Teenage coder actively chases his dream
Raghav Mecheri is a rarity. This 18-year-old is the youngest member to have worked at Freshworks.
I found him hunched over the laptop, squinting with great concentration at the screen as he worked on his code. He looked at ease sitting amidst a busy corporate environment.
It’s just another workday for teenager Raghav Mecheri.
At 18, Raghav had just graduated out of high school and is the first person to be born in the 2000s to have worked at Freshworks, taking up the role as an intern in our product development team. This gives him the distinction of being the youngest person to have ever worked at Freshworks!
“My affiliation with coding started at the age of ten. When my parents refused to get me any more video games to play, I just decided to make my own video games,” Mecheri said with a laugh. “There has been no looking back ever since.”
As exciting as it is, it can also be overwhelming.
“It’s different working on a project that numerous people are also working on, as compared to working on something when you are home alone. There is a massive takeaway. I thought it would fun. And it has been fun,” he admitted. “But it is also more work and more pressure being young because everyone else has so much more experience.”
Not that Mecheri didn’t already have plenty of experience.
Raghav and his childhood friend, Kunal Agarwal, have been running coding clubs under the banner of CoderDojo in the city for kids since late 2016. This initiative taps into the young talent in the age group 7–17 who are interested in coding and provides a platform to accelerate their learning curve. The best part, it costs you nothing. CoderDojo, a global movement of free, volunteer-led, community-based programming clubs for young people, facilitates the setting up of such clubs.
When asked what made him volunteer to head the Chennai chapter, Raghav’s answer was rather simple.
“Why not?”
I was slightly taken aback by his enthusiasm.
“I find it very rewarding when an idea manifests into a product. I was sure there were others whose passion resonated with mine. CoderDojo provided the perfect opportunity to form a community and expand our exposure to coding in various languages.”
He went on to describe how there was no set curriculum that was followed. Instead, members came up to the clubs, told them what they wanted to learn, and they helped them accordingly.
Nearly a year later, they took their initiative to the next level. They went on to teach computers to the less fortunate at the Ramakrishna Mission. They also raised sufficient funds required to purchase 30 Samsung Galaxy Tab A’s, along with the required software, that can be used by the students of Ramakrishna Mission. They accomplished all this when they were still in school.
His 8-year commitment to learning and expanding his knowledge of coding paid off. After his internship at Freshworks ends, he has five months to prepare for college. He will be heading to Columbia University to pursue his Bachelor’s in Computer Science.
“I have mixed feelings about college. I am probably going to have a tough time keeping up with the hectic schedule. But at the same time, I am hoping it will also be a whole lot of fun,” he said.
When asked about his long-term goals, he said he doesn’t have one. Yet.
“There is no plan. There is a lot of disbelief when I say this but I don’t want to stay back in the U.S after college,” he said. “My parents have been a primary influence in my life. My dad is a serial entrepreneur and my mom is a social entrepreneur. Someday I would like to follow in their footsteps.”
After a pause, he adds, “Maybe I will even end up back in Freshworks.”
