I did my engineering at NIT (it was called REC when I graduated) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Technolo...] and I also suffered in first two semesters because I did not play the game which others were playing just to get good grades. The focus was on grades, not learning.
Later I realized that playing game of grades is not much of an effort so why not play the game and keep doing what I love to do on the side? In my final year, I was in Top 10 students in my batch. In last two years of college, I also did freelance coding for some clients in USA which helped me pay for all my expenses (tuition/pocket money/party/vacation). When college was over and it was time to face the real world, everyone who only focused on the grades suffered and I aced the interviews, found a job which I loved and finally moved to USA.
For a example which you can relate to, see Swaroop [http://www.swaroopch.com/]. He didn't graduate from IIT but worked for Yahoo, Adobe, some Internet startup and he is finally doing freelancing and recently did some work for Joshua [http://www.swaroopch.com/blog/freelancing-for-joshua-schacht...]. He doesn't even mention his degree on his blog, he lets his work speak for itself.
So don't get discouraged, play the game but focus on your passion. Everything else will fall in place. If you want to talk, feel free to contact me. [My info is in my profile.]
> Later I realized that playing game of grades is not much of an effort so why not play the game and keep doing what I love to do on the side?
That's what I do most of the time. It's just that this once, I went a little too far and took on a task that's going to be more difficult than usual to explain to my profs.
Ah well. It's IPU. Failing at a project or practical exam is impossible here. The worst that can happen is that I score a 70 while everyone else scores a 90. I'm beyond caring at this point.
I did my engineering at NIT (it was called REC when I graduated) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Technolo...] and I also suffered in first two semesters because I did not play the game which others were playing just to get good grades. The focus was on grades, not learning.
Later I realized that playing game of grades is not much of an effort so why not play the game and keep doing what I love to do on the side? In my final year, I was in Top 10 students in my batch. In last two years of college, I also did freelance coding for some clients in USA which helped me pay for all my expenses (tuition/pocket money/party/vacation). When college was over and it was time to face the real world, everyone who only focused on the grades suffered and I aced the interviews, found a job which I loved and finally moved to USA.
Read patio11's career advice: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...
For a example which you can relate to, see Swaroop [http://www.swaroopch.com/]. He didn't graduate from IIT but worked for Yahoo, Adobe, some Internet startup and he is finally doing freelancing and recently did some work for Joshua [http://www.swaroopch.com/blog/freelancing-for-joshua-schacht...]. He doesn't even mention his degree on his blog, he lets his work speak for itself.
So don't get discouraged, play the game but focus on your passion. Everything else will fall in place. If you want to talk, feel free to contact me. [My info is in my profile.]