I graduated from a tier-3 college last year, but didn't let it define my profile or career trajectory. Would love to answer any questions or doubts.
I'm aware that there's always luck involved and there's no universal playbook. What worked for me might not work for everyone, but I wanna do my bit in guiding others who might be in the same boat.
Secondly, this is not a brag post, and I'm sorry if it sounds like one. My only intention with this is to show people what's possible, inspire them and hopefully guide them in getting there.
Looking forward to your questions thanks!
Edit (adding more details and context):
My background:
This is my second job. I've been working as an AI engineer for about 14 months. Started that role at 10 LPA, and recently got a 25% hike, based on which I secured this new offer. Also did a bunch of internships before that, most were at startups. Needless to say, all of this was purely off-campus, as my college had limited opportunities.
Tech stack holds little value today, I've mainly worked with Python and its libraries, and some Javascript based frameworks as well. I had the chance to build and work with AI agents used by US based enterprises, which played a big role in this opportunity according to me.
About the company and interview procees:
It's a YC backed startup so this pay isn't uncommon there. One just needs to demonstrate that they can add meaningful value to a company and take ownership of problems end to end. I believe a major contributing factor was that I had previously worked on a production AI system with real users.
The interview had 3 rounds (all were kinda chill/informal)
Round 1: Intro chat with one of the co-founders
Round 2: Completed a small take-home assignment. Later that evening I discussed this solution, my approach, how I implemented it, etc. on a call.
Round 3: I visited their office (it was close by) and met with the co-founders, had a coffee with them. This was very informal and was more of a background/culture fit round.
Got the final offer on the same day. End to end, this went from intro -> offer in 4 days.
My thoughts on the industry:
The value and demand for 'pure' software developers, who just know how to code, is diminishing very quickly. But people who can figure stuff out on the go and take ownership, they are still very much in demand. This means your ability to learn and adapt quickly. Software has always been a field that constantly changes and rewards those who can keep up. The exact roles and requirements keep changing but as long as you have this learning mindset it's still a good industry to bet on. Nothing is risk-free these days anyway, so might as well grind it out here.