Okay so… I just entered my final year and ngl I’m lowkey panicking. I wasted my last 3 years doing basically nothing. I don’t know programming properly, never built a single real-world project, and now placements are around the corner.
Like fr, is there still any chance for me to pick up a skill, actually build stuff, and somehow get job-ready before it’s too late? Or should I just accept my fate lol.
Also random question (pls don’t roast me): is there even a platform where you can:
- buy projects (so I can at least see how things work)
- get mentorship/teaching from people who know their stuff
- and later maybe even sell my own projects when I get better
Basically like a one-stop place to learn + build + get guidance. Does that even exist or am I just daydreaming here?
Any advice would be a lifesaver 🙏—
Felt the same when I graduated from university. Three things:
Keep third in mind. Do your best and don’t get frustrated!
seriously. i struggled early, and have zero college. but mentor now the folks just out of college in our corp. I’m 46. They are nervous with new robotics degrees trying to tell me about ROS2 and I’m like … no, here’s how modbus works. Get at it. Tinker. Break stuff. Learn. it’s ok!
People like you are the best kind of mentors, imho :)
100%. The ones who’ve actually been in the trenches and tinkered their way up make the best mentors. They cut the fluff and show you the real stuff that matters. That kinda guidance + just diving into projects is literally what helps folks like us go from “clueless” to “okay I got this.
Haha respect 👊 that’s the real deal — no college but still mentoring grads shows how little the paper matters compared to hands-on. Books say ROS2, real world says “yo, here’s modbus, break it till it clicks.”
That’s honestly the kind of guidance most freshers need — someone who can cut through the noise and say “this is what actually matters, go tinker.” Makes me think if more of us had that kinda space + mentorship earlier, we wouldn’t waste years stuck in theory.
That’s my favorite thing about switching jobs - low expectations!
However, I don’t like how the training these days is usually “read through some old tickets, you’ll figure it out, see you in a few days!”
Lol true, low expectations are kinda a blessing — nobody’s waiting for you to be a genius on day one. But yeah, the “read some old tickets and figure it out” training style is rough. You end up wasting time guessing what matters.
Way better when you’ve got someone to point you straight or at least a solid project to mess with. Hands-on + a bit of guidance always beats digging through dusty docs alone.
Yeah, that’s real. Half the time we forget we actually picked up more than we think — even if it’s just knowing how to structure problems or think a certain way. That stuff does carry over.
And true, no one expects a fresher to roll in like a senior dev. What matters is showing you can learn fast once you’re in the game. That’s why I keep coming back to projects — building stuff, even small hacks, forces you to learn by doing. And if you can get a little feedback along the way, you level up way quicker. That combo of “mindset from uni + learn-by-building” feels like the real win.