Career
The interview I failed, and the career it gave me
Rejection feels like an ending. Ten years later, I can tell you it was a beginning wearing a disguise.
In 2014 I walked out of an interview so sure I had the job that I told my mother to make payasam. I did not get the job.
What I got instead was three weeks of self-pity, one honest conversation with a stranger on a train, and a piece of advice I have repeated to hundreds of people since: a rejection is information, not a verdict.
What the failure taught me
The interviewer had asked me what I had built outside of my syllabus. The honest answer was nothing. That stung because it was true.
So I started building. Small things at first — a blog, a short film, a page on the internet with a funny name. That page, years later, became NikkisCafe.
If you are where I was
- Let yourself feel it for a week. Not a month.
- Write down what the rejection actually told you. Be precise.
- Build something small that is entirely yours.
- Talk to strangers. The right ones change everything.
The job I failed to get paid ₹18,000 a month. The failure paid much better.