Usually, the tension for placements starts coming when we are in the 3rd year of our engineering life. But then I have also seen many people getting tensed in the first year itself. Asking various questions on placements, what should they be reading, which language they should focus on, and blah blah !!!
I will be like: "Saans Lele Bhai Pehle !" (Bro, take some breath first!).
However, coming to the main question - What should I be doing when I am in the 3rd year of engineering life?
I would divide this into 2 parts -
- 5th semester
- 6th semester
The answer to this question is totally subjective. But then I will talk about what I did during my 5th and 6th Semester of engineering, to be in a stable position for being ready for the placements season.
5th Semester
- I tried to do more and more projects this semester. Making projects helped me realize the different aspects of developing something.
- I learned how to host a website on Heroku and hosted some of them too. This helped me during my placements since I had a good amount of content to speak in the interview. ( It's an added advantage, you can ignore this ).
- Practiced on Codeforces. Sorting the problems by their ascending order of difficulty. This will help you a lot. Since it's like gradually increasing your difficulty level to target more and more problems.
- For the above point, if I found that I am getting too comfortable in a given difficulty level, I used to target the ( [current difficulty level] + 100 )th difficulty level for more challenging ones. This is because if you can easily solve something, then it's not improving you much.
- Learned little about Github. You should know what it is. Not advanced stuff. But then basic committing the codes and how it works, what can you use it for, etc! ( It's an added advantage, you can ignore this ).
- You can watch some series to refresh your mind. I had watched Sherlock Holmes at that time. ( I know I am late ).
- All the language that you know, their basics and advanced stuff in it. Refresh in the 5th semester itself. You can't afford to give more time on this in the 6th semester, wherein you should be busy learning the implementation in these languages for different DS and Algorithms.
In C++ you should know STL. In Java, you should know the Object-Oriented Concepts, the Collections framework, etc.
For the languages - Have your C++ and JAVA strong. These two are the most targeted languages during the placement time. Yes, C++ and JAVA. Don't worry if you know Python. It's good if you know it. But then those two, pakka you should be knowing. - Core Subjects like - DBMS, Computer Networks, and Operating Systems. Just keep on refreshing. There are some common topics from where the number of questions is certain. I will put them in some other post. But then, be in touch with the concepts in your core subjects.
- All the above things, start in the 5th semester itself. Later you won't have much time for all this.
- During the exam times, just abandon all the above stuff and focus on academics. You just can't afford to get a back in any subject by the slightest of the chance.
6th Semester ( THE END GAME )
- Learn stuff from GeeksForGeeks !! That's it. All the subjects.
- Focus on Academics. Again, you just can't afford to get a back in any subject by the slightest chance. 6th-semester revaluation results come very late. It might cost you some companies even if you clear the subject, by the time the revaluation results arrive.
- I stopped making projects this semester. I used to do coding on Codeforces to keep touch on competitive programming. Morning 7am to 8 or 9 am. But not more of it.
- In this semester, the type of codes that I used to type were mostly from GeeksForGeeks. Finding if a tree is symmetric or not? How to find a loop in a Linked List? Lowest common ancestors. etc etc.
These types of questions were in my rad - I divided the time between various subjects.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - DS and Algorithms.
Thursday, Friday - Operating Systems.
Saturday - DBMS.
Sunday - Computer Networks.
( And I failed most of the times to adhere to it ! But then I tried to atleast manage it 30-40 % of the time ). - Googled common HR questions on internet. And formed optimistic replies to those questions, from my perspective. Free Advice :- Don't take HR Round lightly.
- Solved Puzzles on GeeksforGeeks.
- Sometimes I used to watch some movies and all. Chilling should not stop. But minimize for sometime though.
- And one more thing. Practice writing code on white paper. It's very important. They will make you write on the white paper. So develop the habit of writing it down.
- Gather friends on the same mission as you. Ask random questions to each other. Helps !!
Some useful links -
- GeeksforGeeks : https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/
Too lazy to give links to all the core subjects !! You can find it there itself. - Puzzles : https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/puzzles/
- Codeforces : https://codeforces.com/problemset?order=BY_RATING_ASC ( Problem sorted in ascending order of difficulty ).
After placements is just chill! So work hard for this duration. Later coming this side of the placement river. It's a tension-free world.
All the above points made me feel safe during the placements. That, I am not lacking something to be learned. But then these are not compulsory. I have seen people studying in the end moments ( 6th semester ) from scratch and landing up with jobs. So, totally your call!
Image Source: Google Images
#Placements ( for search purpose )
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