- Does failure in exams mean you will be a failure in life?
- Hi, I am Abhishek Bajaj who took three attempts before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant.
- But that didn’t demotivate me and I went on to start my finance career in Bangkok at the age of 23.
- Here is my story.
Humble beginnings and the initial struggle
My journey has been full of surprises.
I belong to a very middle-class family with my native place being Rajasthan (India). However, I was born and raised in the City of Joy, Kolkata, India, where I started my schooling in a Hindi-medium school.
However, my mom strongly believed in the importance of a good education and did everything possible to get me admitted into an English-medium school.
It wasn’t easy, as a better school meant more money, but my parents did everything to give my brother, sister, and myself a strong education.
If I am able to write this article today, it is because of that one decision made by my family to put me in an English-medium school.
After completing my school, it was now time to get into college, and I managed to get into one of the best commerce colleges in India, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.
In college, I interacted with students who knew what they wanted, and most of them were guided by their well-educated family members.
It was at this college that I got acquainted with CA and its importance. And this marked the beginning of my CA journey.
Challenges in my journey to becoming a CA
My path to becoming a chartered accountant was not easy. It took me almost four attempts to qualify as a CA.
I cleared the first two levels (CPT and IPCC) in the first attempt and started with my 3 years of articleship at a mid-sized firm in Kolkata, India.
To earn some extra money to fund my studies and other expenses, I started giving tuition as well.
So for almost 3 years, this was my routine:
- Wake up at 6 a.m. and attend college until 10 a.m.
- Then rush to work from college.
- I would attend CA Final classes in the evenings a few days a week.
- When I had no CA classes, I would go to students’ homes to give tuition.
All of this really taught me to be strong and fight against all odds, come what may. Well, amidst all of this, I also participated in other extracurricular activities like sports, debates, elocution, etc.
CA Final exams
After three years of articles, it was time for my CA final exams. It took me almost three attempts to qualify as a chartered accountant.
May 2014: CA final first attempt. I failed that attempt and my first failure. It was painful and very upsetting. I decided to give my best and resume working. I studied after work.
Nov 2014: CA Second attempt. I prepared for my second CA Final attempt in November 2014. But to my dismay, I could not clear this attempt either.
Feb 2015: I decided to move to another CA firm in Kolkata, India since I had completed my articleship at my previous firm. At my new firm, it got more difficult as I was no longer an intern. I was a full-time employee.
Most of my friends had already qualified as CAs and were working for MNCs, Big 4 firms, and other reputable companies, whereas I was only earning INR 8K per month (approximately $150).
I did feel left behind, but these things never stopped me from achieving my dream. The societal pressure was at an all-time high. Some people made fun of me.
Even after all this, I never let my dreams go haywire.
May 2015: The third and final attempt. In spite of all the negativity, I stayed focused. I would go to the office from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., return home at 9 p.m., eat dinner, and study until 2 a.m. I would again wake up at 5 am, study until 8 am, and then leave for work. This continued for 3 months. I cleared on my third attempt.
Getting an opportunity to work in Thailand
A few days before my CA Final exams (my third attempt), I had a family wedding to attend.
Once I reached the wedding venue, I bumped into the managing director and finance director of a client who I had been auditing during my articleship days. As I was very engaged in that assignment for almost three years during my articleship, the senior members recognized me.
Casually, while talking to them, I mentioned that I had not cleared my CA final exams and was preparing for the same. To my surprise, the MD replied, “We have just inaugurated our plant in Thailand, and who else would make a better finance controller than you?” Would you join us?
He further mentioned, “We know you, Abhishek; your degree will come sooner or later, and we trust you and your knowledge.” We need you, not your degree.
As we say, destiny does change, and it did for me. My brother encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunity, and I agreed to join even before I qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
In my May 2015 attempt, I took my CA Final exam. As promised by the MD, my tickets and visa were sent home by May 17th, and I left for Bangkok on May 26th.
Thus, I was actually officially placed with the company even before I was a qualified chartered accountant.
I was now a qualified chartered accountant with a full-time job in Bangkok. My persistence and positive attitude paid off.
Finding an opportunity in China: The next step
Time passed, and I continued working in Bangkok for almost two years.
While in Bangkok, I was an active member of the Indo-Thai Chamber of Commerce and other similar organizations.
At various forum meetings, I happened to meet a few people from the management of Indorama Ventures (it is one of the top companies in the world). With a dream to work for such an organization, I was browsing through their website and trying to understand the financials of the company.
Luckily, since the company is listed in Bangkok, the data was easily available, and fortunately, the email ID of the global HR head was mentioned on the website.
Without any job openings mentioned or anything, I just emailed my CV to the head of HR and expressed my desire to work for them.
To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting any calls or feedback from the company; however, this time again, Destiny had some other plans for me. After two months, I got a call from the AVP Global HR, citing a reference to the email that I had sent to the VP Global HR. (What!)
They told me that they were really impressed by my CV and wanted to meet me in their Bangkok office for an interview!
Fortunately, I cracked the interview and was offered the job. But the opportunity was in China, and I would be based at one of their largest PET sites, which was in a very rural city.
I was excited and confused!
I took time off to analyze and see if the opportunity was worth leaving my life in Bangkok and settling in an almost rural area on the Chinese mainland.
Based on my research, the opportunity appeared to be worthwhile. I would learn about MIS, budgeting, variance, forex management, financial management, WC requirements, and whatever is not on the list.
Getting this kind of experience early on in my career would be of great value. I did not want to lose this opportunity just because of the job location, so I said a big yes!
Well, that’s how I moved from Bangkok to China.
My work experience in Bangkok
Things were not at all easy in Bangkok.
I was stationed on the site, which was very far from the main city (almost two hours’ drive from Bangkok city). As a result, they are far from the luxuries of so-called expat life abroad.
With me being a vegetarian (I don’t even eat eggs), survival was not easy in terms of food. As the site was in a very rural area, almost all of the restaurants served non-vegetarian food.
The language was one of the most difficult barriers, although we had some translators working for us; however, this dependency could have only been temporary.
Slowly and steadily, I learned a few Thai words and phrases and some numbers, especially as I was controlling the finances.
Working with Thai people just gave me a different perspective on my professional career, wherein I learned:
- Time management
- The precision of the work
- Giving importance to personal life as well as professional life and a lot of other things.
- The Thais are excellent at Excel management, and it really helped me improve my Excel utilization skills.
Thai working culture is very woman-dominated. wherein very hard and tedious jobs (even on plant shop floors) are easily carried out by women. This was so inspiring.
Working independently also gave me exposure to International Accounting Standards, new rules, and new perspectives on looking at things.
Working became more fun, travel diaries became rescue points, and I became a travel maniac.
That was how my life in Bangkok continued for almost two years.
Should you work only for monetary gains?
I had learned from my mentor (the owner of my articleship firm, Mr. Ramanand Rustagi) that when starting your career, you should focus on the learning part and not the money part.
He always guided me and nurtured me from the very beginning to look for opportunities that would match my forte and then convert them into success points for the future.
To be really honest, the compensation I was offered for the job opportunity in Bangkok was something I could get in India as well. It was nothing fancy on the monetary front, but I knew the learning would be great.
Moreover, I would be getting exposure to different working cultures, habits, and best work practices.
Thus, what I am trying to say is that we should look for opportunities and never weigh them in terms of packages in the initial years of our careers.
Before I sign off…
I have seen tough days and failures too, but what kept me going was staying focused on my goals.
Failure is a given in anything you do. How you deal with failure and keep going is what matters.
To everyone out there, stop counting the number of attempts. It is good to pass on the first attempt, but if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world.
There will be many managing directors and finance directors who want your skills and not just your degree. So stay optimistic.
This is something I really want to convey to everyone reading this:
- Do whatever it takes to receive the best education available.
- Never look for short-term returns.
- And always make decisions with the future in mind.
