Yes, you did it. You have proved yourself. You landed a job even before you passed out from your engineering college. Life couldn't get any better. You sometimes admire that offer letter and read it through again and again(or you don't). Your parents are proud, and they can boast about it in public. College was great, now all you need is a final confirmation- the call letter from your company. Then you are ready to take on the world. But there's a problem. It seems like the company has forgotten about you, that they've made a mistake hiring you and now won't send the call letter across. Welcome to my world. This is typically the scenario after you graduate in India. I'm talking about IT companies. Word has it that a young woman wrote back real strong words to a reputed IT firm after they sent her call letter- 1.5 years after her graduation. I kinda get what she might have felt during that time. I am not worth hiring now- i'm lazy, my routine is way off and i've not picked up a pen since the past few weeks(I have, but that is just going with the flow). What led to this? I've not received a call letter from the company that hired me.
So here I am. I've googled "what to do after btech" multiple times now. Multiple answers pop up- an MBA, MTech, a job. But nobody mentioned what to do in this odd kinda-layoff time. Here's the answer:-
1. Get a certification.
If you're headed for a job in the IT industry, it's good to get your skills certified- it's kinda like a stamp of approval from the guys who invented/now own that programming language or concept. Oracle and Microsoft have a number of certifications to offer, so does Cisco. Think seriously about them, they require time and dedication for preparation.
2. Chase your hobby.
Now is the time to pen down your thoughts, learn that foreign language, take up that course in music- whatever you feel like. It's fun and most importantly- time consuming. At least you won't spend all your time watching movies or TV series the entire day.
3. Go and have a awesome trip with friends.
Yes, this is the time. People are generally free. Also, this is probably the last time you'll go someplace with your college friends or your high school buddies. Time flies and you never know where you might be in the next few months. Meetups are hard to attend. So make this trip a memorable one.
4. Intermediate jobs.
Your posting might be delayed due to the company not having any projects, or due to some other reasons. This can take up a lot of time. Start looking for no-bond jobs, ones which you can leave in a short period of time. These are mainly jobs in a BPO, online content writing, odd sales and marketing jobs and the works. Maybe, just maybe you may find them better than what you're waiting for and can continue(although most of you won't).
5. Job Interviews.
The time period between May-August is the time when a lot of companies conduct pool-campus drives in the nearest University. Go for them, maybe you get a better CTC, or a better starting position.
Okay, that's it. One last thing though- you can pretend that you never read this post and continue to have fun, or get back to whatever you were doing before.
