u/unclebhaiyya

I am a 4th semester CSE student at BMSIT Bangalore, entering 5th sem. Honestly, I feel like I've explored too many things without actually getting good at any of them.

I've done a little DSA, very little web development (i.e HTML/CSS), some ML/AI, and I'm currently learning FastAPI. I'm interested in Al and I also have a pretty strong mathematical background/intuition, but right now everything feels scattered and incomplete. I don't have any serious projects or a strong portfolio either.

I want to seriously fix this now. I'm willing to put in 200% over the next 12-18 months. My immediate goal is to get a good internship by the end of 5th sem and eventually become an Al Engineer with a good salary.

I also have an education loan and very little financial support, so I can't really afford to spend years randomly trying different technologies.

If someone experienced in Al/ML hiring or someone who has gone through a similar journey could guide me, I'd really appreciate it.

If you were in my exact position, what would you do from Day 1 of 5th sem? What would you prioritize between DSA, backend/SWE, ML, deep learning, GenAl, projects and deployment? What would you completely ignore?

And most importantly, what actually gets a Tier-3 student an Al/ML internship?

I'm looking for a practical advice. If you had 6 months to make yourself genuinely employable from my position, how would you spend those 6 months?

I am a 4th semester CSE student at BMSIT Bangalore, entering 5th sem. Honestly, I feel like I've explored too many things without actually getting good at any of them.

I've done a little DSA, very little web development (i.e HTML/CSS), some ML/AI, and I'm currently learning FastAPI. I'm interested in Al and I also have a pretty strong mathematical background/intuition, but right now everything feels scattered and incomplete. I don't have any serious projects or a strong portfolio either.

I want to seriously fix this now. I'm willing to put in 200% over the next 12-18 months. My immediate goal is to get a good internship by the end of 5th sem and eventually become an Al Engineer with a good salary.

I also have an education loan and very little financial support, so I can't really afford to spend years randomly trying different technologies.

If someone experienced in Al/ML hiring or someone who has gone through a similar journey could guide me, I'd really appreciate it.

If you were in my exact position, what would you do from Day 1 of 5th sem? What would you prioritize between DSA, backend/SWE, ML, deep learning, GenAl, projects and deployment? What would you completely ignore?

And most importantly, what actually gets a Tier-3 student an Al/ML internship?

I'm looking for a practical advice. If you had 6 months to make yourself genuinely employable from my position, how would you spend those 6 months?

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I am a 4th semester CSE student at BMSIT Bangalore, entering 5th sem. Honestly, I feel like I’ve explored too many things without actually getting good at any of them.

I’ve done a little DSA, very little web development (i.e HTML/CSS), some ML/AI, and I’m currently learning FastAPI. I’m interested in AI and I also have a pretty strong mathematical background/intuition, but right now everything feels scattered and incomplete. I don’t have any serious projects or a strong portfolio either.

I want to seriously fix this now. I’m willing to put in 200% over the next 12–18 months. My immediate goal is to get a good internship by the end of 5th sem and eventually become an AI Engineer with a good salary.

I also have an education loan and very little financial support, so I can’t really afford to spend years randomly trying different technologies.

If someone experienced in AI/ML hiring or someone who has gone through a similar journey could guide me, I’d really appreciate it.

If you were in my exact position, what would you do from Day 1 of 5th sem? What would you prioritize between DSA, backend/SWE, ML, deep learning, GenAI, projects and deployment? What would you completely ignore?

And most importantly, what actually gets a Tier-3 student an AI/ML internship?

I’m looking for brutally practical advice. If you had 6 months to make yourself genuinely employable from my position, how would you spend those 6 months?