Okay so here's my situation. π
I'm a first-year Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE) student at a smaller private college in Kerala, ...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
Hey Effess! Thanks for the mention and glad I could be of assistance :D
For the questions,
Path 2. Although getting good grades is a must, it's not really "required" to get a job. A lot of people tend to get good grades but ended up still job hunting to this very day. I would focus on building instead of just being a person who knows 100% of Syntax and not knowing how to build.
In the US, in my opinion, going to top colleges doesn't really matter. If you are going to top colleges, I would recommend you to start meeting new people ASAP since usually top colleges tend to have professors who are well known in the country and it's a good idea to connect with them for opportunities. Either way, if you are going to a college, make good use of it. Don't do the bare minimum. In other words, "I buy this piano, so I use the whole Piano" lol.
Hope this helps :)
I knew you might be writing a comment, that's why I waited π₯Ή Thank you SO MUCH for being so open to help whenever I post something... I wish I was in the US because in here, top colleges matter to a stupid extent and to get a top college, we have to study ALL kinds of useless stuff π I am trying to reach out a few people on LinkedIn to know how much the college name matters, and whether companies are willing to even consider people from any college (I even saw a job post that says "IIT graduate" lol, in bold letters).
I am currently moving in the "just building" route (like I always did). But also self-checking on the side. (I am also thinking whether I am wasting so much time making decisions π€)
Another thing is that I don't really want a high-paying job or something, and I'd prefer small companies rather than big ones. Because in those cases I'll be able to contribute comparatively more... Thanks for taking the time to write this! I appreciate it a lot! βΊοΈ
Gemini told me this:
I know it's inappropriate to rely on AI for these things. Can you tell me what your take on this is?
Hey Effess!
I mean if you are asking AI, that's fine. I would recommend doing more research on top of that to verify. AI gives a general overview mostly, so having a bit more time research always helps.
In response to the AI answer, I agree with the second half. The first half I am not familiar with that so I can't really answer with that.
Ok. Then I am going to go ALL IN on just building. Decision fixed (no more thinking & wasting time from now on, unless somebody makes another point in the comments). And I just remembered that I can just take a C-DAC diploma if off-campus placement doesn't work out (unlikely but still as a backup option, just in case...). It's only 6 months rather than 2 years, has much easier entry, and has centralized placement drives. I can't believe I forgot about it π£ I built a roadmap (after writing this post but before replying to your comment) and already started execution! It's the first time I am building a roadmap, it seems like it REALLY helps a lot!
So that wraps it up. Thanks for everything! You are free now π Really appreciate your help, Francis!
@xulingfeng is here! π₯³ What's your opinion!?
How about roll the dice? π²π€£
Bro you are alllways joking... Please say something thing time
The practical approach would be to ask seniors from your major how theyβre doing now β especially those whoβve graduated and started working. Try to reach out and connect with them. π²
The seniors from my major are dumb (I am not joking I mean literally not to offend anyone but it's the reality unfortunately π€£). They don't have any idea what they are doing. I mean seniors in my specific college π
Oof, thatβs tricky when local seniors arenβt helpful. Maybe reach out to ECE alumni from other institutes on LinkedIn or Dev.to. You can get diverse perspectives from people outside your college bubble.
And you can see @hemapriya_kanagala her Radar series posts closely; they should be really helpful for you.
I believe university plays a very important role in one's career path, although a GitHub profileβfilled with valuable repositoriesβis also a great indicator of an individual's high caliber.
Attend a good university and connect with high-quality peers. At a good university, you will find friends who know the path to professional growth. Surround yourself with people who are at a higher level than youβor, at the very least, on par with you.
But going for M.tech means extra 2 years of study while I could be earning money (sorry I didn't add that in the post I completely forgot it π£). So with that in the equation, what do you think?
In terms of life experience, at a young age, two years is a long time; but as you get older, two years isn't that long!
For now, you have plenty of time to make a decision.
In the coming years, Iβd love to see robotic gadgets on your GitHub that can be controlled via a client (through a web browser).
Thanks! π Yeah when I think about it 2 years is kind of short, right? π€ The thing is whether it's worth it. Do you think I can make it within those 2 years if I learn myself? Or do you think the M.tech path will be better? Is getting a core job without campus placements realistic?
Thanks for the mention π₯°
I don't want to start that long conversation again, but here are some points that may be helpful to you:
Whatever you decide, all the best wishes to you π₯°
Thanks a lot! π I thought you wouldn't comment. Thanks for coming back! Yeah, not starting the long conversation again π€£ I'll absolutely consider that advice, but intentionally skipping asking anything about it π
The fact that youβre a first-year with four years and a clear target is the real advantage here, more than either path. For embedded specifically, hereβs the honest version from what Iβve seen of how that field hires.
Path 2 isnβt really a gamble for embedded. In India and honestly everywhere, embedded employers hire on demonstrated work: a GitHub with real firmware projects, bare-metal C, RTOS, sensor bring-up, the debugging stories behind them. A portfolio of that beats most resumes. Your ESP32 course work already counts as the start of that.
The GATE/IIT path is genuinely strong if you want an M.Tech, research, or big-company campus placements. The trick is it doesnβt have to be decided now. One thing at a time is smart, so do this: spend years one and two building (one finished project beats ten half-started ones), keep your semester grades healthy so the GATE door stays open, and let year three be the decision point based on which work actually felt alive to you. A GATE score stays valid for three years, so building first never closes that door.
Either way, keep building. The people Iβve seen struggle are the ones who treated four years as planning time. Youβre already past that.
I'm an EE in the states (and actually went to school with some IIT grads) so I can only tell you how things are in the US.
To answer your question, like most things: it depends on what you want.
If you're trying to work for a "name-brand" company, there is a short-list of engineering programs that said companies recruit from. Samsung, NVIDIA, Intel, etc. send recruiters to a small list of engineering schools every year to source talent. It's still possible to work at a Fortune 100 company without attending one of those schools, but you will have to do more networking to accomplish this.
If you just want to learn and work on cool projects, you'll probably have much more ownership of complex products at a mid-sized company or startup then a massive corporation. You'll also see your work ship to real customers more often too.
In both cases, you cannot escape the aforementioned networking. Whether your attend an NIT/IIT or if you focus on a portfolio, the most important factor of post-grad success is who you know. The advantage of going to a top-ranked school is having friends/classmates who secure positions at the biggest companies in the world.
Now for a personal anecdote. When I was in your shoes, I choose path 1 and found that the safe path was not what I wanted and diverted to path 2 after receiving an undergraduate degree. I've received more compliments on my portfolio than for my "prestigious" diploma. This isn't to say that either path is better. Instead, I'm saying that you can change your mind without tanking your career. Ask 10 senior engineers their path and you'll get 10 different answers. What's most important is you enjoy the process and don't burn out in the mean time.π
Thank you so much for your detailed advice π₯Ή I am IMMENSELY grateful to the DEV community for having SUCH great people! (I am new here, and I am already genuinly mind-blown π€―)
This is something that I said in a previous reply in this same post (reply to Francis), copied verbatim:
This fits PERFECTLY with the second path. So yeah! I know what I want to do π And I am confident that I don't need a degree from an IIT to network with people. Thanks a LOT for saying what happened to you when you were in my situation, which was EXACTLY what I wanted! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! Wishing you all the best! βΊοΈ
@akhourianmolkumar I know you're 13 but what's your opinion?
Idk π
Bruh βΉοΈ
Glad you picked the building path. One habit that pays off later: keep a one-page log for each project, what it does, the hardest bug you hit, and what you learned. When interview season comes, those logs turn straight into stories you can tell about your own work. Keep building, and good luck with embedded.
Who is @technogamerz?
lol
She's from IITB!
Everyone here has already given advice, so what should I add now? π