Utilizing First Two Years At College

After getting admission into the colleges, a person is confused about the things he/she should do to make himself/herself count among others. It is a matter of fact that one wants themselves to see at great heights as he/she has worked the hardest to get into a college. Being one of the confused student who worked very hard to get into a college, I would like to describe what you should do in the first two years after getting admitted into an engineering college. I will limit my discussion to my domain of expertise only.

After getting into the college, you get the so called freedom which you were waiting for. Those late night talks with hostel mates, watching TV series, unlimited internet etc are the things one get in their hostel life. Believe me, a college is a place where you will find countless distractions. But it is important to remember that colleges are for building your career. It is important to waste time but do not waste it to such an extent that it would destroy your careeer. As an engineering undergraduate, in the 1st year, it is important to explore the things. Exploration includes research, sports, social and cultural activities. After successful exploration and end of 1st year, you would probably know what you enjoyed. Never sacrifice your academics for the exploration of things. A good CGPA is not the only criteria for a good placement or intern but an important criteria. Many companies shortlist on the basis of CGPA as it is not possible for the firm to take Personal Interviews for every candidate as this would be a lengthy process and irritating as well. Beginning of 2nd year is what makes your journey difficult. If you aspire for a good placement, get into competitive coding. This is GYM for your brain. You train your brain in a way that it thinks of problems in a realistic approach and tackle it as soon as possible. It includes data structures and algorithms and there are various sites to practice for this. Practice long coding challenges on CODECHEF, 30-min challenges on HACKEREARTH and many more online platforms. It is important to test your skills by participating in the hackathons. There are also coding events taking place around the globe by the tech giants like google. Some of these events include CODEJAM by GOOGLE, HACKTOBERFEST by DIGITAL OCEAN, GOOGLE SUMMER OF CODE by GOOGLE and many more. Trust me, once you get addicted to this, you won't waste your time in anything else. Competitive coding is important because the companies who come for campus placements shortlist the candidates on the basis of competitive coding tests. So you have to be really good at this as interns for 4 year Undergrads take place in the 3rd year. Second most important thing one should get involved is WEB DEVELOPMENT. You should definitely know the basics of web develpment which includes HTML, CSS, PHP, Python Script. These are easy topics and could be mastered online from various platforms which includes w3schools etc. And do not forget to waste your time as well. It is important to make college memories, watch TV series, talk to people for better bonding, night-outs. DO get involved in all of these activities and see yourself shaping from an amateur to a real professional.