Job or Post Graduation?

This discussion is for final year graduates(focusing on BCS degree),  who are holding job offers and want to do PG(Post Graduation), so basically in confusion state, what to do ?

Parents play important role

I have seen some parents are extra caring and want their son/daughter to complete their formal education(PG) first as  job is not mandatory right now for them and feel that you will not do PG once you start earning. This normally happens when parents are financially sound. So these graduates are now in dilemma what to do with job offer???????  Parents will also say that you will get better opportunity after PG. You can’t oppose parents as they are/were your financers.

I am not saying, parents are wrong, but we need to really ask some questions to our   selves or at least think on it.

“Why are we learning?”  Is this formal education really going to give us what we want? We are in just loop “ while( ! job)  study();  ”    We will be escaping out of this loop only when we get job. Learn from our parents and grandparents (how much they had to learn to start earning?). My point is there is no need of further education since you got a job, better start working and later on learn only what is essential for your career growth.

Another question is “Do YOU really want to study?”  Or are u studying because of parent’s force, peer pressure, etc..? Did you enjoy studying during your graduation? In my last 18 years of training experience (10,000 students) I have learnt that 99% students don’t want to study as they don’t really enjoy it. They are learning because they have to.

According to me in some cases Parents are going wrong as they are over supporting us as a result we get settled in life very late. Look at foreign countries, their trend is different, you leave your parents home at age of 17 and become independent. Considering today’s condition in India, assuming our average life is 60 years, out of which some ppl spend half life in education, so you get only remaining half to enjoy life, getting married, kids, etc.  Ideally we should spend only 1/3^rd life in education then 1/3^rd in job and forming family and then 1/3^rd remaining life we should live for us(focusing on our wish list)

PG is common trend in science graduates

 It has become common trend among BCS students(Science graduates)  to do PG  without even understanding whether it will be useful or not? This trend is not seen in Engineers. How many students do ME after BE? BE degree is enough for them to get job. So if you got a job only on BCS degree then why do you need PG? Who should do PG is those who are not getting satisfactory job only on their graduation degree. There are chances that even after PG you might get same company or same job position and same work what graduate get, the only difference will be in starting package(it will be higher incase of PG due to their higher education). For example you get package of 1.8 lacks after BCS and 3 lacks after MCS/MCA. BE are paid higher than BCS, MCA are paid higher than MCS, it’s all because in industry you get paid based on your experience, but in case of fresher experience is zero, so measurement unit is education. Qualification matters only at entry level and then later on only experience counts.

If you are going for PG, only because you get good starting package then you should also understand that this is not true comparison. If you go for job directly after BCS then your experience starts and by the time your batch mates complete their MCS you will be 2 years experienced with salary hikes twice ( 1 per year), I am sure you will reach 3 lacks + in 2 years time.

Even if we forget money is not an issue for you, still you will be always 2+ years experience than your PG friends, this difference will help you in getting faster promotions, higher  salary, earlier  on site opportunity, will help you in getting settled in life earlier.

Some times you feel PG is necessary for getting managerial level or for arranged marriage cases, but then you can do PG side by side. I am not  saying that you don’t do PG, what I am trying to say is do/learn only what is necessary. Please avoid unnecessary learning.

Want to learn more

Some scholar students want to learn more as they are more interested in studies. Even they should think about “where do you get real knowledge?”  During job / or in college. I am sure you will get more knowledge on job where u learn only what you need. Whereas these academic courses are designed in more generic way where you learn lot of things that you may not need in your job.

 

  

What is in your control??? Job / PG

So what is most important to you? At the end it’s JOB, right? So when you get job PG becomes secondary.

Remember, as an individual we can’t control market conditions and in last 15 years IT industry has faced 3 slowdowns. Whenever there is slack in any field it first affects IT industry. Whereas we can choose when and where to do PG. Once you start earning enough you can pay donation and get admission to any college that you want. But that’s not possible with IT companies. I still remember in year 2006, 3 students from Fergusson college got job offers when they were in final year of BCS and they all being studious scored well in exams. Their parents forced them to complete their PG first, so they went for PG. When they completed their PG it was slack in market, so even MCS/MCA degree was useless that time. They struggle to get job for almost a year. Whereas same time one student from Garware college also got job offer in his final year, he went for job directly. After 3 years, these PG students were searching for a good job by this time this Garware college student was already 3 years experienced in IT. This difference of 3 years will be carried forward for whole life as he will be always 3+ years experience than them. He is going to have better life as all opportunities(promotions/onsite) he will get earlier than those PG students who entered in market later. Surprisingly one of PG student is working under his Garware college batch mate in same company.

Moral of this real story is entering in job market as early as possible is the key to SUCCESS in life. You settle in life earlier.

Combining JOB with PG

Those who believe that PG is required for promotion or marriage(especially for boys), they should not leave  job opportunity. Today’s Working women are managing their job along with their household responsibilities. So in student phase why can’t you complete your PG along with the job?

There are some IT companies who offer Bits Pillani’s MS course for their graduate employees, this course runs only on weekends whereas you work on weekdays. This course goes for 4 years(part time). To save time you can also think of taking admission to MCS/MCA to some college where they don’t mind absentee, in some colleges faculties come from industry so lectures are mainly on weekends. You can choose such college and complete your PG along with your job. In MCS there are only 3 semester X 5 papers (out of which 1 Project + 1 internal + 3 external) = 15 papers and good news is you have all subjects ATKT, so no worries about backlogs.  Along with job even if you clear 3 subjects per semester ( project with partner+ internal subject and 1 external) then effectively you have 6 backlogs in all 3 semester which you can finish off in 4^th semester. In worst case you may need 1 or 2 sem(1 year) extra, this is still good as you were also doing job.

Following  this way, 3 years after graduation you will be post graduate with 3 years experience where as in case of typical students doing only PG will be post graduate with only 1 year experience.

Off course when you combine job with PG, your life will be hectic for 3 years but then you  will enjoy fruits for whole LIFE.

For further analysis, consider example of 2 students after their graduation, A going for PG and then job whereas B directly going for job and then do PG parallely (if required)

After Graduation	A: first PG then Job	B: Directly going for Job
Year 1	-ve ( Pay fees)	+income = 1.8 Lacks
Year 2	-ve (pay fees)	1 year Exp +income = 2.5 Lacks
Year 3	Fresher income = 3 Lacks	2 years exp + income = 3.2 Lacks
Year 4	1 year Exp +income = 3.5 Lacks	3 years Exp +income = 4.2 Lacks
Year 5	2 years exp + income = 4 Lacks	Promotion / change company 4 years exp + income = 5 Lacks
Year 6	3 years Exp +income = 4.5 Lacks	5 years Exp +income = 5.6 Lacks
Year 7	4 years Exp +income = 5 Lacks and Onsite opportunity(Earn in $)	6 years exp, income = 6.2 lacks

Note: these figures are tentative for understanding growth.
From above table we easily understand that by going for job first will start your experience and income wise you will be always plus.

Failed in Final Year Exam?

You were curious to know your exam result, but then you find that you have failed!!

For some students it was expected considering their past performance, exam preparation and the way they wrote their exam papers. But for some students this is shocking news!! Shock of failure depends on what loss is associated with it. For example, when you failed in 3-4 subjects of FY(First year) or SY was still all right as you were allowed to go to next level(sem/year), No big loss!! So that time failing in 3-4 subjects did not matter much, But now one backlog of TY has resulted into year down…. a loss of 1 year.  What now?

First Step is to accept the fact as soon as possible and move on, start planning for future. Those who were expecting or had doubt about t heir result must have already done some planning and that’s why failing is not BIG problem for them. But what about others, Who did not expect at all??

Off course temporary remedy is applying for revaluation / re-verification, which might work in some exceptional cases. But what about time factor? By the time you get revaluation result, you might miss out the current opportunities. In case you failed in only one subject then I will recommend you to apply for revaluation and take provisional admission. This will save your one year if your revaluation result is success. Before you apply for revaluation, ask following few questions to yourself.

• Did I really study well for this paper?
• Was I comfortable about this subject?
• What are internal test marks showing?
• How well I wrote the paper? How many marks paper I attempted? How many answers were correct?

Applying for revaluation or re-verification will be good idea only if you are very sure about your performance. Don’t  just rely fully on reval/re-verification result, better start studying for that paper. Focus on your weakness Identify your weakness in the subject and work on it? Find out, from where you can learn those concepts/programs/problems/topics? I am sure there will be some good learning sources like notes, books, friends, seniors, teachers, classes or internet. Now this year you don’t have college, so you have lot of time free which you can utilize for reading from reference books and making your own notes. Collect previous question papers and solve them following time constrain, get them checked from respective subject teachers. Find out your mistakes and learn from them. Try to look at answer papers of scholar students, see how they write paper and learn how to score good marks. Best utilization of 1 year You will be appearing for exam in October and its results will be out somewhere in December. Even if you pass in December, you will have to wait till June for the next course as Pune University’s academic year starts in June. (This I really hate as most of the Indian universities start their academic year in June and there are no admissions in between. Whereas  foreign universities  have 2 to 3 intakes per year.  Some of the universities even allow to complete some subjects in vacation. Indian universities should not punish students for 1 whole year for few backlogs. University can make their exam department more effective and conduct re-exams immediately after one month of declaration of result.) This does not mean that you should lose your 1 year. You can make best utilization of your entire one year. Till backlog exam you should study for your failed subjects thoroughly from basics. Make sure now you score well and achieve desired percentage. Mere Passing is not enough!! Sometimes passing with just  40 marks is not enough. Many companies demand for first class during placements. Even for appearing some government exams there is certain percentage required. I know some students who purposefully failed in one or two subjects so that they cover up required marks in those failed subjects and achieve first class. I also know some students who take break for 1 year and give Class improvement exam(University allow reappearing for 3 papers and considers best performance marks) Once you finish your backlog exam, learn something of your interest that will help you in future for making money(job/business). Exploring different Career options Last 3 years you were busy in college activities(lectures, practical, coaching classes), you hardly got time to analyze yourself or explore different career options. Now since you are free for 1 year, do some proper research and explore various career options that are suitable to you. May be you will find something that may act as turning point of your life. Preparing for Entrance exams Some students were preparing for MBA entrance along with their TY. As their focus and energy was divided, they could neither focus on their academics nor on CET / CAT. As a result they either get so-so college for MBA or fail in some TY subject.  Good idea was they should have focused on TY last year and Prepare for MBA entrance this year. Any ways, since you are free for 1 year now, you can prepare for all such entrances dedicatedly. Time is Money Convert your free time into money. Get some job and start earning to support all your needs. It becomes embarrassing to ask money from your parents every time, especially now when you have lost 1 academic year. This working experience will definitely help you in future.  It will be great if you get some job in your interested area. On job you will learn more than text books. If you really make good money then you can even afford to learn further whatever you like on your own. At the end what I will suggest is, Take every failure in positive way. Remember, Every failed step is getting one step closer to Success. Look at the example of Thomas Edison, he was successful in inventing bulb in his 1000^th attempt and he says that “he learnt 999 ways of how we can’t make bulb”. Academic Success is not the everything in Life. That’s not true measurement of SUCCESS.

Identify your strength, everybody has some.  Try to excel in your strength area. Everybody can’t have their blood group B +ve, but at least you can be positive.

Don’t catch the Wrong Train

Final year results are out!! Congratulations to all successful candidates on your Graduation. ( Do not read this post in case you have Failed, Read another useful post Failed-in-final-year-exam ).

Considering Life as a journey where we catch different trains to reach different destinations. Like recently you got down from BCS(Graduation) train and thinking which train to catch NEXT ??? Most of you will be catching 2 years  MCS train just because you have completed BCS, but have you really thought whether is it a right train for you?

At this junction point, You must think carefully. It’s not typical journey like first year to second or second to third year. Now if you board any wrong train, your education journey will start again and normally it won’t stop until its destination is reached ( unless you dare to jump out of train in between). How many have jumped out of BCS train even after understanding that they are sitting  in wrong train of BCS? There is no point in regretting in future about your past decisions. You can’t change your past but you can change your future.

So, wait for some time, take a long breath and think again are you catching the right train??

• Don’t catch that train because your group(friends) are going for that train(course). Remember, Everybody’s destiny is different depending on your interest, goals and background.  Don’t be scared to walk on unusual paths.
• Don’t catch that train because you are getting its ticket(admission).
• Don’t catch that train because you won that ticket in lucky draw( cracked entrance of that institute)
• Don’t catch that train because it’s best train(college/course). It may not be best for you.

Those who have already realized in BCS that they can’t do programming and started disliking it then is there no point in going for post graduation course like MCS or MCA which will take you towards Programming career.

In populated country like India, everybody is thrown in to rat race. Somehow everybody wants to be successful without knowing what is SUCCESS for them?

Catch only that train which is going to take you towards your destination. Prior boarding the train, finalize your destination.
Following points can help you to choose the Right train for YOU :

• your dream or goals
• your abilities ( mental, physical, financial)
• your interest / likings
• your Strength and weakness
• What you would love to Do whole your life?

Make sure whatever career goal (destination) you choose, should be Best for YOU, achievable and keep YOU happy once you achieve it.

When MCA is good for BCS students ?

This discussion is limited to BSc. Computer Science(formerly called BCS) graduate students who want to decide whether MCA  is right choice for them.

[Before you read this post, please read my earlier related post “MCS or MCA?” as discussion in this post will not repeat those points. ]

Though  I clearly indicated in my previous post “MCS or MCA?” that MCS is best option after BCS considering course outcome, still in certain situations BCS students can find MCA as better option for them . Following are those different situations where MCA will be better option.

Getting MCA admission directly to 2’nd year ? Save 1 year and repetitive study. 

Earlier this facility was not there, but Mumbai University started it and then Pune university also started it since 2013-14.  Reference : Pune University MCA syllabus (Read point 5 Elligibility)
There will be 10% quota in every college of MCA for such lateral entry. For details inquire in MCA colleges or in Pune university.
If you get admission directly in 2nd year then you will save 1 year of studies + fees and enter in IT industry 1 year earlier, which means you will start your professional life/career 1 year early as a result you will be always 1 year+ in work experience  as compared to MCA 3 years course.

Was  BCS tough for You? Make your foundation strong in MCA

Those who were already weak in BCS or were not serious during BCS can also think of going to MCA as MCA course will give them one more opportunity to do those important subjects again and make your foundation strong. Also MCA has some subjects from management which makes this course easier than MCS.

Worried about Project ? only 1 project in MCA

MCS course has project every semester, so 3 projects totally in the course which helps you to make your CV(curriculum vitae)  strong for placements. But those who already had bad experience in TY project as they don’t know programming, should avoid going MCS. In this case prefer MCA as it has only one project in the entire course and you also get time to learn programming.

Working Professionals? MCA is easy to manage

If you are working or planning to work during PG(post graduation) then MCA will be easy to manage than MCS.  If job is must then  what you should care is which course you will be able to complete easily along with job. As MCS has all subjects new(as compared to BCS) it will be tough to learn them completely on yourself. Whereas lot of subjects of MCA are repeated from BCS and few new subjects per semester you can mange easily on your own.  As you are earning you can also join some training institute or coaching class to learn any subject that you find tough. If you are already placed in IT then what you want at the end is post graduation, which will be easy in case of MCA than making your life hell with MCS. There are hight chances of having backlogs in MCS (every semester) if you are working full time and not going to college(its difficult to do all new subjects on your own).

[Note: As syllabus is updated after every 5 years, please go through MCA syllabus before you take final decision. Find out how many subjects you have already done in BCS and how many are new? how new subjects are distributed semester wise and plan accordingly.]

College for MCA / MCS? Choose good college for placements

If you are getting one of the top college(good for placements) for MCA and not getting good college for MCS then prefer doing MCA . It’s good to invest one more year in MCA as compared to MCS than being jobless for 1 year after MCS.  College does matter for placement as there are very good placements in some colleges, whereas in other college students struggle to get IT or job. In some colleges there is no separate placement cell or activity.  It’s a fact  that some IT companies do not prefer to go to certain colleges as their students quality is not good.

Avoid taking admission to new college or college who is conducting that course for the first time. Such colleges have no experience of conducting that course and may not have good faculties, placements, etc..  So avoid being  guinea pig.

MCA or MCS ?

This discussion is limited to BSc. Computer Science(formerly called BCS) graduate students who want to decide whether MCA or MCS is better post graduate course for them.

Course Design:

Pune University has designed MCS (now called MSc. Computer Science) course keeping in mind what they have already learnt in BCS. Whereas MCA course is designed for any graduate having maths background.

Course Duration:

MCS is 2 years (4 sem) course out of which last semester is Industrial training that gives you actual  working experience and this is better than just academic learning. Whereas MCA is 3 years course without industrial training.

In MCA you develop only 1 project that to in final year, where as in MCS you need to do one project per semester.  So finally on your resume you have 4 projects ( 3 sem MCS + 1 TY BCS)

Learning in the Course:

As MCA is 3 years course do we learn more than 2 years MCS course? NO, in MCA 1^st year we learn same thing what we have already learnt in BCS.  Compare syllabus of MCS and MCA to find out where will you learn more. MCS syllabus is more perfect for BCS.

As MCA again has Maths subjects, BCS student who already dislike maths should avoid going for MCA.

So MCA will be advisable to only those BCS students who are weak and want to make their foundation strong by learning few subjects once again.

Another point is, where do u learn more?  In college, or in industry???

You will get real knowledge when you start working. So enter in IT industry as soon as possible and start earning, get settle in life as early as possible.

Competition for Admission:

Only BCS students are allowed for MCS, whereas for MCA all graduates are allowed those who have maths background. So getting admission to MCA is more tough than MCS.

AS there is more maths in MCA entrance and no computer science questions, it will be more scoring for BSc-Maths  student than BSc- Computer science student. So, for BCS student getting admission one of the top MCA college is difficult as compared to BSc-maths  student.

Whereas for MCS admission they consider your BSc graduation marks(contribute 50% weightage ) along with MCS entrance marks. For MCS entrance exam there is computer science syllabus which makes it bit easy than MCA entrance exam which has more maths.

Growth after course :

In case of MCS you will start earning 2years after  BCS, where as in case of MCA you will start earning 3 years after BCS. As a result you are benefited in MCS  (1 year salary + 1 year work experience) In best case some students also get stipend or salary during their Industrial training(MCS 4^th sem)

Lets look at following table to understand how things will work in case of MCS and MCA

Time Line after BCS	MCS	MCA
2 semesters (year 1)	Study new	Study same as BCS
3rd sem (year 2)	Study	Study
4th sem	IT ( stipend) + NO study	Study
5th & 6th sem ( year 3)	Start Working (fresher)        (Salary  10k pm x12m =1.2L)	Study(-fees 50k)
Year 4	1 year exp                           (Salary  15k pm x12m =1.8L)	Start working (fresher)           (salary 12k pm X 12m =1.44L)
Year 5	2 years exp                         (Salary  20k pm x12m =2.4L)	1 year exp                          (Salary  17k pm x12m =2L)
:	:	:

MCA fresher may get starting salary more than MCS fresher as MCA passout are 18years educated (12+3  BCS+3 MCA) whereas MCS is only 17years educated. But this is wrong comparison as we are  comparing person with different age. (MCA is  1 year older than MCS) .  As shown in above table we should compare same person completing MCS or MCA, what will happen in different scenarios.

MCS pass out students will be always 1 year senior than MCA passouts. Every year MCS passout will be getting more salary than MCA passout as they are 1 year more experienced. If you add up all these yearly extra salaries it will be big amount.

Another point to observe is , in MCA final year student pays fees to college(+exam fees+books+classes) which will be saved in case of MCS. Money saved is money earned. So actual earning of MCS student in year 1 is  1.7L = 1.2L(salary)+50k(MCA last year fees saved)

Also growth wise, MCS passout will get all promotions 1 year earlier than MCA pass out as MCS passout  enters IT  1 year before MCA passouts.

 Conclusion :

For BCS(BSc.-Computer Science) graduates, it is recommended to go for MCS(MSc.-computer Science)  considering future growth in terms of experience, money and position.

Those who are still inclined on MCA course after BCS then read my another post    “When MCA is good for BCS student?”

[ Note: above discussion does not consider individual differences in various skills and abilities required for placement and job like communication skills, overall personality, logical thinking, etc..  Many a times people make mistake by comparing one MCA passout student with another MCS passout student. These two students have done different courses but we should also consider their individual strength/weakness as they are different individuals having different attitude, aptitude, IQ, emotional intelligence,  communication skills, smartness, etc… which also matters for placement and future career growth.  So whatever drawbacks you individually have will affect same for getting job irrespective of what course you have done(MCS/MCA)  ]