Don't get burnout!

I burned out heavily between internships, community work, projects, and DSA practice around the clock. By January 2022 I was leading my club, had about a year of Django experience, and had won a hackathon — still felt like I hadn't reached my best, despite leaning on Pomodoro timers and Notion.

I used to get inspired by Goku from Dragon Ball, always powering up. But even Goku gets burnout — you have to accept it when it hits, take a few genuinely restful days, and then take baby steps back in: stick with one piece of code for just 2–5 minutes, then reward yourself. Gratitude helps.

Master the art of time management

In my fresher year I'd marathon Valorant, GTA 5, entire anime series, and shows like Breaking Bad back to back. Looking back as a junior, I regret how much time that ate up. The fix isn't cutting it out entirely — it's spreading it out: a couple hours of games/anime, 2–3 hours of DSA (one problem morning, one at night), 2 hours on your own dev projects, and the rest for your life outside code.

Added later: I missed a real shot at Google Summer of Code 2022 — mentor connection, org contact, guidance, all lined up — purely because I missed the proposal deadline from poor time management. That's the cost of getting this wrong.

Be part of the community

Contributing to your community — a speaker session, a poster, content, social media — builds real confidence, and gives you exposure and opportunities you wouldn't get otherwise. My GDSC members and I ran a 2-day campaign teaching Chennai Corporation workers about useful Google tech, in collaboration with Women Techmakers Chennai — small effort, real networking payoff, and it felt good.

If you are someone who consistently helps others get better and gives back to the community, you attract attention. You become a channel for your seniors to help the community at large. — Tanay Pratap, Founder & CTO, InvactHQ

Do some open source contributions or projects

Everyone has similar CGPA, education, and certifications — your actions are what set you apart, not your resume bullet points. Open source contributions in your sophomore year build networking and sometimes lead to real opportunities. And when it comes to placement season, 1–3 well-documented projects (ideally with a demo video) go a long way.