Will learning Machine Learning give me an upper hand in campus placements?

 The simple answer is - NOT REALLY!

The companies coming to the college expect a candidate to know the core subjects first.

The core subjects include subjects like -

• Data Structures
• Algorithms
• Database Management System
• Operating Systems
• Computer Networks

Apart from these, there are few other subjects which you should have a good knowledge of - 

• Software Development Life Cycle 
• Coding and the programming languages ( C, C++, Java etc ) 
• Software Testing 
• Design Patterns ( optional ) 
• System Design ( optional )

If the candidate is not thorough with these core subjects, then most of the time even if the candidate has done a lot of work in the different fields. It is often neglected.

Most of the big companies ask for the knowledge of computer science fundamentals and the core subjects. 

Now coming to the projects!

If you have a project in Machine Learning ( ML ), then it is very good. 

It shows that you are going along with the trend. But make sure that the project that you are doing in ML is not a repeated one, or it should not sound very general and copy-pasted from the internet. 

The company officials are very learned people. It is very unlikely that you can be able to fool them. 

If you haven't done stuff in Machine Learning,  thereis no need to worry about it. 

Focus on learning new things and implementing them on your own. 

Do your minimum number of projects - the ones specified in the syllabus. There is one project in Computer Graphics ( which is difficult to do if implemented from scratch ) and one project in DBMS, which you should be doing by yourself.

For the DBMS project, try to do all the ER Diagrams, forming of ER models, making SQL Queries, Normalization etc by yourself. During interview it will come automatically if you have done each and everything by yourself.

Apart from these, try to do at least two more projects on your own. It can be android or web or ML or whatever. There is no hard and fast rule that it should use this technology or that. Whatever interests you, do it. 

You need to be thorough with your projects and should be able to explain them down to the most basic functionality. 

I for myself did not mention any of the projects in Machine Learning, because I had not done anything significant in it. 

Don't worry about the people doing projects in Machine Learning, do your own stuff but with full dedication. Try out new stuff. Try to use the latest technological stacks. 

Have an understanding of the technology stack that you have used in your project. Have the theoretical knowledge of it too. Learn the most commonly asked questions in those languages or tech stack. 

There is nothing like your project should include Machine Learning! 

The advantage of Machine Learning projects are: 

• Shows that you are trying to do something in trend. 
• You have a lot of things to explain to the interviewer. 
• You can talk a lot of mathematics in it. Which is usually loved by the interviewers. 

Don't opt for Machine Learning FORCEFULLY.

Do it if you like it. Otherwise, don't do it.
Don't do it just because your friend is doing it. 

You will get a job without an ML Project also. 

Do the projects in the fields that interest you. Try to have a logical background for each project that you do. 

Questions like - why you decided to do this project? What was the motivation behind doing this project etc? Try to find answers to all these questions. 

And if you don't have an answer to the question, then make it up. Have a story to tell about each and every project. What was the motivation behind making that project, etc.