u/VishwaOp

I got rejected from an unpaid internship today and I genuinely don’t know whether I should feel bad about it or relieved.

The role itself already sounded insane. They basically wanted someone to deploy and maintain their AI model/product, develop features for the application, handle AWS/cloud infrastructure, and pretty much manage things independently. The expectation was around 8–10 hours a day, 6 days a week. And after all that, it was completely unpaid.

During the interview, they were also asking me about AI systems, deployment, infrastructure, and product-related things like I was applying for some founding engineer role at an early-stage startup instead of an internship. The expectations honestly felt closer to “build and maintain our AI product” than “learn as an intern.”

What confused me even more was how much they kept talking about needing “really strong DSA skills.” They didn’t ask me a single DSA question during the interview. Instead, they just asked me to rate myself in DSA, Python, and AWS. That was pretty much it.

The interview itself felt unprofessional too. The background was constantly noisy, someone was literally shouting the whole time, and there was barely any clarity about the actual role or expectations. Even the product/website honestly felt like another generic AI wrapper type project. But somehow the expectations from candidates were extremely high, like they wanted someone who already knew everything.

What really got me was the expectation that an unpaid intern should basically be capable of deploying and maintaining their product infrastructure almost independently. It didn’t feel like an internship at that point. It felt like they were trying to get free labor from desperate students because the market is rough right now.

Now I’m honestly wondering whether I actually lack skills or whether the market has just become so bad that companies think they can expect production-level work for free. Did I dodge a bullet here, or is this just normal now?

​

I got rejected from an unpaid internship today and I genuinely don’t know whether I should feel bad about it or relieved.

The role itself already sounded insane. They basically wanted someone to deploy and maintain their AI model/product, develop features for the application, handle AWS/cloud infrastructure, and pretty much manage things independently. The expectation was around 8–10 hours a day, 6 days a week. And after all that, it was completely unpaid.

During the interview, they were also asking me about AI systems, deployment, infrastructure, and product-related things like I was applying for some founding engineer role at an early-stage startup instead of an internship. The expectations honestly felt closer to “build and maintain our AI product” than “learn as an intern.”

What confused me even more was how much they kept talking about needing “really strong DSA skills.” They didn’t ask me a single DSA question during the interview. Instead, they just asked me to rate myself in DSA, Python, and AWS. That was pretty much it.

The interview itself felt unprofessional too. The background was constantly noisy, someone was literally shouting the whole time, and there was barely any clarity about the actual role or expectations. Even the product/website honestly felt like another generic AI wrapper type project. But somehow the expectations from candidates were extremely high, like they wanted someone who already knew everything.

What really got me was the expectation that an unpaid intern should basically be capable of deploying and maintaining their product infrastructure almost independently. It didn’t feel like an internship at that point. It felt like they were trying to get free labor from desperate students because the market is rough right now.

Now I’m honestly wondering whether I actually lack skills or whether the market has just become so bad that companies think they can expect production-level work for free. Did I dodge a bullet here, or is this just normal now?

I got rejected from an unpaid internship today and I genuinely don’t know whether I should feel bad about it or relieved.

The role itself already sounded insane. They basically wanted someone to deploy and maintain their AI model/product, develop features for the application, handle AWS/cloud infrastructure, and pretty much manage things independently. The expectation was around 8–10 hours a day, 6 days a week. And after all that, it was completely unpaid.

During the interview, they were also asking me about AI systems, deployment, infrastructure, and product-related things like I was applying for some founding engineer role at an early-stage startup instead of an internship. The expectations honestly felt closer to “build and maintain our AI product” than “learn as an intern.”

What confused me even more was how much they kept talking about needing “really strong DSA skills.” They didn’t ask me a single DSA question during the interview. Instead, they just asked me to rate myself in DSA, Python, and AWS. That was pretty much it.

The interview itself felt unprofessional too. The background was constantly noisy, someone was literally shouting the whole time, and there was barely any clarity about the actual role or expectations. Even the product/website honestly felt like another generic AI wrapper type project. But somehow the expectations from candidates were extremely high, like they wanted someone who already knew everything.

What really got me was the expectation that an unpaid intern should basically be capable of deploying and maintaining their product infrastructure almost independently. It didn’t feel like an internship at that point. It felt like they were trying to get free labor from desperate students because the market is rough right now.

Now I’m honestly wondering whether I actually lack skills or whether the market has just become so bad that companies think they can expect production-level work for free. Did I dodge a bullet here, or is this just normal now?

​

I got rejected from an unpaid internship today and I genuinely don’t know whether I should feel bad about it or relieved.

The role itself already sounded insane. They basically wanted someone to deploy and maintain their AI model/product, develop features for the application, handle AWS/cloud infrastructure, and pretty much manage things independently. The expectation was around 8–10 hours a day, 6 days a week. And after all that, it was completely unpaid.

During the interview, they were also asking me about AI systems, deployment, infrastructure, and product-related things like I was applying for some founding engineer role at an early-stage startup instead of an internship. The expectations honestly felt closer to “build and maintain our AI product” than “learn as an intern.”

What confused me even more was how much they kept talking about needing “really strong DSA skills.” They didn’t ask me a single DSA question during the interview. Instead, they just asked me to rate myself in DSA, Python, and AWS. That was pretty much it.

The interview itself felt unprofessional too. The background was constantly noisy, someone was literally shouting the whole time, and there was barely any clarity about the actual role or expectations. Even the product/website honestly felt like another generic AI wrapper type project. But somehow the expectations from candidates were extremely high, like they wanted someone who already knew everything.

What really got me was the expectation that an unpaid intern should basically be capable of deploying and maintaining their product infrastructure almost independently. It didn’t feel like an internship at that point. It felt like they were trying to get free labor from desperate students because the market is rough right now.

Now I’m honestly wondering whether I actually lack skills or whether the market has just become so bad that companies think they can expect production-level work for free. Did I dodge a bullet here, or is this just normal now?

https://preview.redd.it/ntyvph2oriyg1.jpg?width=1275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cb4996ca2282e03fb0789d4dce0b3d425987124

i’m a recent cs grad from a tier 3 college and i’ve been applying everywhere off campus but still at zero callbacks, so at this point i’m wondering if my resume is the main issue or if i’m missing something obvious in my approach; i have decent fundamentals and a few projects but clearly something isn’t clicking, would really appreciate honest, no sugarcoating feedback on my resume and what exactly looks off, and if possible please suggest what kind of projects actually make a real impact on a resume right now, also where are people applying where they’re actually getting shortlisted because linkedin and typical job portals feel like a black hole for me

i’m a recent cs graduate from a tier 3 college and i haven’t been able to secure any job or internship yet, despite consistently working on dsa and development during college and applying to a large number of roles off campus, so right now i’m trying to figure out my next step and whether i should continue grinding in india or consider going abroad for masters

my_qualifications: btech in computer science, strong dsa practice (400+ leetcode, ~1k codechef), good understanding of trees, graphs, recursion and improving in dp, built some full stack projects, basic system design knowledge, explored cybersecurity through ctfs and cleared initial rounds like hackquest, appeared for exams like tcs nqt digital

i’m looking for honest and practical advice from people who’ve actually gone through this, is going abroad in the current situation really worth it especially if it involves taking a loan, how hard is it to manage academics along with part time work, is it realistically possible to get internships while studying and how competitive is it, what is the actual job market situation right now in cs considering the impact of ai and hiring slowdowns, and for someone coming from an average background like mine is it possible to recover the investment and build a stable career

also which countries are currently better options for cs in terms of education quality, internships and job opportunities after masters, i keep hearing mixed opinions about us, canada, germany and other countries so i’m not sure what’s actually practical right now

at the same time i’m also unsure if i should just stay in india, continue improving my skills and keep trying for off campus roles instead of taking that financial risk, so i’d really appreciate genuine opinions on what makes more sense in this situation and what factors i should seriously consider before making a decision

tier 3 cs grad, just finished my final semester and currently looking for entry level roles, my college had very limited placements with only a few companies hiring very small numbers, so most of us didn’t really get a fair chance through campus and i wasn’t able to secure any offer

over the past year i’ve focused a lot on improving my skills, solved 400+ problems on leetcode, around 1k on codechef and practiced on gfg as well, i have a good grasp on dsa including trees, graphs, recursion and i’m getting better at dp, along with that i’ve worked on some full stack projects and have basic understanding of system design, i also explored cybersecurity through ctfs and cleared initial rounds like hackquest, and gave exams like tcs nqt digital but couldn’t convert them

off campus i’ve applied to more than 1000 roles across linkedin, naukari, indeed, company career pages and through referrals, but i’m not getting shortlisted anywhere which makes it hard to understand what exactly is going wrong or what i should improve

right now i’m trying to figure out the right direction, whether i should continue focusing on dsa, build stronger projects, explore areas like ai or something else, i’m also curious about how people actually get into startups or early stage companies and how referrals work in practice, and whether joining a coaching institute in hyderabad is actually useful or not, i’ve also been thinking about gate but not sure if that’s something i truly want or just considering out of uncertainty

just looking for practical advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation and managed to break into the industry

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Hyderabad is that worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

No offer, no interviews, 1000+ applications… what am I doing wrong?

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities

CS grad from a tier 3 clg, just finished my final sem, submitted my major project and now I’m sitting at home unemployed with no offer in hand

this was honestly my biggest fear since 1st year, I always thought somehow I’ll manage to get into a decent company, not even aiming for big tech just something to start with, but things didn’t go that way, my college barely had placements, only 4–5 companies came around July to Sep and I got rejected in all the OAs, didn’t even get a single interview through college

even the other 10–12 PBC companies that came were hiring like 2–3 people max, so for most of us it just felt like writing OAs without any real chance, I never got shortlisted there either

I tried really hard for internships during college too, applied everywhere I could but never got even one, I kept thinking placements will somehow work out later but that didn’t happen

the only interviews I’ve given were off campus, HackQuest and TCS NQT, I had some interest in cybersecurity so I spent time learning and solving CTFs, that’s how I got into HackQuest, but I couldn’t convert it, in NQT digital I felt I did okay but still got rejected, after that everything just went silent

what hurts more is during that July–Sep phase I was actually at my peak, I was consistent with DSA, solved 400+ on leetcode, quite a bit on gfg and around 1k problems on codechef, I was getting better at trees and graphs and slowly improving in dp and recursion, things were finally starting to make sense, but once placements started and rejections came in, my motivation just dropped completely

I do have decent full stack fundamentals and some idea of system design, but none of it ever got tested because I never even got shortlisted anywhere, if I was at least failing interviews I would know what to improve, but not getting a chance at all makes it really hard to figure out what’s going wrong

I’ve applied to around 1000–1500 jobs through portals, career pages, LinkedIn, naukari, indeed, cold mails and even referrals, but still nothing, not even shortlisting, I also tried some paid resources and groups thinking they might help, but it didn’t really change anything

now I’m just confused, part of me wants to take a few months and start again properly, focus on DSA and build better projects maybe explore AI side, but another part of me feels lost and unsure if I’m even approaching things the right way

I’m also thinking about alternatives like preparing for GATE, but I’m not sure if that’s something I genuinely want or if I’m just considering it out of stress

mentally I feel quite drained, the version of me before placements and now feels very different

I really need genuine advice from people who have been in a similar situation, how do you actually get off campus internships or jobs, how do you approach companies, how do you get shortlisted, I feel like I’m missing something basic

also not sure if my resume is the issue, I’ve tried to keep it clean and well structured but still no response, so I don’t know if I need to improve that or focus elsewhere

and one more thing I’m curious about is how people get into smaller startups or early stage companies through referrals or internal hiring, I keep hearing about it but don’t really know how to find those opportunities or reach out properly

also considering whether joining a coaching institute in Ameerpet is worth it, some people say they help with placements, but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely helpful or not

just looking for honest advice and guidance from people who’ve been through this

tldr: tier 3 cs grad, no internships, no interviews, applied to 1000+ jobs but zero shortlists, decent dsa + dev skills but stuck, confused between grinding more, gate prep or other options, need advice on how people actually get off campus roles and startup opportunities