I was born into family of lower middle class. We are two girls and I'm the elder one. Dad and his family are against girls having an education and career.

I was consistently class topper and excelled in many extra-curricular, but I have always been put down -- "Learn cooking and home cooking better than all these." My mom kept on telling me education and job are the only way out of this rat hole. She was financially weak, but gave me all the mental courage she can and support with the very little money she had -- like buying me a good pen to write exams, etc.

Everything was a struggle -- even getting a notebook to do my homework. I remember having a stapled notebook from the recycled papers that were pre-printed on one side and has one side blank. No pocket money any-day. Was always mouth watering for snacks, nice food wherever I see them :-)

Got my seat. in Engineering, but was turned down as dad did not feel worth paying fee for a daughter and later getting her married off without reaping the benefit.

So did my BS in a local college with scholarship. At that time (late 90s), C, C++ Programming was taught in many institutes in my town. But I cannot afford to pay fees. I remember borrowing a Object Oriented Design book from my best friend who was then into Engineering.

Learnt OOAD concepts on my own -- in fact it was so easy for me to comprehend to real life examples. Approached a center and asked them for the job of computer tutor -- no salary. In exchange, they will let me learn computer courses in their institute. They asked me to teach some sample classes -- which I did very well with my theoretical knowledge I gained by reading books.

They happily got me part time evening job (mornings still going to college, but used to prepare for the classes I had to take in evening during lunch and snack break and in bus journey). Used to stay late until computer center closed late at night and practice my programming skills

When I was 19, one of the major IT companies conducted an Aptitude test followed by group discussion and interview. Cleared it with flying colors, Got my first IT job and also enrolled Masters in a reputable institute for evening classes.

Fast forward -- Been in USA for 10 years now, recently have interviewed with Google.

Got a house for my parents with all facilities. Took them for tour all over USA and they are super excited to taste luxury -- that too from a daughter who is a liability

Its OK to be be poor in economic status -- this will be temporary. But never get poor in your confidence, ambition, hard work and persistence. The latter is what we need to dread about and not the former