A tale of rejections and patience
(The big carnival: story of every engineering student)
In cold morning of January’19, I reached the placement cell for yet another interview. The placement cell manager came towards me and she said
“I’m bored of your face, how many interviews have you attended?”.
A laugh cracked around the cell and reluctantly I said “This will be fifteenth”.
That was the day when I got selected and that manager never seen my face again, at least for interview. Laughs!
If you are studying in an engineering college in India, you can surely relate to this. This carnival of human trafficking (human resource in corporate terms) starts in 4th year of engineering. It starts with some glorious shows of Google, Microsoft, De Shaw and other big names. It finally ends with truck loaders (mass recruiters) taking engineers on basis of some random machine learning selection algorithm.
This carnival varies college to college based on rankings and location.
Well that was something you already know, now we begin with what you should know.
“Placement rejections are temporary, self believe is permanent”
To face this carnival, you need self-believe, knowledge, patience and determination.
1. Self-believe: know your worth! Set a bar for yourself by standard of company or compensation. Its up to you, but just set the bar and follow it.
I scraped interviews, yes you hear right! I scrapped interviews where after seeing job description, I found it not matching my needs or below my bar.
2. Knowledge: A good resume, projects under your belt, deep knowledge of a programming language and Computer science subjects (OS, Networking, DB). These will help, but what helps most is knowledge of DS and algorithms. Especially, how you combine your logics with algorithms.
3. Determination: wherever you’re, whenever you start, It’s never late.
a. Start early, start small
b. Start late, start smart
If you are early, start today and target something big. Even if you are late, start smartly and target companies accordingly.
I started to write code after completion of 2 years in engineering. I’d to be smart and started from basics then acquired expertise step by step.
4. Patience : Patience is the key. Keep yourself motivated everyday, talk to your friends, parents or even contact me. But never loose hope. Even if you don’t get your gift from this carnival, keep up the hard work. Your patience will pay off for sure!
This carnival is an easy offering! Take it!
Try to take the opportunity you think is right for you. I believe this carnival is actually a gift for us. Because once you go off campus, the complexity folds ten time. So make sure to use it to your best.
