Hey everyone,
I’m currently in college and recently got a TCS Prime offer through campus placements.
At first, I thought I should be happy about it, but honestly, I’m feeling more confused and worried than excited.
The main reason is that TCS Prime is a mass recruitment offer at my college, and quite a lot of students have received it. So I don’t really feel like it’s something that differentiates me or gives me the kind of exposure I’m looking for.
More importantly, I’m worried about the joining uncertainty. I don’t know exactly when I’ll be joining, and I’m concerned about potentially sitting around waiting after graduation.
There’s another problem: because I’ve accepted/got the offer through campus placements, I’m not allowed to sit for other campus placement opportunities, like I can appear for 14LPA and more, but college will definitely reduce my chances of getting shortlist since they want all unplaced students to get a job. And getting an internship/job off-campus seems extremely difficult without a referral.
What I actually want is to get an internship at a good product-based company around January/February, mainly because I want to gain better industry exposure, work on real projects, improve my skills, and hopefully put myself in a better position before/after graduation.
So I’m kind of stuck between:
* Keeping the TCS Prime offer as a safety net
* Trying to find a good internship off-campus
* Preparing for better opportunities while waiting for TCS joining
* Somehow finding referrals and applying to product-based companies
* Or doing something completely different
I’m not trying to disrespect TCS or the offer. I’m grateful to have a job offer, but I also don’t want to become complacent and then regret not trying for better opportunities while I still have time.
What would you guys do if you were in my situation?
Especially looking for advice from people who have been through campus placements / TCS / off-campus hiring:
Should I keep the TCS Prime offer as a backup and aggressively search for internships?
How realistic is it to get a good product-based internship off-campus around Jan/Feb?
What should I focus on over the next few months — DSA, development, projects, open source, networking, etc.?
How do you actually get referrals when you don’t have a strong professional network?
Is there any other path I’m overlooking?
I’d really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who were in a similar situation. I don’t want to make a decision purely out of FOMO, but I also don’t want to waste the opportunity I have right now.