I'm entering my 3rd year, and I'm in a really difficult situation regarding placements.

My college doesn't have many top companies visiting campus. In the 5th semester, companies like Nomura, UBS, and Nvidia visit (Nvidia usually hires only one student). Then in the 6th semester, companies like Amazon and Yugabyte come.

The problem is that I'm going through a serious financial crisis. I need to pay around ₹2.5 lakhs for my 4th-year college fees. Getting a high-paying job as early as possible would make a huge difference for both my education and my family's financial situation.

Here's where it gets frustrating: our placement cell has a rule that if you're shortlisted by companies like Nomura or UBS, you're not allowed to sit for the online assessment of companies that come later, like Amazon. Once you're selected in one process, you're effectively out of the later ones.

I'm completely torn.

If I sit for Nomura/UBS and get shortlisted, I lose my chance at Amazon, which could potentially offer much better compensation and help me clear my college fees while improving my family's financial condition.

On the other hand, if I skip the 5th-semester companies and wait only for Amazon in the 6th semester, there's no guarantee I'll get it. If I fail there, I'll have skipped good opportunities and could end up with nothing.

People often say "just apply off-campus," but the reality is that it's extremely difficult in the current market, and my primary chance is through on-campus placements.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do if you were in my place? Would you take the safer option in the 5th semester or take the risk and wait for Amazon?

I'm entering my 3rd year, and I'm in a really difficult situation regarding placements.

My college doesn't have many top companies visiting campus. In the 5th semester, companies like Nomura, UBS, and Nvidia visit (Nvidia usually hires only one student). Then in the 6th semester, companies like Amazon and Yugabyte come.

The problem is that I'm going through a serious financial crisis. I need to pay around ₹2.5 lakhs for my 4th-year college fees. Getting a high-paying job as early as possible would make a huge difference for both my education and my family's financial situation.

Here's where it gets frustrating: our placement cell has a rule that if you're shortlisted by companies like Nomura or UBS, you're not allowed to sit for the online assessment of companies that come later, like Amazon. Once you're selected in one process, you're effectively out of the later ones.

I'm completely torn.

If I sit for Nomura/UBS and get shortlisted, I lose my chance at Amazon, which could potentially offer much better compensation and help me clear my college fees while improving my family's financial condition.

On the other hand, if I skip the 5th-semester companies and wait only for Amazon in the 6th semester, there's no guarantee I'll get it. If I fail there, I'll have skipped good opportunities and could end up with nothing.

People often say "just apply off-campus," but the reality is that it's extremely difficult in the current market, and my primary chance is through on-campus placements.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do if you were in my place? Would you take the safer option in the 5th semester or take the risk and wait for Amazon?

I'm entering my 3rd year, and I'm in a really difficult situation regarding placements.

My college doesn't have many top companies visiting campus. In the 5th semester, companies like Nomura, UBS, and Nvidia visit (Nvidia usually hires only one student). Then in the 6th semester, companies like Amazon and Yugabyte come.

The problem is that I'm going through a serious financial crisis. I need to pay around ₹2.5 lakhs for my 4th-year college fees. Getting a high-paying job as early as possible would make a huge difference for both my education and my family's financial situation.

Here's where it gets frustrating: our placement cell has a rule that if you're shortlisted by companies like Nomura or UBS, you're not allowed to sit for the online assessment of companies that come later, like Amazon. Once you're selected in one process, you're effectively out of the later ones.

I'm completely torn.

If I sit for Nomura/UBS and get shortlisted, I lose my chance at Amazon, which could potentially offer much better compensation and help me clear my college fees while improving my family's financial condition.

On the other hand, if I skip the 5th-semester companies and wait only for Amazon in the 6th semester, there's no guarantee I'll get it. If I fail there, I'll have skipped good opportunities and could end up with nothing.

People often say "just apply off-campus," but the reality is that it's extremely difficult in the current market, and my primary chance is through on-campus placements.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do if you were in my place? Would you take the safer option in the 5th semester or take the risk and wait for Amazon?

# I know this might sound like another "how do I crack FAANG" post, but please hear me out — my situation is a bit different and I genuinely need advice, not motivation.

I'm a CS student at a tier-2/tier-3 college, entering my third year now. My family is going through a really rough financial phase. Without going into too many details — things are tight enough that I **need** my internship stipend to actually matter. Not for pocket money or "experience" — but to support my family and pay my own college fees for the final year.

Here's my dilemma:

**The Amazon temptation:** Amazon visits our campus and is by far the highest-paying company that comes here. The stipend would genuinely be life-changing for my family situation. Naturally, I want to go all-in on cracking it.

**The reality check:**

* I'm a Knight on LeetCode, 2★ on CodeChef, and barely there on Codeforces. I'm not some competitive programming god. * Seniors have told me Amazon is incredibly luck-based — you could be well-prepared and still not make it due to the question you get, interviewer mood, etc. * If I go all-in on Amazon prep and don't get it, I might end up underprepared for other companies too.

**The fear:**

* If I "play it safe" and target mid-tier companies, I'll probably get something — but the stipend won't really move the needle for my family. * If I go all-in on Amazon and fail, I'm left with nothing or a low-paying backup, and the financial pressure just gets worse. * I can't focus properly because this constant anxiety about money keeps pulling me out of whatever I'm studying.

I know the generic advice is "just grind LeetCode bro" but I'm looking for something more real. If you've been in a similar financial situation during college and navigated through it, I'd really appreciate hearing your story.

I know this might sound like another "how do I crack FAANG" post, but please hear me out — my situation is a bit different and I genuinely need advice, not motivation.

I'm a CS student at a tier-2/tier-3 college, entering my third year now. My family is going through a really rough financial phase. Without going into too many details — things are tight enough that I need my internship stipend to actually matter. Not for pocket money or "experience" — but to support my family and pay my own college fees for the final year.

Here's my dilemma:

The Amazon temptation: Amazon visits our campus and is by far the highest-paying company that comes here. The stipend would genuinely be life-changing for my family situation. Naturally, I want to go all-in on cracking it.

The reality check:

• I'm a Knight on LeetCode, 2★ on CodeChef, and barely there on Codeforces. I'm not some competitive programming god.
• Seniors have told me Amazon is incredibly luck-based — you could be well-prepared and still not make it due to the question you get, interviewer mood, etc.
• If I go all-in on Amazon prep and don't get it, I might end up underprepared for other companies too.

The fear:

• If I "play it safe" and target mid-tier companies, I'll probably get something — but the stipend won't really move the needle for my family.
• If I go all-in on Amazon and fail, I'm left with nothing or a low-paying backup, and the financial pressure just gets worse.
• I can't focus properly because this constant anxiety about money keeps pulling me out of whatever I'm studying.

I know this might sound like another "how do I crack FAANG" post, but please hear me out — my situation is a bit different and I genuinely need advice, not motivation.

I'm a CS student at a tier-2/tier-3 college, entering my third year now. My family is going through a really rough financial phase. Without going into too many details — things are tight enough that I need my internship stipend to actually matter. Not for pocket money or "experience" — but to support my family and pay my own college fees for the final year.

Here's my dilemma:

The Amazon temptation: Amazon visits our campus and is by far the highest-paying company that comes here. The stipend would genuinely be life-changing for my family situation. Naturally, I want to go all-in on cracking it.

The reality check:

• I'm a Knight on LeetCode, 2★ on CodeChef, and barely there on Codeforces. I'm not some competitive programming god.
• Seniors have told me Amazon is incredibly luck-based — you could be well-prepared and still not make it due to the question you get, interviewer mood, etc.
• If I go all-in on Amazon prep and don't get it, I might end up underprepared for other companies too.

The fear:

• If I "play it safe" and target mid-tier companies, I'll probably get something — but the stipend won't really move the needle for my family.
• If I go all-in on Amazon and fail, I'm left with nothing or a low-paying backup, and the financial pressure just gets worse.
• I can't focus properly because this constant anxiety about money keeps pulling me out of whatever I'm studying.

I know the generic advice is "just grind LeetCode bro" but I'm looking for something more real. If you've been in a similar financial situation during college and navigated through it, I'd really appreciate hearing your story.

Hey everyone,

I’m entering my third year of my B.Tech engineering degree and feeling completely overwhelmed. I recently gave 3 Mock OAs (Cisco, Amazon, Microsoft) and only managed to solve 1 out of 2 questions on each. I ended up rage-quitting my last mock with an hour left because of severe anxiety.

To give some context: Last year, I started DSA using Striver’s resources and have solved around 700 problems altogether. I don't memorize patterns; I focus on building them. Because of this, I can sometimes solve standalone Hard problems, and I've seen clear improvements when revising topics like graphs.

The real breakdown happens when a problem requires heavy implementation mixing multiple advanced concepts—like DP with Segment Trees, DP with prefix sums, sliding windows, or complex graph combinations. When I see these, 100 different thoughts on what to solve and how to solve it get completely jumbled up inside my head. Combining that mental clutter with a ticking timer triggers massive anxiety, and I just freeze and quit.

For example, in my recent mock OAs:

1. I already find Segment Trees difficult, and they threw a heavy Segment Tree problem at me that I just couldn't push through.
2. There was a drone problem where I couldn't even grasp what the question was asking.
3. There was a palindrome problem where the $O(N^2)$ brute force was crystal clear in my head, but I couldn't find the optimal path. The worst part? I know Manacher's Algorithm, but in the heat of the moment, I couldn't think straight enough to apply it.

It feels insane to try and come up with a completely new combination of advanced concepts under a 20–30 minute time crunch. I have the stamina to sit with a tough problem for hours when the timer is off, but the test environment ruins me.

.I need highly specific, actionable strategies on what my next steps should be given this exact status:

• How do you mentally untangle 100 jumbled thoughts when a problem hits you with a weird, multi-concept advanced implementation?
• How do you bridge the gap between knowing an advanced algorithm (like Manacher's) and actually recognizing/implementing it under intense time pressure?
• What concrete routine can I follow to desensitize my brain to the OA timer so I stop panicking and quitting 30 minutes in?

thanks.

Hey everyone,

I’m entering my third year of my B.Tech engineering degree and feeling completely overwhelmed. I recently gave 3 Mock OAs (Cisco, Amazon, Microsoft) and only managed to solve 1 out of 2 questions on each. I ended up rage-quitting my last mock with an hour left because of severe anxiety.

To give some context: Last year, I started DSA using Striver’s resources and have solved around 700 problems altogether. I don't memorize patterns; I focus on building them. Because of this, I can sometimes solve standalone Hard problems, and I've seen clear improvements when revising topics like graphs.

The real breakdown happens when a problem requires heavy implementation mixing multiple advanced concepts—like DP with Segment Trees, DP with prefix sums, sliding windows, or complex graph combinations. When I see these, 100 different thoughts on what to solve and how to solve it get completely jumbled up inside my head. Combining that mental clutter with a ticking timer triggers massive anxiety, and I just freeze and quit.

For example, in my recent mock OAs:

1. I already find Segment Trees difficult, and they threw a heavy Segment Tree problem at me that I just couldn't push through.
2. There was a drone problem where I couldn't even grasp what the question was asking.
3. There was a palindrome problem where the $O(N^2)$ brute force was crystal clear in my head, but I couldn't find the optimal path. The worst part? I know Manacher's Algorithm, but in the heat of the moment, I couldn't think straight enough to apply it.

It feels insane to try and come up with a completely new combination of advanced concepts under a 20–30 minute time crunch. I have the stamina to sit with a tough problem for hours when the timer is off, but the test environment ruins me.

Please don't give me vague, generic advice like "just practice more," "stay calm," or "do LeetCode contests." I I need highly specific, actionable strategies on what my next steps should be given this exact status:

• How do you mentally untangle 100 jumbled thoughts when a problem hits you with a weird, multi-concept advanced implementation?
• How do you bridge the gap between knowing an advanced algorithm (like Manacher's) and actually recognizing/implementing it under intense time pressure?
• What concrete routine can I follow to desensitize my brain to the OA timer so I stop panicking and quitting 30 minutes in?

Appreciate any real, no-BS advice from anyone who has actually overcome this specific bottleneck. Thanks.