Core learning screen

Sunder Jha

From IT Student to Software Developer

Last updated: May 19, 2026

IT Engineer in Software · Noida

I began in IT support and systems—tickets, servers, networks, and user desks—before moving into software development. That operations background still shapes how I build: logging, deployments, and empathy for whoever runs the system at 2 a.m. I share this path for IT engineers who want to write code for a living without pretending the last five years never happened.

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Career Timeline

Education2011-2015
IT Student
Amity University
Studied IT with modules in systems administration, databases, and introductory programming. Final project on campus helpdesk portal.
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ContextStudied IT with modules in systems administration, databases, and introductory programming. Final project on campus helpdesk portal.
ChallengesTheory felt distant from real workplaces. Choosing between networking, security, and development tracks.
LearningsLearn how systems fail in practice—not only happy-path diagrams. Documentation and reproducible setup matter.
OutcomeCompleted industrial placement at Ebix Technologies Limited as a IT Support Technician.
Skills acquired
Networking fundamentalsdatabasesOS conceptsJava/Python basicsweb technologies introgroup projectspresentation skills
AdviceTreat every recurring ticket as a product backlog item—automate or document once.
First Job2015-2017
IT Support Technician
Ebix Technologies Limited
First-line support for 20 users. Resolved incidents, escalated to infrastructure team, and maintained asset records. Rotated on out-of-hours rota.
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ContextFirst-line support for 20 users. Resolved incidents, escalated to infrastructure team, and maintained asset records. Rotated on out-of-hours rota.
ChallengesRepetitive tickets and impatient users. Learning when to escalate vs solve. Burnout from volume during migrations.
LearningsUsers describe symptoms, not root causes. Clear communication prevents reopened tickets. Small scripts save hours weekly.
OutcomePromoted to IT Engineer / Level 2. Customer satisfaction scores above team average.
Skills acquired
Active DirectoryOffice 365ticketing (ServiceNow/Jira)remote supporthardware imagingbasic PowerShellSLA awareness
AdviceTreat every recurring ticket as a product backlog item—automate or document once.
Promotion2017-2020
IT Engineer
Ebix Technologies Limited
Owned server estate and core services for business unit. Planned maintenance windows, joined incident bridges, and supported application teams during releases.
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ContextOwned server estate and core services for business unit. Planned maintenance windows, joined incident bridges, and supported application teams during releases.
ChallengesLegacy systems with poor documentation. On-call fatigue. Developers expecting instant infra changes.
LearningsReliability is a feature. Infrastructure and apps share blame in outages—learn each other’s language. Started writing Python to replace manual checks.
OutcomeTrusted for migration projects.
Skills acquired
Windows/Linux serversVMware or Hyper-Vbackup/DRfirewall rulesmonitoring (Zabbix/Datadog)patch managementVLAN basics
Self-directed development2019-2020
Aspiring Developer
Online courses
Automated reporting for IT team. Built internal tools asset dashboard ,license tracker. Completed Odin and shipped portfolio app.
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ContextAutomated reporting for IT team. Built internal tools asset dashboard ,license tracker. Completed Odin and shipped portfolio app.
ChallengesTime after on-call weeks. Tutorial hell vs shipping. Comparing to CS grads.
LearningsIT troubleshooting maps to debugging. You already know prod concerns—logging, env vars, rollbacks. UI/UX was the steepest climb.
OutcomeTwo portfolio repos and internal tool adopted by team.
Skills acquired
JavaScriptReactNode.jsGitREST APIsSQLunit testingCI basics
Career Switch2020-2020
Developer transition
Thinkitive Technologies Pvt Ltd
Negotiated move to hybrid role / applied for junior dev openings. Highlighted automation, internal tools, and incident collaboration in CV. Targeted employers who valued…
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ContextNegotiated move to hybrid role / applied for junior dev openings. Highlighted automation, internal tools, and incident collaboration in CV. Targeted employers who valued ops-minded developers.
ChallengesRecruiters filtering ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds. Pay step or lateral move. Imposter syndrome in sprint planning.
LearningsBuilt a container orchestration system on Kubernetes that scaled to 120+ microservices, serving 1.5M monthly users.
OutcomeAccepted developer role (see next milestone).
Skills acquired
Interview prepportfolio narrativenetworking with dev teamsunderstanding SDLC from the other side
AdviceAsk your current employer for a rotation before resigning—many will try to keep you.
First Job2020-2023
Junior Software Developer
Fourise Software Solutions Pvt. LTD.
Joined squad building product. Fixed bugs, owned small features, improved observability because ‘I’ve been paged for this before’.
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ContextJoined squad building product. Fixed bugs, owned small features, improved observability because ‘I’ve been paged for this before’.
ChallengesEstimation and front-end state. Letting go of ‘just SSH and fix it’ habits. Code review feedback stung at first.
LearningsSmall PRs. Tests are cheaper than weekend hotfixes. Product owns priority—infra instinct to solve everything now must soften.
OutcomePromoted to Software Developer. Shipped a new authentication system used by 5,000+ users.
Skills acquired
TypeScriptReact/Next.jsAPI designcode reviewAgile ceremoniespair programmingfeature flags
Promotion2023-Present
Software Developer
Fourise Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd
“Built and maintained a scalable web platform; collaborated with QA and DevOps, and provided DNS and certificate expertise to the team.
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Context“Built and maintained a scalable web platform; collaborated with QA and DevOps, and provided DNS and certificate expertise to the team.
ChallengesBalancing feature speed with tech debt. Staying current without chasing every framework. Explaining dev trade-offs to former IT colleagues.
LearningsBest ex-IT developers bridge support and engineering—they design for operability. You do not need to hide your ticket-queue past.
OutcomeOwned critical service module; increased deployment reliability by 40% and cut production support escalations by half.
Skills acquired
Full-stack deliverycloud (AWS/Azure)CI/CD pipelinescode qualitymentoring juniorstechnical design notes
AdviceIf you are in IT now: script one task this week, open-source one small tool next month, talk to one dev team lead this quarter.

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Sunder Jha

Career Timeline

IT Student

IT Support Technician

IT Engineer

Aspiring Developer

Developer transition

Junior Software Developer

Software Developer

Reflections & Questions from Readers