Date 04 Oct 2020

A Blueprint for an undergraduate engineering student:

 Academics: After entering campus, have an idea from faculty/seniors about the minimum percentage
criteria required for being eligible for placement in the best company coming to your campus. It is generally
75 % or max 80 %. So you to maintain at least this much and give time for other activities like sports/Tech
projects/learning new things other than curriculum. There is no need to become 9 pointer. However, if you
can maintain 9 pointer along with extracurricular activities, that is the ideal case.

 Explore other avenues – take up add-on courses or extracurricular activities:

Participate in sports activity, art/drama, take leadership roles in college annual fests or some responsibility;
actively participate in Tech fests in your college or some outside campus. Apart from taking up regular extra-
curricular activities, you should take up some add-on courses that may add some value to your resume and
profile. Remember, at the end of the day, India is producing more engineers compared to the general
demand, in such case it is always better to have some added advantage, qualification or even a hobby to set
you apart from your peers.
Look for an opportunity to work on some project with group of people or individually. Start your you tube
channel/ start your blog and update at regular interval. Make efforts to make your website/game/app at
later stages.

 Work on your language skills (Verbal & written) & presentation skills:
One of the most daunting tasks that engineers face today is with respect to their language and presentation
skills. The whole point that you can invent, design and build a complex machine but are unable to explain its
working or features to others has been a big challenge for engineers today. Therefore, it is important that
first year engineering students focus on their language skills both verbal as well written.
You should join clubs related to this in your college.

 Network – Find friends-for-life and future colleagues

College is the place where you meet and make friends for life, and this also stands true when it comes to
engineering colleges. However, there is one more added advantage of building your network during your
B.Tech days, as it can help you in future when it comes to job projects and even setting up your own start-
up. So, try to build a good social, academic and professional relationship and network with your peers and it
may come in handy later on. It is not important how many people you know, but how many will stand by you
when you require them.

 Choose your surrounding wisely: You are averages of the persons with whom you spend your most of the
time. It is like induction effect. If one of your friend is very passionate about gym and sports, you
automatically get interested in it. So if you want to learn coding and learning new language, you should be
in contact with someone who is enthusiastic about it. Similarly it applies to other fields. Be with people who
are enthusiastic to learn new things, people who are optimistic, who are encouraging, who radiates positive
vibes. Avoid those who talk negative, discourages you.

 Personality Traits: Always be humble despite of any achievement. Try to choose path with less friction and
avoid argument with anyone. If you lose an argument, it hurts your ego and if you win, you lose the person.
If someone does wrong/injustice, you should oppose and stand by your friends if done with them, because
then only you can expect them to be with you when you require them.
Don’t get disheartened by undesired result where you put efforts. Just focus and enjoy the process without
thinking of the result.
  Keep an eye on new technologies related to your field, keep on exploring about them. Examples are
1. Data science
2. IoT
3. Artificial intelligence & Machine learning & Automation
4. Block-chain Technology
5. Cyber Security
6. New programming language (Python)
7. Android app development

 Physical Fitness and hobbies:

It is very important to be physically as well as mentally fit to perform better in college/corporate. So in every
semester get involved in activities like Gym or some sport for physical fitness. Pursue your hobbies/develop
new ones, participate in club activities/annual fest or whatever activity that makes you happy. Manage their
time as per you academic load.

 Stop playing the waiting game/quite procrastinating

It is advisable that you plan your study/other activity well with fixed timeline, set milestone and start
working on it as soon as possible, rather than thinking about doing later, tomorrow, “do it now” and assess
your progress in-between.

 Set goals for every semester: At the start of every semester you should set some targets for academic,
skills/hobbies to learn, books to read, software to read and assess it.

 Future Plan: working in IT industry can be tough at times. 15-20 years down the line, it can surely drain you
mentally as well as physically. So always keep in your mind to start something of your own at some stage of
your career. Your approach should be to get placement in a good company with vast opportunities to learn
and learn all the things/skills that are required to start your own start up. IT is the only field where you can
start your own business with zero capital. Always keep on reading/searching about successful start-ups and
how their model works. Always keep your mind tinkering about new ideas.

Always remember, you got the admission in a campus that has everything that is needed for an engineering student
(infra structure wise, labs, faculties etc) You got the admission in the branch that you love, you are blessed enough
to get such a opportunity, You are here to learn skills (Technical, Communication, Personal) for your future life , you
are here to explore and improve yourself as much as you can, you are here to make friends for life, you are here to
have fun and enjoy , and above everything else you are here to live each & every moment of the best 5 year of your
life. Don’t ever worry about any result/placement/job, your only focus should be to keep exploring new things, keep
improving yourself & add value to your resume.

Whenever you feel directionless/demotivated, read the whole document again and repeat above paragraph.

Remember the dialogue from “3 idiots”=

“सक्से स के पीछे मत भागो, काबिल बनो काबिल । कामयाबी तो साला झक मार के पीछे आएगी एक दिन ।“

Keep on learning Keep on improving yourself Keep on exploring new things & Never give up