Droidspaces - Discussion

I'm just a student from Sri Lanka. Here, the traditional path is to do Advanced Levels and go to university. So, it applies to me as well. I did my Advanced Levels in the Physical Science stream. Since I'm very passionate about Android low-level stuff, I studied while cooking kernels at 3AM, building custom ROMs, kernels, recoveries, and experimenting with the concept of "Linux on Android" and other projects. Because of this, I messed up my A/Ls for 4 years. I never made it work. My friends made fun of me. They went to uni, posting photos with their partners and trips they go on, etc. I know I'm more capable than them in my own field. I was very disappointed in myself, but I kept cooking. I just gave the middle finger to A/Ls and focused on my low-level work where I truly feel like "home". I did some great projects, learned new things, saw my impressions on my GitHub profile and other platforms increasing, and kept building things. My core goal is to find frustration points in the tools I use in my day-to-day life, identify what's already there in the industry, take inspiration from only the "good" in the projects already on the web, and build something "that just works" by combining all the ideas I had and got from others. This is how I built Droidspaces. I was amazed by LXC and its ability to run an init system, but it's so limited on Android. So, why not build something entirely from scratch? Ever since I built Droidspaces and posted it on Reddit, the numbers on my GitHub profile skyrocketed. I got 400+ followers, our repo has almost 1.5K stars, 20K+ downloads, kernel tutorials got 600+ stars, etc. Since I have a good portfolio, I applied for the InfoSchol Scholarship program conducted by one of the top private universities in Sri Lanka (IIT) just to see what happens. I just cooked up a 3-page CV with proof links containing my life's work, attached it to the online application, and waited until the deadline, May 31, 2026. I'm not gonna publicly share IIT's selection process as it is private information, but after a 5-layer selection process, including aptitude tests and physical interviews, I can finally say I'm in! I applied under Computer Science, and after the whole 5-layer selection process, only 46 applicants were left out of thousands, and I'm one of them..! It's crazy to imagine someone who screwed up A/Ls, has no certificates from school because I never showed off my skills publicly as I didn't want trouble and I'm an introvert, and lived inside a cave cooking kernels and Droidspaces at 3AM can pull this off. In the physical interview, they didn't even look at my "educational qualifications". They just looked at the first page of my CV and asked a bunch of questions, checked out my phone for the kernel and Droidspaces, and told me people like me are very rare.. That conversation confused me as well. They checked the bulky certificates from other candidates, but not mine.. So, this is it..! The filtering isn't over.. There are 2 final filters (a 3-month induction programme and a physical interview) to go. I guess I can face them as well :) I'm going to IIT starting this July 20! (yeah 2 days left..) If everything goes well, I'll start my journey as a Computer Science student in January 2027 :) So, this is my story.. All because I never gave up even when my entire life felt like it was falling apart. If Droidspaces had never existed, I might not have been able to come this far, to be honest...