll always have a kind of a back side that okay this guy does not have any experience so we're gonna give this to him right it'll be that so search and um think about uh what that country does as well canada is not really big in manufacturing so if you're coming here in a supply chain uh manager line or something like that it would be a little bit it's going to be a little bit tough because canada has not manufactured a lot of things it might be a good place for warehousing or stocking up or inventorying but not necessarily supply chain so something like that you just need to understand you you get you need to understand the country and then uh what are strengths and based on that the jobs will be quite logical like what sector will be most suited to you right i know that you did internship uh so how sheridan college helps in finding the internship for undergraduate students can you how the co-op department works there how supportive they are what kind of support do they provide do they help in preparing the resume and all so what kind of support how do they do companies come there for placement or what kind of support happens can you speak about the co-op uh placement at sheridan yeah so co-op here means internship and uh both college and university courses have a co-ops some of some of the co-ops are paid some are unpaid um so but it's a good thing that if you get co-op you get industry experience like hands-on experience so even before leaving college you'll have experience that you can show right after leaving college to companies sheridan specifically has a co-op department that or they say i think the name of the department is a student opportunity department or something like that so they yes they help you make the resume there's an actual class of i think two months that you every student has to attend mandatorily and in that they teach you to how to build a resume um how to keep up in your search for the jobs and if if they if you find anything and if you get an interview they also help you in mock interviews so it it's a good help for someone especially who does not have a lot of contacts here who does not know a lot of people it's a really good thing but don't completely depend on them they also tell you that there are other websites other than sheridan that sheridan also posts its jobs on its own website for co-op but it does tell you that don't just depend on these jobs search indeed search monster.com um there are so many other websites that you can zip recruiter all the websites just keep searching because uh like my first interview came after i applied for 130 jobs and i got rejected 130 times but i just kept applying so it's just uh a lot of companies might not take you even for co-op they they for some co-ops they just need experience even though it's co-op um they won't take you and always be open to learning that should be either in full-time part-time co-op does not necessarily mean anything should always be open to learning so when you get uh selected for an interview i think uh the biggest point you should be proving is that you're open to learning that you will be willing to do uh hands-on work a lot and uh you're not you won't be shy for asking for help that's uh that's something that's important nice that you touched on how a candidate has to present himself when there is not much of a prior work experience how he must present himself in an interview in a convincing manner that he open for learning and not hesitate to ask for help if needed and will do your hands-on in terms of getting things done that's something is what definitely i think you have touched on the way the candidate should present himself in an interview rhythm uh i have one follow-up question like you said your teachers were in the school will be giving the prospective mark the student will be getting in the exam so i'm just wondering if the if the if that letter is on school's school's header uh is it enough or should you get any letter from this cbse board uh saying that something something supporting that he has some past mark something is there anything is the school's letter letter is enough or is there uh is any other letter from the education board is also needed um to them no the school's letter is enough if it's a cbse recognized school um the marks will uh however be only validated after the final marks of your 12th right so that that result comes from cbse themselves so you will have to upload those marks anyway so till that point um the offer letter will be conditional so even though you pay a fee even though you have a seat everything can be reversed if your marks are not you know if they're not in a range so to speak right and um since an international student comes all on his own to a new country uh how do we um settle uh when you come new to the country like how did you find your first place did you travel with anyone uh did you got to get get to make network networking even before traveling to canada like whether any um facebook page uh where you can connect with the students of the same college or toronto like people who come to the same city uh can you suggest anything on that yeah so there are multiple platforms you can actually do it colleges and universities themselves reach out especially to international students their international department reaches out to them they let them know how really to prepare and even what to pack like what kind of things they should be for the when if they are coming for the very first time in canada so uh most colleges do that um some things are that you should not buy a lot of winter clothes because indian winter clothes here are not really worn that much canadian winter and winter gear is very different so the winter jacket you get here versus the jacket there it's completely different we you will have to get winter boots here so don't pack your stuff with unnecessary items pack with your stuff pack with the pack wisely because you'll have a certain amount of weight and after even after they reach out they will also connect you sometimes with a mentor so a mentor might be a second year student who is also an international student who will share their experience with you personally and they will they are getting paid for this it is a real job so if you have any questions you can reach out to them and they will let you know uh what to do uh they will a lot of colleges universities go to the level that they're gonna receive you at the airport and they will and the student mentor who is there they will find you a place for maybe the first month um and a very nominal fee compared to what the rent is here there is also i think rent for places uh there's a website that specifically for students that's used for renting so you can use that a lot of people also website name i i'm guess just quickly search as well just wondering in case if someone is watching this and uh it knowing the exact name might be useful for them uh right especially oh it is uh rent for students.com it is an actual very straightforward that's where you can research from india itself and you can uh book a room and you can pay the rent so that you know where to go and stay when you land in the airport right yeah it might be this for one or two months but it's a good thing and there's also facebook pages so facebook pages will uh i think so my sister she's in ottawa she had to go from here to or from toronto to warwick so that is in itself a pretty big thing for me so i also had to search for some kind of accommodation for her i used their college's facebook page i found um a pg where all girls lived they were all indians and they were really honest and they were open about everything that uh yeah we are all graduates from this college some do some are working right now but we're still living together and there are no issues usually there are no issues and if you want really if you really want to make sure that you're not getting into a scam or anything and you don't have to pay you don't pay like that um some students what they do is for the first two weeks or ten days they take it they book an airbnb which is a little bit costly but it makes sure that when you come here you'll be in a place like home so then you can search for your place um but i would prefer going to facebook pages going to the kijiji marketplace as well kijiji i don't think is a website in india kijiji is also a website here in which you can get uh rentals uh all those places we have to have a star mark saying be aware of scammers so don't don't pay them upfront sometimes they will not be uh there won't be any house at all right yeah so then there are things like that pages are really cool i think trustworthy like where you can discuss with other students who are also similarly looking yeah right so yeah those are the some of the places and then if you get connected with them the good thing is if you get connected with that on facebook page with someone you can now follow them and instagram you can actually know that it's a real person so that's a good thing so these are some of the things you can do um uh so yeah i think that that's a fantastic can you say something about your course like what did they teach you like you came directly from 12 standards so what did they taught you and how did that four it was a three year program you said so how did those three years went by uh the first year was very quick um the first so big i i was excited as well and uh so the college was basically it was programming so they were coding languages um i focused mainly on java i learned they taught me csharp.net java all the web development technologies uh html css javascript c-sharp um java uh what was that jquery um php and angular so a lot of languages including that we had the option to take uh either android or ios so either swift or kotlin or java as a programming languages to build a mobile applications so it was a lot of hands-on in india if even in a degree course i think a lot is theory just theory just you know memorizing things and writing it down on paper but here it's really hands-on i i did not have to buy a book in my college i it was everything was hands-on uh pretty much like at least eighty percent of my course i you'll sick networking and security or just networking in general configuring switches building firewalls making a rainbow table um and at the very end this was my so first year was pretty simple second year we had uml a little bit so building workflows and uh we also so there were things that were core programming there were things that were building workflows how to make making how how to make sure that you're following the right i.t guideline policies and then they were um then the last year was a year-long project that you get to do with someone from the industry so someone from the industry let's say my company gonna come to the college they're gonna pitch an idea and they're gonna then the students are gonna select okay i like this idea i want to build this for them so you can either keep that idea or sell it to them so you will be actually making you'll you'll be making an actual website or an app that will be out there in the industry for you to brag about when you get out so that that was the last year's highlight um and it was a good course it was uh it got over and i'm i'm i'm happy i took that corset i don't think i i should have taken this so that this was a nice course i am happy where i am how many internships were allowed during this three year period and uh just wondering um can you say something about that yeah so i got my first internship at woodbine and like how many terms internships you are allowed to do internship how many terms in this thing it depends on the college it depends on your program i think by law you should have your course should be 50 or more should be your course and less than that duration should be can be internship so my course had three internship in three years which started after um i think uh the third semester so after halfway through my co after my halfway of my course they started i got my first co-op then i had my fourth semester then i had my second co-op then i had my fifth semester and then i had my third co-op and then i had the last semester of course canada allows you to do part-time job right yeah oh yeah so i i came like if your company this is a good thing like i i got lucky if your company and your first co-op likes you and you like the job they might offer you just you know come here part-time so my industry experience kept building because i was actually doing an job in my industry and not doing a job in tim hortons or not saying they're bad jobs it's just beneficial for me because their mind aligns with what you want to do in our long term right yeah so it can it co-op courses are beneficial because of that yeah yeah and if it is paid it could also help a lot in balancing your expense right yeah how much do you do how much do you say that as a student will cost to live in toronto um in toronto in toronto even in general people who have houses it's expensive so rent is going to be very high definitely uh if you move uh or anywhere around gta area uh and you don't want to share let's say you want to get your separate room uh i think uh you were looking at somewhere around seven hundred dollars to eight hundred dollars easily uh to get your personal room with shared kitchen shared bathroom space and no car parking so that's in toronto and gta area if you want to share if you're okay with that like if you you and a friend of yours is coming and you're okay uh sharing one room then you can do that as well uh that would be much cheaper you will be paying maybe like 400 to 350 dollars per month uh the food is uh now as students a lot of students either have tiffin services or they make themselves or it's a mix of both like they go out and uh either way you are looking now at uh i think 120 to 130 dollars per month of uh just food uh that you eat at home so that's that i think it's almost 450 to 500 per month and then you'll have the next uh big thing will be your phone bill um and yeah that's it so phone bills can be as low as 35 dollars and as high as 110 to 120 dollars it's if you want a decent plan i think you can get it by 50 55 um so a minimum someone should be definitely thinking that how much they're gonna spend will be about 700 to 750 dollars the whole month if you're living in a shared space right and then there's oh uh there's a hundred dollars extra almost over 120 dollars extra for transit because you need to travel so for that as well 120 dollars so almost about 800 to 850 dollars eight fifty dollars per month as a student living expense living travel transport mobile and grocery expense one can expect 800 to 850 dollars you can go less it depends on how much you spend but uh that's like the standard you can go higher there's no limit yeah on an average yeah that makes sense yeah and and so after uh like when does the when does students start looking for full-time job uh in your particular uh course when does students start to look for in a three-year program and how does the university at the college helps in that so it's uh yeah um in here it's not like you'll get in your second year or a third year or a second last semester companies coming in mostly it's not like that you might companies might come in and there might be job fairs and you can learn about their opportunities you can learn about the company you can make networks you can add people on linkedin and send your resumes there but it's not like you'll be having interviews you'll be going through a stages of you know a process uh or phases of a selection of for for a particular job it won't be like that here you'll be finding jobs uh on linkedin or indeed or zip recruit or any any of these websites um and uh sorry you you asked about uh getting the jobs and uh i mean what kind of support does the college uh provide oh um not much to be honest they can be you can ask for a professor's referral at the most uh if there is a job the college is giving that's a different story now if you really if you if you if you like uh the job and if you want to do that then you can let your professors know you can let you you can let the hiring manager know or the manager who's uh actually going to be selecting the candidates know that you're really interested with that the job and they will know what you learned so in that sense that helps but mostly colleges don't help like that they you'll have to find a job on your own pretty much so that's also a reason why students have to engage really in terms of getting a hands-on during the their three-year program right yeah and there's just an expectation uh from you that you will definitely know these things by the end of your graduation so if you're looking for a full-time job right after your graduation you must have a certain number of skills or a certain set of skills that you have learned throughout these years because that's the standard so right yeah but the call not going to help you too much right right sounds great uh like you have covered pretty much like a lot of things like from living expense to the how one has to apply for the college things that you can get from the college and uh from the school and apply everything a lot of things we spoke is are there any uh final thoughts that you would like to share for those who are who come from abroad as an international student like from your experience these are the things you must keep in mind before starting your journey or when you arrive like these are the things that you need to have need to do like things maybe there's some mistakes that you did that now you would like to share it with people that you can please be aware that you do not do this something like that yeah um so i think arrival is pretty much we we covered a lot um and if there is anyone who's watching this who who have agents who can't pay that much and uh they have that connectivity it'll be much more easier for them to get till here but the main challenge actually starts after getting here so um making sure that you're getting up on time he is staying healthy because no one's gonna take care of you here you be doing everything everything in your house maybe you never had to do back home but here from cleaning to washing dishes to making food to pretty much everything you you'll have to do and making good friends is really important in a country that you have never been in and you don't know anyone it gets uh it gets kind of depressing really quickly so it's important to make good friends and they will help you in your career uh in your personal life as well you you you guys can explore together uh canada not necessarily just to stay school friends but go beyond that and i have some friends who still help me in my my profession like uh in getting jobs like i i can take their referrals still they are a good company as well and i i will do the same for them because i've known them uh since college so i know really even professionally that what they're capable of uh so good friendships is important and knowing what's good for you and what's just fun stuff there's a lot of things that uh you you'll get up you'll the the thing that after 12 if you're coming after 12th you'll get is freedom because till 12th were maybe with your parents or some relatives or there was someone who was watching over you when you come here you're you're on your own so that's a lot of freedom you we also have gic coming in so you have money every month that you that comes in the bank account so you can fix a deposit right kind of yeah it comes uh like you you uh give it like ten thousand dollars you give before coming here and then in small amounts it's going to keep coming together that you are allowed to take every month okay yes so making good choices in terms of how to spend money and where to spend money is uh is important uh don't uh don't look at all the shiny stuff a lot of things here are like i i personally i i don't mind anyone doing it but i personally think that if you're a student uh marijuana can be it's legal here so you can do it but uh do it wisely don't gamble your money away and just remember always that why you're here like if you're here for your studies then make sure you set your priority to study even if you don't have a part-time job if you lose it for a week um try uh to keep your study your priority search for a part-time job you'll get jobs anywhere but you came here for studies and that is what will make you successful at the end so always know what your priorities are and keep in touch with your family they want to know how you are and they want to experience uh a little bit of canada from your side as well so uh stay in touch with them stay in touch with your friends back home and never forget uh where you came from like your roots it's always important no one in canada is a canadian mostly everyone's immigrant so it's important to know um where you're coming from celebrating festivals uh don't leave that indian uh mindset like the the way you enjoyed being indian don't leave that the part of you and you should always embrace it so yeah that's uh there are some things that you should always i think uh keep in mind when you're feeling low or when you're feeling that you've achieved something just make sure that stay neutral don't be too too happy don't be too sad i think that'll help most of the students here yeah awesome thanks a lot for covering a lot of things that probably many of uh things will be very new to the people hearing it especially if they are planning to go abroad after their 12th standard and congratulations on having done a great journey and i also wish you do your master's in canada soon go for it great uh thanks a lot for taking your time today and uh thanks a lot for connecting accepting my invitation and connecting with me yeah no problem thank you for having me again oh thanks a lot uh
2022-04-10