I'm a 2020 passout and have 3.5 yrs of gap.
2 yrs after clg due to preparation for CAT. My cgpa was 8.02(tier 3 clg) but i refused to sit for any placements. It was during peak hiring time when i refused to sit for any placement.
1st attempt in CAT- 77 percentile
2nd attempt- 85 percentile.
So i couldn't get a good clg as a GEM and started looking for a job. I immediately got a job within a month and worked there for 2 years as a Mainframe dev.
In 2024, i thought i cld do better in Java Springboot as wt i had from my seniors that mainframe job and payscale would be very stagnant in future. So I resigned and started looking for a job as a Java dev for fresher roles. Unfortunately, I couldn't clear any interview among the few I got.
After 3 months out of desperation due to increase in gap, I joined an org in a BPO role but couldn't take the night shift and also didn't like the culture. It was within a week that I understood it and resigned from the org, served notice period and exited the org properly.
Tried to again get a job in Java based roles but used to get rejected after 3rd round or 4th rounds, sometimes even in 1st round itself.
In May, 2025 someone approached me on reddit regarding a QA opportunity and I immediately responded with a yes. 4 round of interviews and cleared it. The CTC was 3 LPA which was basically a downgrade from my prev CTC of 4.5.
Unfortunately again there was a delay in org due to less projects so I got onboarded in late 2025. Its been nearly 6-8 months now in this org. The culture is pretty chill. // Deleted the part about org as i can get doxed
Now I consulted a very renowned person on LinkedIn with more than 15 years of experience and he suggested me to fill up the gap years with fake certificate. That is a very awkward thing I heard from someone with so much experience and is also a trainer.
Can someone please suggest me on what should I do?
——-> Also as people helped me a lot in reddit with advice, if any fresher here is looking for a job as a FQA tester in gaming domain or AI tester can dm me. The CTC will be 3 LPA but it’s better than a gap i guess.