- Do you want to get a job as a Software Engineer at FAANG Companies but do not have a computer science degree?
- Could you not get CS in your dream college because you ended up screwing JEE but want to build a career in tech?
- Did you join your non-core (!CS, !Electrical, !ECE, !MSM) branch just because you could not get the desired branch/college due to not so great JEE Rank, and now you are stuck because it’s boring?
- Do you just want to get a job in coding with a handsome salary to support your family but do not know where to start?
- Are you from a Tier2 or Tier 3 college and do not have a mentor to guide you for building a career in Software Development?
If the answer to any of these questions is Yes!, Then you have come to the right place. :)
Before we start, I’d like to introduce myself and give a little background information. I am a graduate from IIT Roorkee from the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department without a decent CGPA. But currently, I am working for Amazon as an SDE-1 (Software Development Engineer) and I interned with the Google Summer of Code Program twice (2020 & 2019). If I can do this, so can you!
Let me introduce you to three friends Aayush, Bhaskar, and Chirag (names may or may not changed). They got JEE ranks of 2500, 7000, and 13000 respectively. They had several choices of colleges and branches. They could have a CS major at one of the new IITs or a noncore branch at one of the old IITs or CS branch at Tier 2 or Tier 3 college. They took the following choices:
- Aayush took Civil Engineering in IIT Delhi.
- Bhaskar took Electrical at one of the new IITs.
- Chirag joined a Tier 2 college with CS major.
Each one of them has his own grievances. Aayush is worried that not many companies would recruit software developers from his branch as it’s not related to Computer Science. Bhaskar is worried that since his IIT is a new one, so many companies may not visit it for campus recruitments and he may have to apply off-campus. Chirag has a CSE degree but is worried that he may not get recognition because his college is not Tier 1 and his peer group is not competitive. A grievance common to all three of them is that each one of them does not know how to build a career in Software Development and get a job at their dream company.
Can you relate to any of these three guys? Did you also choose a non-core branch in a reputed college because of brand value? Could you not get your department changed to CSE because you got a 7 pointer in your first year and the cut-off for CSE is 9.8? Do you find your department not interesting enough and now you are stuck with a low CGPA? Are you worried about the internship and placement season? Does your friend keep boasting about his Codeforces rank and you don’t know where to start? Are you confused about whether you should start Web Development or Machine Learning? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to build a career in tech because you screwed up your programming course in the first year?
If the answer to any of the questions above is Yes, then you’ll be happy to know that you can build a successful career in software development by following a simple strategy or path. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection and you’ll be good to go. In this post, I’ll be targeting the individuals who want to build a career in software development but do not have a CS major or proper mentorship from seniors for whatsoever reasons. We’ll be going through a road map that you can follow to cover all major topics of CS without feeling lost. I’ve seen people jump into Android Development without knowing Java/Kotlin or basics of Data Structures and Algorithms and therefore losing interest afterward. Don’t do this.
This post is relevant for all people out there irrespective of their year of study or branch. Even if you are enrolled in a CS degree or even if you are a graduate who’s looking to switch career or if you are looking for a quick guide to get a coding job in a small period of time, the post would be helpful.I’ll be only mentioning the essentials.
Here we begin:
I’ve divided the road map into three phases. After the first phase, you should be able to solve basic CP problems. After the second phase, you should be employable by major Tech firms like FAANG. The third phase teaches you web development to increase your chances of placement. The fourth phase will teach you about hotshot topics of CS like ML, DL, and other topics that may be of help while preparing for interviews and would be discussed in Part 2 of this article.
#computer-science #software-development #software-engineering #careers #career-advice #data science
