The roadmap to Job/ Internships in software development

Internships play a very important role in gaining practical industry experience and it is a must to have for every college student. With our expertise in connecting students with companies and our experience in working with 1500+ companies globally, we would like to share – What is an ideal path to follow for getting a Job/ Internship in software development. 

First, let’s talk about the full-time job. Here I will talk only about fresher jobs. 

The hiring process which is followed depends from company to company. I am dividing it into three categories – 

1. Early-stage startups  (Employee strength : 1-50)
2. Mid-size startups (Employee strength : 50-200)
3. Bigger startups/ MNCs (Employee strength : 200+)

A. Early-stage startups  – 

1. Hiring here focuses more on your skillsets rather than your degree. The early-stage startups are always looking for people who are having good development skills and those who are having the capabilities to build the product. 

2. DSA/ CP are not that much of a focus here. If you are good in building products, want to build it from scratch, take leadership and work on innovative ideas, you should definitely apply for these kinds of companies 

3. Payscale can be low as compared to what is offered by mid-size or bigger companies but the level of exposure and experience you get will give you a substantial boost in your career and later on you can join bigger companies for senior positions. 

In addition, in early-stage startups, you are going to get some ESOPs which is itself a very valuable asset. If the startup goes ahead and becomes big, the ESOPs value sums up in crores. Hence, more
is the risk, more is the reward! 

4. Roadmap – 2-3 good projects + 2 good internship experience + Mentality towards learning and enthusiasm to work on something new

B. Midsize startups – 

These types of companies receive a decent number of applications for a particular job and the typical hiring process looks like this – 

1st round 

Resume shortlisting. Most of the time, recruiters look for the prior project and work experience in your resume in the field for which they are hiring. 

2nd round

A coding test on DSA/ CP. Some companies may send skill tests (on tech skills for which you are applying) instead of DSA/ CP or they can send both DSA & skill tests.  

3rd round  

Assignment round (where you have to work on a short assignment). Some companies may skip this step.  

4th round 

An interview round discussing the assignment and your resume. The recruiter will try to know about your technical skills and your past internship experience. 

5th round 

This is an optional round which can either be another technical interview or can be an HR round which depends from company to company. If it’s a technical interview, the recruiter will dive deeper to know more about your technical skillsets. If it’s an HR round, the recruiter will try to understand whether you fit well with the company culture or not. 

Roadmap – 2 good projects + 1 good internship experience + Knowledge of DSA 

If you have more number of good projects/ work experience, you will always get an edge over other candidates. 

C. Bigger startups/ MNCs – 

These types of companies receive lots of applications and the competition is high. Typical hiring process looks like – 

1st round – 

Resume shortlisting. This can be done on the basis of your college, CGPA, Field of study or past project/ work experience. 

2-3 rounds of DSA – 

The focus is to check your logical ability and your familiarity with codes and algorithms. The recruiter try to check your analytical skills and coding capabilities. The level of questions depends from company to company. More are the applications, tougher will be the questions. 

Technical Interview rounds – 

It ranges from 1-2 rounds of technical interviews where the recruiter will discuss your resume and will try to know more about your project/ internship experience. These rounds can also be on completely DSA, where the recruiter will give some questions and you have to solve it during the interview. Sometimes, it’s a mixture of DSA and resume rounds. 

Last round – 

HR round. The recruiter will try to understand whether you fit well with the company culture or not. 

Some more technical interview rounds can be added which depends from company to company. 

Roadmap – 2 good projects + 1 good internship experience + Knowledge of DSA

If you have more number of good project/ work experience, you will always get an edge over other candidates. 

That’s all from my side as of now. In the next article, I will cover on how you can get an internship and what are the things you should learn/ do in your college time to maximise your chances to getting a good job offer. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends to help them getting a wonderful job offer.