Particle.news

Zoho Engineer’s Viral Post Recounts Rise From Security Guard to Developer

The account spotlights mentorship alongside a skills-first hiring ethos.

Overview

  • Abdul Alim says he left home in 2013 with ₹1,000, spent about two months on the streets, and then joined Zoho as a security guard.
  • Senior employee Shibu Alexis noticed him during 12-hour shifts and taught him programming in the evenings over roughly eight months.
  • Alim built a simple app that visualised user input, a manager invited him to interview, and he was told Zoho values demonstrated skills over degrees.
  • He cleared the interview and has since spent eight years at Zoho, where he works as a software development engineer, according to his post and profile.
  • His LinkedIn account of the journey went viral this week, with Times Now citing more than 320,000 likes and over 17,000 comments as social media users praised his perseverance.