Yes, that's me (fourth, in the middle) in my graduation regalia, elegantly tossing the mortarboard hat into the air. I am Farjad Ahmed Khan, a Computer Science Engineer (2018 AUG-2022 JUL) - VTU, and I was raised in Bangalore, India. Continue reading to discover more about the university experience through the viewpoint of a recent college grad.

It was August of 2018. I had joined as a freshman in my engineering college. I met a lot of people with diverse cultural backgrounds, both within and outside of India. Making new acquaintances and embarking on our four-year journey together was exciting.

A college can give you a platform to take part in cultural activities in addition to giving you a formal degree. I enjoyed performing ramp walks with the fashion team, of which I was a member. Due to this, I was able to become friends with the seniors in college. I spent a lot of time with my seniors, which was very beneficial to me because they could advise me on many aspects of college activities and tests.

I had the opportunity to engage with a variety of engineering subjects from diverse disciplines in my first year, 2019. I went on a family trip to another country during my freshman year of college. Additionally, I had the chance to hang out with a local mate I had met through college. Even though I had received approval from the college for my absence, I was still compelled to pay a fine of roughly ₹7,000 for missing class.

Having a nerd friend at my side who supported me during the exams was how I was able to pass all of my exams. The night before the exam, my friend would go over all the key topics with me, and I would quickly scan each one before spitting it all onto the paper for three hours. However, I did a good job of studying important subjects like DBMS, Computer Networks, Programming language (java), DSA, Web technologies, etc. This allowed me to successfully complete all 8 semesters of engineering with no history of backlogs and astounding results.

When Pandemic struck in 2020, I first needed a month to adjust to remaining at home during the lockdown and taking online lessons while curled up in bed. Later, I devised a strategy and began to take interview preparation seriously. I spent a few days watching the NPTEL course and learning Java, devoting 5 to 6 hours per day. Then I started solving DSA by trying to follow a YouTuber's DSA sheet, which led me to complete burnout and realize that it was not practical.

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Kunal Kushwaha's DSA course (a genuine shoutout) and the incredibly motivational Community Classroom, which immensely helped me learn DSA and programming. My purchase of the Web development course by Dr. Angela Yu proved to be a wise investment because it was well-structured, approachable for beginners, and it assisted me in getting started on my projects.

In a coding contest organized by my college in the fifth semester, I made it into the top 5. Due to the emergence of COVID-19, we were promoted without administering tests in the fourth and sixth semesters, which also gave me time to devote to effective self-learning. It was a good opportunity to upgrade my skills, and I also started competitive programming during this time out of pure passion.

In Sept 2021, I came across an international hackathon BobHacks by Metabob and Community Classroom provided me with a great platform to meet my teammates from different states of the country to take part in the hackathon. We worked with all our passion for 24 hours to come up with innovative ideas and built Clibug. It was working and collaborating on Zoom calls, GitHub, to competing with teams from different nations. Thankfully, we advanced to the Finalists, where we lost to more seasoned competitors. It was a fantastic learning opportunity that gave me a quick learning boost and gave me material for my resume. The specifics of the hackathon would be the subject of a different blog. Funny story: I received a $30 raffle prize.

By the end of September 2021, I received an offer from a company for an internship during my sixth semester. It was beneficial to follow Kunal's DSA course throughout the interview. I began working as a Software Developer Intern with the company developing SAPUI5 web apps in early October 2021, receiving a substantial stipend.

My college's refusal to let me continue the internship during my seventh semester was a terrible experience. To continually seek my college's permission for a month was too discouraging and demoralizing. That was it, I had enough and persuaded the HOD to let me continue my internship and be allowed to attend. Given my academic record, they gave me permission.

Unexpectedly, while completing my internship, I found myself missing college a lot, and it was quite difficult to go from living as a student to a working professional. On the bright side, while other students were wasting time in college, I was learning and getting tremendous industry exposure. After receiving several respectable job offers at the end of my senior year, I wrote my last exam in July of 2022 and graduated by the grace of Almighty with First Class Distinction.

To sum up, throughout the course of four years, I networked with people, dined at a variety of restaurants in the city, and also picked up a lot of valuable life skills. College can only provide you with a starting point; you must do all the learning on your own by being involved in student communities and following credible resources, such as those who have previously achieved success in the profession. Also, always keep in mind that consistency is more important than everything else.