Chat am I cooked?
be me does bba from tier 2 city that too from Amity University do fairly good internships during college but it's a mixed bucket of different roles discover Figma and get fascinated by UI/UX discovers Product Management buys a course worth ₹70k (the ads were quite conveniencing)
now comes the fun part
end of the course, with great portfolio of projects starts applying for jobs discover that everyone wants coding background students for PM role oh yea forget PM, even APM requires 2-3 YOE Get depressed
register for CAT on last date since a failed attempt is still better than no attempt Diwali and Chhath puja so no study ff now only 10 days are left starts studying realise why people take 5-6 months of coaching for CAT now exam is in <48 hours
I don't know shit, only a bit of VARC, 0 DILR, 0.5 Quants no job money wasted on the course no hope for a good college in my masters confused af
Maybe stop wasting time writing 4chan style posts and use that time to study.
Fair enough. I tried studying, that's where I figured out why people study for months (sometimes years) for this exam. There is so much to study that it is giving me depression. My mocks have gone as low as 11 percentile, so that's why I vented out here 😭😭
Keep us updated .
Sure, rn giving mocks and getting around 25-35 percentile. I'm cooked. Will share about CAT experience for sure
Bhai konsa mock de rha hai. Link bhejio. Mai apni percentile bataunga vapas tujhe xD
Tension na le, mera bhi aas paas hi rahega 😂
Man nobody can sugercoat this. You'll need a year of absolute hammering yourself to enter Product Management roles. Only a miracle would make it happen earlier than that. Create Product Case Studies, Portfolios, Get active on LinkedIn, keep Applying, see if you can get into a cheap PM fellowship program. This should Fastrack you by 3-4 months if not by a lot.
I already have a great portfolio but I can't find any product related internships, most of them are being grabbed by overqualified individuals. Like if IITians and IIM folks apply for internships, I'm not even part of the picture.
Focus on your current job and give CAT next year. The struggle of CV points and good workex is real once you are in the MBA program, from internships to final placements
The thing is I don't have a job. That's the issue, if I had even a low paying average, I could have sticked around but no one is hiring for product roles to someone who is a BBA graduate
Yk sit for some time in quiet and think what you want to do. Currently you are taking impulsive decisions and hopping from one thing to other; this approach is not going to be sustainable in the long run.
Not really. All of these were condensed so it can be read easily. These decisions were not easy for me. I was super ready for placements, did a lot of internships but when time came, not a single company visited the campus. We had very few 3-5 LPA jobs from generic companies. All of them were either sales or business development. The roles were so bad even teachers recommended us that don't pick these, either go for MBA or apply externally.
I was applying left and right, did a lot of work on my resume Optimization. Developed a portfolio website with no knowledge of coding just so I could differentiate with other candidates. I don't know if you have ever applied from external sources or not but let me tell you, nobody gives a flying fck about your applications. 70% of the jobs are there just for the sake of it, I have personally seen a job being re-posted for months and months. Don't even think landing a job through LinkedIn, literally half of them don't even send a mail acknowledging your application. Every job that is posted on the internet is being grabbed by overqualified candidates, if you are meeting the criteria you have no chance. You have to be exceptionally over the top to be able to make a cut. (This statement is true for students who have done non-technical courses trying for a decent job that is not sales). I can get a role in marketing domain (I think so) but I want to get into product roles. The only exception to this situation are either campus placements or Master's degree. With masters, you can make a cut above normal applicants. Yup that's still a thing, people actually hire on degrees.
The CAT decision came as a resort because I was applying since August 2024 and couldn't get a job. CAT is like some of the exams that you should not miss given that it's almost a requirement for all MBA colleges which happens once a year. So it won't make sense to not attempt for it. Also because if you just do 5/5/3 questions correct in 3 sections of CAT, you can have 85 percentile which is a fairly good score. If for some reason I don't get a job till feb 2025, atleast I will have a score to apply for MBA colleges (if some miracle happen and I do get a good score)
I have also researched for good MBA college that doesn't require high CAT score and I found the LPU could be a suitable option so I'm keeping that too in my bag. I have even applied for LPUNEST which is the entrance exam for getting into it. After giving CAT I will have a lot more knowledge and I could even grab a scholarship.
The wrong decisions in my life so far were: Taking a course (from the "***" website rather than the cheaper ones since a portfolio could have been made from other websites as well)
Not researching for a good bachelor's college
Other than that , I choose the most suitable choices. I think a lot about how far I've come from someone who didn't have any confidence to speak to a freelancer, with a lot of technical skills and knowledge, internships from Paytm, Snapchat etc. and the self confidence to smile even at the lowest points. I know rn nothing is falling down on me but not having a job is a serious killer onto my brain these days