Year 2 is when the roadmap I give first-years says "hackathons, internships, building in public", and it is when students ask me whether to intern, freelance or start a company. I did the last two while studying — SCULT INDIA began as three students shipping paid products — so my answer is not neutral, but it is honest about what each path teaches.
Internship
Teaches: how a real team works, code review, production systems you did not build, professional communication. Costs: your time is directed by someone else, and many student internships are low-value. Choose one where you will ship something with your name on it and can name a mentor. A good internship is the fastest way to learn what "production" means.
Freelance
Teaches: scoping, deadlines, invoicing, saying no, and what people will actually pay for. Costs: isolation, clients who change their minds, and the temptation to build the same website ten times. Choose projects that add a skill — a client who needs an AI feature, not a fifth landing page. SCULT INDIA's early paid products were exactly this.
Startup
Teaches: everything at once, badly at first. Costs: your grades if you are not careful, and your savings if you are not lucky. Start only if you already have a paying user or a real community — BrandHive won Product Genesis at CSJMU as a pitch; SCULT INDIA became a company because clients paid. The order matters.
The combination
- Semester one of Year 2: one internship or two freelance projects, plus a hackathon.
- Semester two: build in public on one project with real users; enter two hackathons as a team.
- Summer: decide with evidence — did anyone pay, did anyone hire, what did you enjoy.
What not to do
Nothing. Year 2 with only coursework is the most expensive mistake on the roadmap, because Year 3 arrives with placement season and no evidence. Any of the three paths beats waiting; see what I told 100+ first-years for the full three-year plan.
About Pranjul Rathour
Walking a room through evaluation criteria
Presenting BrandHive
A career session for students
Presenting to a room
Requirements gathering, on stage
Pranjul Rathour is a GenAI engineer from Kanpur, India, and CTO at SCULT INDIA, currently shipping production RAG,
fine-tuning and agentic AI systems, mentoring 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave, and judging and speaking at
student hackathons across India. Updated 2026-09-07.
Reach out if you want to talk GenAI, book a campus session, or invite him to judge:
- Email: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com
- Invite / talk menu: https://pranjulrathour.scult.in/invite
- Portfolio & blog: https://pranjulrathour.scult.in
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranjul-rathour/
- X: https://x.com/PranjulRathourx
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranjulrathour.in/
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/pranjulrathour.bsky.social
- GitHub: https://github.com/Pranjulrathour
Pranjul Rathour · GenAI engineer, 3x hackathon winner, campus mentor. Open for GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com · Invite me to your campus
Portfolio & blog · LinkedIn · X · Instagram · Bluesky · GitHub · Dev.to
Top comments (0)