How to become a successful software engineer?

This article is for those who are in college doing computer-related courses (UG or PG). During college, we need someone who can help to make a successful career and to guide the student in their education and progress. Also, students want to know where they should focus more on what needs to be focused for the future scope as per their course.

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This article will cover:

- What is the role of the laptop in your study? What software needs to be installed and where you should create your account.

- Focus on your programming skills more than anything.

- Online programming.

- What are the myths?

- Role of your academic score

- Relation with your seniors

- Companies and placements

- Personality Development

- Projects and learning

- Friends

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This is my personal post and this is for those students/freshers who are doing or done this IT/Computer Diploma Courses After 12th or doing or done this IT/Computer Engineering Courses After Graduation | PG Engineering Courses

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1. Arrange a laptop for programming:

The very first thing you need to have is a laptop, If you can buy a laptop then definitely you should buy a good quality of laptop.
But you cannot afford a laptop then you need to arrange a laptop, arrange a laptop in the sense find a suitable a place to use the laptop for coding, It may be your college's computer lab, or may be your friend's laptop.
But I'll suggest you buy a laptop, It would be helpful for you to learn code anytime anywhere.
If you don't have money then do some saving and arrange some money and buy it. You but it on EMI now.

Softwares to Install in your laptop

After having a laptop, you need to install the following software in your laptop, this will help you to learn and also help in preparing yourself to become a successful software engineer.

Google Chrome

VSCode

Postman

C

C++

Java

NodeJS

MYSQL

MongoDB

Robomongo

Postgres

Zoom

Slack

Accounts to create

Apart from installing the above software, you need to create an account on the following platforms.
You create accounts on the following websites with your Google account/Gmail address:

Google

LinkedIn

GitHub

CodeChef

HackerRank

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2. Focus on your programming skills more than anything

If you are in college, then in your current semester/year there would be so many subjects but you have only 1 or 2 programing subjects, You need to focus on those programming subjects more than anything. If you don't have any programming language in your semester then also you need to focus on programming languages like C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Machine Learning etc. You can choose anything and you need to focus on this. Make sure you are spending more time enhancing your programming skills. On this page, I have suggested some online coding platform, you need to create your account and start coding on that platform. You don't need to be active on all the platforms but at least one platform.
You should improve your online ranking day by day.

Become a successful software engineer is not one day process, it takes time, you need to do improvements day by day, become a successful software engineer is not easy but if you try to improve yourself day by day, you will be best gradually. So, try to give your at least 2.5 to 3 hours per day for programming

Here are some programming languages that you can learn, that will help you in future

C, C++, Python - First Language (for concepts)

Java, JavaScript - Object-Oriented Programming Language

Bash, DOS, Linux - Command Line Language (for being a power terminal user)

HTML - Markup Language (for building websites)

CSS - Style Sheet Language (for styling websites)

JavaScript - Language of the web

Online programming on following plateform:

Leetcode

GitHub

CodeChef

HackerRank

freeCodeCamp

You need not work on all the above but at least 2 or 1. I prefer Leetcode. Leetcode is good and has so many advantages on that, You need to explore Leetcode for that.

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3. Don't listen to the myth:

Here we'll talk about the very popular myth ie percentage doesn't matter of your acedmics.

The percentage doesn't matter is a myth. Let me explain!

Let's say there are 2 students and both Mr. AAA and Mr. BBB go for placements in a reputed company, Mr. AAA has 85% and Mr. BBB has 65%.
Mr. AAA and Mr. BBB both are good students and both cleared the written exams and reach the technical interview round (This is the typical selection process in mow days, right ?), Whom will the interviewer appreciate and focus more? Tel me, It's Mr. AAA or Mr. BBB?

I know Mr. BBB is good in programming and he has good skills but Mr. BBB's low percentage will not matter only if there is no one around with the same qualities like he has a strong online coding profile.
Or if Mr. BBB is able to give an awesome satisfactory and very impressive explanation when the interviewer asks why he has low percentage? and the interviewer asks is he not a laborious student?
In the on-campus competetions, Mr. BBB can get selected with low percentages as well but having higher grades will not harm either!
I know it's not a perfect process to select the candidate based on only his academic grades, but it is not going to change at least by the time you appear for placements.

So here are some points that you should remember:
Point 1: If you don't have at least 60% you won't be able to appear even for written in so many companies.
Point 2: Higher percentage moves you 1 step ahead in the interviews.
Point 3: For off-campus, the percentage is a key criteria for companies to shortlist/prioritize among thousands of candidates.
Hope you have understood the power of good grades?

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4. Work on good academic score

You need to make a good score in each semester/year but again your technical subject like programming subject should be strongest among all the subjects. So, in my opinion, you need to work on a good academic score but not too much focus on on theoretical subjects if you are good in theoretical then it would be butter on the bread, but again your programming should be strong.

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5. Relation with your seniors:

You should have a healthy and strong bond with your good seniors whether you are in college or not in college, either you are Do a job or you are looking for a job, You should always have a good bond with your seniors. Choose seniors who are helpful and good in behavior. It is my suggestion you should make few friends but should have a friendship/bond with your seniors.
Your senior will teach you so many things, about good or bad, about college, teachers, books, and projects. Whatever you need your senior will help you. Ask his contact number, call her/him on weekends, ask about your/his/her projects or placements, etc.

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6. Know about the companies and placements

If you are a student and pursuing your computer course then you should know what are those companies are coming in your college for your stream or course. You can know about these companies through your seniors. Your seniors will help you to gather your knowledge about these companies interview questions salary brackets offices and competetions. So that's why I asked you to be connected with your seniors.

If you are not in college then your need to know about companies that are for your stream or your files. You are doing a computer course like BCA, MCA or B.Tech then you should know what are those IT companies and what are their criteria and process of recruitments.

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7. Work on Personality Development:

Personality development is not specific to the software field, it's mandatory for any kind of work or job. You need to take care of your body, your health, and your fitness. You need to be fit and fine physically and mentally.
If you are in college then you should participate in extracurricular activities, actively participate in college festivals, and whatever you can for your personality development you should do. You can join the gym if possible or try to participate in sports 2-3 times a week. You can do a morning or evening walk at least 40-60 minutes daily

Work on your communication

You need to work on your communication, it's not about the specific to English but it is for you speaking quality, You need to arrange some public speaking like arranging something in your group or in your class. Don't miss the opportunity to speak in public.
Also, you need to work on your English speaking, nowadays this is required because once you get the job you need to handle or you need to communicate other countries' clients or professionals who don't know Hindi. Then English would be your primary language. So work on English speaking and keep this on priority.

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8. Make some good projects and learn

This is super required, You should make some projects while you are pursuing your course. You will get to know a lot of things, your programming concepts would be very clear and you will learn a lot during building a project.
Don't wait for the last semester of a particular time to start. If making a project is not in your syllabus then also you shout successfully build a project. This will help you to get a handsome job in your dream company.
Start with some small project like any management project in your favorite language.

Languages that you might learn while building projects

C, C++, Java

Python (for basic scripting and trying out ML/DS stuff)

Kotlin (for Android)

Swift (for iOS)

Flutter/React Native (for cross-platform native apps)

Go/Scala (for highly scalable systems)

TypeScript (JS with types)

React (JS library for building UI components)

JavaScript

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9. Start Saving money:

This is a pro tip from my side, You need to start saving some money for your rainy days. This will help you in the future.
Having money will not be any problem in any case. So you need to cut your expenses and should have some money for your future to buy a book, or to go somewhere for an off off-campus drive.
Sometimes you need to go to other cities to attend the off-campus drive or to appear in exams in other locations that might require some money. At this time your saving will help you and you will be prepared for those scenarios, you need not worry to arrange some money at that time.
Don't waste money in your friend circle to just pretend that you have money and you are from a good family which is financially strong, don't waste your money to showcase that you are super cool.

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10. Make less and true friends:

This is a 2nd pro tip from my side, make fewer friends and true friends. You should make some good friends who can support you in any situation and help you whenever required.

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Conclusion:

In this article, I tried my best to all the ways to become a successful software engineer, This article is more for those who are in college or a fresher and trying to build their future in the software field.
let me quickly summarize what we have discussed in this post.

- What is the role of the laptop in your study? What software needs to be installed and where you should create your account.

- Programming skills is more important than anything.

- Online programming.

- What are the myths

- Role of your academic score

- Your Relation with your seniors

- About Companies and placements

- About Personality Development

- About Projects and learning

- About Friends

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