What is your Plan B if you fail to crack college placements?
Tags: computerscience, programming, beginners, career
Published: 2024-06-28 13:33:27

Namaste Developers🙏

This article will give you a reality check so, be prepared for that. Before reading this article I would like to say "Be honest with yourself". 
Note: _This article is solely for people who want to crack placements and want to mold themself to crack placements._

I know what you all are going through - self-doubt, low self-esteem, lack of guidance, lack of confidence, distracted in your life, don't know what to do, and the list goes on and on. Listen to me **stop overthinking** and **start doing what you enjoy**, **what you love to do**, and **what you're passionate about**. Just do it **I don't know who is stopping you** from doing things that you love to do. 

Stop thinking about society just do what you want to do and **be the best** in it, let me tell you one thing "_Your time will come when people will say I want to become like him/her and you will be someone's inspiration_" seems like a dream right? 

Believe me 1. when you will **raise your bar** 2. when you will **start believing in yourself** 3. when you will **start doing things that create impacts** in society that's the point when **people around you will start believing in you**.

> You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.

Now let's come back to the topic.

## 1. Stop overwhelming your mind with lots of things. Just focus on one thing that can land you a job.

- Don't get distracted doing multiple things. Focus on one thing that's the formula to secure a job.
- Ask yourself what you want to do. If you're unable to answer and have less time **learn a tech stack that can easily land you a job either** in a startup or any company that's my personal opinion. 

## 2. Build Crazy projects.

- Believe me, for off-campus opportunities companies look for students who have built crazy things. 
- Your project should be technically challenging which makes you stand out from the crowd. Your project should be config-driven it should offer functionalities like searching, sorting, filtering out things, infinite scrolling, a recommendation system, skeleton loaders, leveraging LLM's power, and so on.
- You can build anything such as web apps, mobile apps, chrome extensions, iOS apps, or cool games as well.
- **Build something** that can be used in day-to-day life and **deploy it**.
- **Share your project on LinkedIn**, Twitter, and Reddit and clearly mention what are the features, what was the most challenging part of the project, what are your inspiration for building this project, and what are the future scopes of the project. 

## Polishing Resume (One-pager Resume).

- Share your social media proofs such as LinkedIn, Github, Portfolio Website(not mandatory but as a developer, you should have one), and Leetcode.
- Mention technical skills.
- Showcase your projects and give a brief overview of your projects including the tech stack you've used to build the project. Make sure you provide a GitHub link to the project if possible share the deployed link of your project.
- Use actionable keywords.
- Make it ATS friendly and check whether your resume passes the ATS score or not.
- Companies don't care about fancy resumes the only thing that matters is whether you're able to justify what you've got on that single page or not. Keep it simple and minimal.
- CGPA is not mandatory (if you have a decent CGPA above 7 put it).
- Mention your extra-curricular activities it reflect your personality. 
- Share value-added certificates.

## Communication is the key to your entrance

- Many students are good at tech but, they lack in presentation. 
- Let me share one real example: What if your sister says I know the recipe for the food but I don't know how to cook it. (No hate to sister)
It's the the same thing - **I know how to build the product but, I'm unable to sell the product**. No matter how many functionalities you provide if you fail to articulate those functionalities no one is going to buy that product.
- Focus on your communication skills. Learn to articulate your thoughts in plain words.
- Listen + Practice => Good Communicator

## Keep applying for jobs

- **Daily apply for 50-100 jobs**. Keep applying insanely. 
- Give interviews and learn from the interviews. You can fail 5-10-15 and even more interviews **don't get scared** but, slowly and steadily you will gain confidence and self-esteem which will make you good at handling interview pressure.
- Embrace the failures and learn from them. 
- Get the feedback from the interviewer and start working on it.
- Ask for referrals.
- Apply at start-ups. The chances of getting shortlisted will be increased. At the initial stage of your career join any of the start-ups because you will know how things work, you need to be multi-tasking in start-ups, and these things will help you a lot in your later stage.

> Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. (Confucius)
 

Do you know where the problem exists? Students are mad about FAANGS and as a fresher, they expect _X LPA_. I am not saying you should stop dreaming about high-paying jobs. I am saying to match the expectation with your reality. If you're capable enough crack it. Just be honest with yourself that's it.

Let's not be so quick to judge companies as good or bad. **Getting experience is what really matters**, and that can happen in all sorts of places—from startups to big companies like TCS, Wipro, and Infosys. It's all about learning and growing, and the **door to other opportunities will open** up as you gain experience.
**Remember, you're still in your 20s and there's plenty of time to explore different options! **

![Stay true to WHAT you want and WHY you want it. The HOW will come by itself.](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wjr3zbwg86j3mu539vuo.png)

It's always better to be curious and adaptable. So don't be afraid to try something new! 

In a nutshell: **continuous learning leads to better pay**.

This video has got the answers you're looking for. Check it out! 👍

{% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLJOIesR1Q %}

If you're curious, I'd love to share my personal experience with "How I Landed an Off-Campus Summer Internship in a small company." Let me know in the comments if you're interested! 🙌

Don't hesitate to reach out to me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stavan-shah-810b4819a/) if you need support or assistance with anything. I'm here to help you in any way I can! 😊