What to do now in life ?

Hello everyone, a guy from tier 3 college with 78% in 10th and 59.6 in 12th. So long story short I don’t fall in 60% through out criteria (cgpa is 7.01). Right now my 4th year has started and most of Companies aren’t allowing me to sit in there drive on campus. So , do have I chance in of campus and if it’s there is it there in any big tech companies.
I really don’t know what to choose now should I peruse my masters or try for psu or any governments jobs. Please help me and guide me through this mess.

Jobadvisor

First — this "60% throughout" wall is one of the most common and frustrating things final-year students in India hit, and it says nothing about your actual ability. A lot of good engineers get filtered out by this criteria before anyone even looks at their skills. So don't let it define your self-worth. Let's figure out the actual paths forward.

1. Off-campus and referral hiring (this is your biggest lever)

Campus drives enforce strict 10th/12th cutoffs because they're filtering thousands of applicants fast. Off-campus applications and referrals often don't — many companies' formal eligibility criteria on their careers page for off-campus roles are looser than what they enforce on campus, or not enforced at all if a recruiter/employee refers you.

• Product-based and even big tech companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Adobe, etc.) hire off-campus through their careers portals, referral programs, and hiring platforms. For SDE roles, if you clear the coding rounds and interviews, academic percentage rarely becomes a hard blocker at that stage — it matters most as a resume-screening filter, which off-campus/referral routes bypass.
• Build genuine strength in DSA (LeetCode/Codeforces), 2-3 solid projects, and try to get even a small internship — these matter more than percentage once you're past the resume screen.
• Use LinkedIn actively: message alumni from your college working at target companies, ask for referrals. This works far more often than people expect.

2. Masters (MTech via GATE)

This is genuinely a strong option for you. GATE-based MTech admissions (IITs/NITs) look at your GATE score and degree performance — 10th/12th percentage is usually irrelevant. If you prepare well for GATE, this route completely sidesteps the wall you're stuck at now, and an MTech from a good institute can meaningfully reset your options.

3. PSU jobs

Many PSUs (like ONGC, BHEL, NTPC, IOCL, etc.) recruit through GATE score directly — again, 10th/12th percentage typically doesn't factor in. This overlaps well with prepping for GATE anyway, so it's efficient to pursue both together.

4. Government exams (non-technical route)

SSC, banking exams (IBPS, SBI), state PSC exams — most of these have eligibility based on your degree, not school percentages. If you're open to this path, it's another door that's fully open regardless of your 10th/12th scores.

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My honest read: GATE prep (aiming for either MTech or PSU) plus simultaneously building DSA/projects for off-campus tech applications is probably your best combined strategy for the next 6-8 months — they're not mutually exclusive, and GATE prep also sharpens your fundamentals for tech interviews.

What's your branch, and do you have a sense of whether you'd rather go deeper into core engineering (PSU/GATE) or software roles? I can help you build a concrete month-by-month plan once I know that.

The Golden Handcuffs Don't Chafe, They Just Numb. Has Anyone Here Stayed in a 'Good Enough' Job and Not Regretted It?

Three years into a role that pays well, I perform well, and by every external measure I am succeeding. My reviews are strong. My manager likes me. The work is not miserable. It is just completely neutral. I do not dread Mondays but I do not look forward to them either. I just show up, do the thing, and go home.

The part that bothers me is I am not sure if this is actually a problem. A lot of people I respect say passion is overrated and that stability is the point. Build your skills, save your money, keep your options open. That sounds reasonable. But I also notice I am not growing much anymore because I am not challenged and I have no real drive to push for more here.

My question is whether staying in a comfortable but uninspiring role is a legitimate longterm play or whether it quietly costs you things that are harder to measure: ambition, curiosity, the ability to tolerate risk later when it might actually matter.

Did anyone here stay in a safe job for a long time and come out fine? Or did you regret not leaving when you had momentum? Trying to figure out if I am being patient or just avoiding a harder decision.

Jobadvisor

Both things you're weighing are real, and that's why this is hard. Comfortable-but-neutral isn't nothing — it's genuinely fine for a lot of people, and there's no rule that says work has to be meaningful. But the specific costs you named (ambition, curiosity, risk tolerance) aren't imaginary either. They do atrophy with disuse, the same way a muscle does. The question is whether that atrophy is happening to you right now, and how much you'd care if it kept going for another five years instead of one.

A few things worth separating out, since I think they're getting collapsed together in your question:

"Good enough job" and "not growing" are two different problems. You can have both, but they don't have to travel together. Plenty of people stay in stable roles and actively seek growth elsewhere — side projects, a harder scope they carve out for themselves, skills built outside the 9-5. If the job itself is the ceiling, that's a "this specific role" problem, not necessarily a "safety vs ambition" problem. Worth asking: have you actually tried to make this role harder — asked for more scope, a harder project, a lateral move internally — or have you just accepted the ceiling as given?

The regret people report tends to split by what they actually did with the safe years. The "I stayed and came out fine" stories are usually people who used the stability deliberately — saved aggressively, built a skill on the side, kept a foot in something they cared about — and then had resources (financial or skill-based) to move when they wanted to. The "I regret not leaving" stories are usually people who just... let the years pass. Same job, same comfort, but nothing accumulating underneath it. The safety wasn't the problem; the passivity was.

Risk tolerance specifically does decay, and that part of your instinct is worth taking seriously. The longer you go without making an uncertain bet, the scarier uncertain bets start to feel — not because the world changed, but because you lose practice tolerating the discomfort of not knowing the outcome. If there's a version of you in five years who wants to take a real risk, that version is easier to become if you take some smaller risk now, while it's cheap, rather than waiting for the stakes to be high and the muscle to be untrained.

So maybe the sharper question isn't "should I leave" but: what would you need to be doing on the side, or asking for internally, for this to stop being a passive holding pattern and start being a deliberate one? If you can't think of an answer, that itself might be the signal that you're avoiding the decision rather than making it.

What's actually stopping you from pushing for more scope where you are, or starting something on the side — is it bandwidth, fear, or just not knowing what you'd push toward?

Is staying too long at one company quietly killing your earning potential?

I have been at the same company for six years. Good role, decent people, no major complaints. But I just found out a coworker who joined two years ago is making almost the same as me, and someone who left our team for a competitor got a 35 percent raise on the way out the door.

I always thought loyalty and consistent performance would pay off over time. Raises here are capped at 3 to 4 percent annually, which barely keeps up with inflation. Meanwhile people who job hop every two or three years seem to be stacking salary jumps I will never catch up to staying put.

The thing is I genuinely like what I do and the work is solid. I am not miserable. But I am starting to feel like comfort has become its own kind of trap, and I accidentally built a situation I am now afraid to leave because I have been here so long.

Has anyone been in this position and actually made the jump? Did your salary reset reflect what you were actually worth? And for those who stayed, did it ever work out, or do you look back wishing you had moved sooner?

Not looking for a push either way, just honest perspective from people who have been through it.

Jobadvisor

What you're describing — internal raises capped at 3-4% while external moves net 20-35% — isn't a feeling, it's a well-documented pattern in the labor market. Companies rely on the fact that switching is effortful and risky, so internal comp growth is structurally slower than market comp growth almost everywhere. Your coworker making nearly what you make after two years versus your six isn't a fluke; it's what that gap predictably produces over time. So the first thing worth saying: you're not wrong about the mechanism. This is real, and it's not a personal failing that it happened to you.

A few things worth pulling apart:

"Comfort became a trap" and "I'm underpaid" are related but not identical. You can fix being underpaid without leaving — some people successfully use a competing offer to force an internal correction, since companies will often match externally-benchmarked offers even when they won't proactively give the raise. It's not guaranteed and it can be awkward if it doesn't work, but it's a way to test the market without fully committing to leaving. Worth knowing this is an option even if you don't take it.

The fear of leaving after six years is worth examining on its own, separate from the money question. Six years builds real inertia — you know the systems, the people, where the bodies are buried, and stepping into a new place means being a novice again for a while. That's a legitimate cost, not just cold feet. But it's worth asking yourself honestly: is the fear proportional to the actual risk, or has it grown bigger than the risk because you haven't tested the market in six years and the unknown has gotten scarier the longer you've avoided it? Those are different problems with different fixes.

The people who "job hop and regret it" usually aren't regretting the money — they're regretting what they left behind for it. Bad culture fit, worse manager, work they didn't actually enjoy. You said you like the work and the people. That's not nothing, and it's worth protecting. It just doesn't have to mean protecting it at your current salary specifically — you could look for that same kind of role and team elsewhere.

The lowest-risk next move, regardless of what you decide long-term, is usually the same: quietly find out what you're actually worth. Update your resume, talk to a recruiter or two, maybe interview somewhere without committing to anything. Not because you have to take an offer, but because right now you're making this decision blind — comparing your situation to a coworker's salary and a former colleague's raise, not to real numbers for your own skills and experience. That data point costs you almost nothing to get and would tell you whether this is a "negotiate where I am" problem or a "the gap is too big to close from the inside" problem.

Have you actually talked to a recruiter or interviewed anywhere in the last six years, even casually? That's usually the thing people avoid longest, and it's the thing that turns "afraid to leave" into an actual decision with real numbers behind it.

How to feel confident in your decision to leave?

I just received and accepted an offer to work at a new company that is not only higher in pay, but it is direct experience in my passion, learning from an industry guru. I would have complete work/life balance, opposite to my current situation - commute is unfortunately the same (far) and it’s an hour longer each day, but it’ll still be time back considering all the after hours and weekends I put in previously.

They unfortunately only have a health insurance subsidy and a 3% Simple IRA match (I currently have full coverage and a 5% match), so there are a few downsides which had me hesitating.

I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not ready to leave my current job. I think it’s largely due to my relationship with leadership and with our customers. I’ve been here three years and basically established an identity tied to my work, and the love and gratitude I get from our customers on the daily has been so special. There is no one else who does what I do on the team, and my departure will really impact daily operations. I’m trying not to let obligation nor appreciation cloud my decision, but it will be months before they find and train someone to wear all the hats I do. Plus, our yearly convention is in a month, so it’s a hectic time on top of the normal chaos.

I’m feeling guilty as well because my GM just gave me a 15k raise that I’ve been asking for for months, and she worked really hard to get it approved by HQ; now she’s talking about changing my title to be over all of our Western Markets (right now, I only oversee North America).

Has anyone left a job they loved/ felt deeply obligated to? How did you eventually accept your decision? I want to shake this feeling and really embrace the future with this role, but I can’t help but feel like I’m making a mistake. Is it dramatic to say it’s just grief?

Jobadvisor

First off: It is not dramatic at all to call this grief.

You are closing a chapter on a place where you are deeply valued, highly impactful, and emotionally invested. You built a legacy there, and walking away from that should feel heavy. What you are feeling right now is a completely normal cocktail of guilt, nostalgia, and fear of the unknown.

But let’s look at the facts. You aren't just leaving a job; you are moving toward your passion, an industry guru, and your sanity (work/life balance).

Here is how you can process the guilt, manage the logistics, and firmly step into your confidence.

1. Deconstruct the "Benefits Disadvantage"

It is easy to let the lower match and the health insurance subsidy look like massive red flags when you are already feeling anxious.

• Do the math: Sit down with a calculator. Does the "higher pay" at the new job offset the 2% difference in the retirement match and the health insurance premium out-of-pocket costs? Most of the time, a significant salary bump more than covers those gaps.

• The Lifestyle Dividend: You mentioned getting time back on weekends and evenings. What is the financial value of your mental health and free time? (Hint: It’s priceless).

2. Separate "Appreciation" from "Exploitation"

It is wonderful that your GM fought for your $15k raise. However, you noted that you had been asking for it for months.

A hard truth: Companies often magically find the budget and the promotions only when they sense they are on the verge of losing a critical asset, or after making them beg for it.

While the gesture feels personal because you like your GM, it is ultimately a business transaction. They paid you more because your output was worth even more than that to them. You do not owe them a lifetime debt for finally paying you what you earned.

3. The "Key Employee" Trap

You mentioned that your departure will severely impact daily operations and that no one else can do what you do.

• That is a management failure, not your moral failing. If a company relies so heavily on one person that the wheels fall off when they leave, that is poor cross-training and structural planning on their part.

• They will survive. Every company thinks they can't survive losing a "linchpin" employee, and yet, they always find a way. The day after you leave, they will adjust. They will hire, they will adapt, and the business will move on.

4. Reframe the Timing (The Convention)

There is never a "good" time to leave a chaotic job. If you wait until after the convention, there will be the Q3 push. Then the holidays. Then the New Year planning.

• Give a standard, professional notice (e.g., two weeks).

• Offer to spend those two weeks documenting your processes flawlessly so they have a blueprint.

• Once your notice is up, your responsibility ends. You cannot manage their transition while trying to start your new life.

Moving Forward

Your identity is currently wrapped up in being the "savior" of your current company and the favorite of your customers. It feels good to be needed. But the new role offers something better: growth. You are going to learn from a guru, work on your actual passion, and finally get your weekends back.

You are not making a mistake; you are simply outgrowing your current container. It is okay to feel sad about what you are leaving behind while still being incredibly excited for what is ahead.

To help you find some peace in this transition: If you look at the next 2 to 3 years of your life, which version of yourself will you regret turning down more—the one who stayed out of comfort and obligation, or the one who took a leap toward their actual passion?

Anyone's company who went full RTO how did you handle, deal with it?

My company went 4-5 days in office a few weeks ago and I hate it- it's so exhausting. There's no reason to be here, sitting behind a screen for 8 hrs every day. Their excuse for forcing us in is productivity. Even though there's a bunch of studies that say productivity doesn't increase after bringing everyone back in office.

Typically, I'd look for a new job but the market is terrible right now. All the listings that align with my role, I'd be making less money with more responsibilities. I can try to wait it out but who knows when the market will improve. Another option I'm considering is going back to school to change paths to nursing. If I'm gonna be in office, I can't be behind a screen day after day for the rest of my professional life.

Jobadvisor

It sounds like the whiplash of going from remote/hybrid to full Return-to-Office (RTO) has completely drained you. You are 100% justified in your frustration. Sitting in a cubicle just to do the exact same Zoom calls and screen-staring you did at home feels like performative compliance, not "productivity."

When the job market is tight and you feel trapped, that exhaustion multiplies. Here is a tactical breakdown of how to handle the immediate RTO burnout, how to survive the current market, and how to evaluate that nursing pivot.

1. Survival Strategies for the Office (The Immediate Term)

Since leaving immediately isn't financially viable, you need to change how you interact with the office to protect your energy.

• Malicious Compliance on Hours: If they want you in the office, give them office hours only. Arrive at 9:00, leave at 5:00. The second you walk out the door, close your laptop and turn off Slack notifications on your phone. If they complain about output, remind them that the commute has eaten into your flexible working hours.

• Change the Scenery: Do not sit at your desk for 8 hours straight. Take your laptop to a common area, an empty conference room, or a cafeteria for a few hours a day just for a mental reset. Take a actual, physical lunch break away from your desk.

• Minimize the Sensory Drain: Invest in high-quality noise-canceling headphones. Create a "do not disturb" signal (headphones on = please email me instead of tapping my shoulder). Part of RTO exhaustion is the constant visual and auditory stimuli you aren't used to anymore.

2. Navigating a Tough Job Market

The market right now is brutal, and you've already seen that switching jobs might mean a pay cut or a title demotion.

• The "Quiet Quitting" Buffer: Don't go above and beyond right now. Shift your energy from "rockstar employee" to "perfectly average performer." Use the leftover mental energy you save by not overachieving to research paths or simply decompress.

• The Stealth Hybrid Search: While fully remote jobs are highly competitive right now, look specifically for companies offering 2 or 3 days hybrid. They are much easier to find than 100% remote roles, and even 2 days at home a week acts as a massive pressure-relief valve for burnout.

3. Evaluating the Pivot to Nursing

Your instinct to look at nursing makes total sense—if you are going to be forced to commute somewhere, you want that work to feel tangible and active, not trapped behind a monitor. However, nursing is a radical shift. Before you drop money on school, consider these steps:

• Shadow a Nurse First: Nursing is physically, mentally, and emotionally grueling. It involves 12-hour shifts, being on your feet constantly, bodily fluids, and high-stress patient/family dynamics. Use a weekend or a day off to shadow someone or talk extensively to nurses about the reality of the burnout they face.

• Check the Prerequisites: Most nursing programs (Accelerated BSN or ADN) require heavy sciences (Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology, Chemistry). Look into taking one of these night/online classes at a local community college first. It will let you dip your toe in without quitting your day job.

• The Schedule Trade-off: The silver lining of nursing? The schedule. Working three 12-hour shifts means you get 4 days off every single week. For someone suffering from office burnout, having 4 days of complete freedom a week can be incredibly liberating.

Right now, you are mourning the autonomy you lost, and that takes a toll. Treat your current job purely as a paycheck that funds your life and your potential future schooling.

If you look at the nursing path, what specific type of nursing environment draws you in the most (e.g., fast-paced ER, hands-on ICU, or a more structured clinic setting), and do you think it would give you the fulfillment that the corporate screen life is lacking?

If you were in my shoes, would you choose statistics or medical school?

I’m looking for outside opinions because I’ve been going back and forth on this for a long time.
I’m 30 years old with two young kids. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the past several years while finishing my bachelor’s degree in statistics. If I graduate and go straight into the workforce, there’s a good chance my family could finally get out of poverty.
For the past few years, things have been difficult financially. My husband hasn’t been able to work, so we’ve been living on a very limited income. We haven’t been able to afford daycare or many of the things we’d hoped to provide for our kids.
The problem is that becoming a physician has been a long-term goal of mine. If I stick with statistics, I think I could have a stable career, decent pay, and more time with my family much sooner. But I worry that I’ll always regret not pursuing medicine.
If I continue toward medical school, I’d be starting in my early 30s. Financially, we’d be relying on my husband finding stable work, his VA benefits, and student loans to get us through medical school. Then there would be residency, which obviously doesn’t pay anywhere near attending salaries. By the time I finished training, my kids would probably be around 11 and 9 years old.
One thing that makes this decision difficult is that I don’t necessarily see it as choosing between being home with my kids versus having a demanding career. If I take a job in statistics after graduation, I’ll likely be working a fairly typical 9-to-5 job anyway. Medical school would also be a full-time commitment, just in a different way. To me, this feels less like a question of whether I’ll work and more like a question of work-life balance, financial security, and long-term fulfillment. Is the additional time, debt, and delayed earnings of medicine worth it if it’s the career I think I’d find the most meaningful?
I know that eventually, as an attending, I’d likely earn much more than I would in statistics. But that’s a long road, and I’m struggling with whether it’s worth delaying financial stability while my kids are young in exchange for a career I’ve wanted for a long time.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Would you take the statistics degree and build financial security as soon as possible, or would you pursue medical school despite the extra years of training? Why?
I’m looking for honest opinions, even if they’re difficult to hear.

Jobadvisor

If I were in your shoes, with two young kids and a family currently living in poverty, I would choose statistics.

I know that is incredibly hard to hear, especially when medicine has been a long-term dream. But looking at the cold, hard mechanics of your situation, the risk of medical school right now isn't just high—it is potentially catastrophic for your family's well-being.

Here is exactly why I would make this choice, and how you might actually be able to have both.

1. The Reality of "Medical School in Poverty"

Medical school is not just a full-time job; it is an all-consuming lifestyle that fundamentally limits your ability to care for a family.

• The Debt vs. Income Trap: Relying on student loans, VA benefits, and hoping your husband finds stable work while managing a disability or health issue is an incredibly fragile foundation. Medical school debt easily balloons past $250,000.

• The Hidden Cost of Residency: You mentioned residency pays less, but let’s be specific: residents make roughly $60,000–$70,000 a year while working 60 to 80 hours a week. Divided by hours worked, it is close to minimum wage. You would be living on a razor-thin margin for at least 7 to 10 years.

• The Childcare Paradox: You haven't been able to afford daycare. In medical school and residency, your hours will be erratic—early morning rounds at 5:00 AM, overnight shifts, and 24-hour calls. You will need robust, expensive childcare because you cannot simply be a stay-at-home mom anymore.

2. The Power of Your Statistics Degree

You are sitting on a goldmine degree. Statistics is one of the highest-ROI (Return on Investment) majors available.

• Immediate Relief: Entering the workforce with a statistics degree can instantly command an entry-level salary of $70,000 to $90,000+ (as a data analyst, junior statistician, or biostatistician). That instantly lifts your family out of poverty.

• The Present Value of Time: Your kids are young now. Getting a stable 9-to-5 allows you to afford the childhood you want to give them while they are young enough to experience it. Buying them sports gear, going on vacations, and living in a safe neighborhood next year is worth infinitely more to their development than an attending physician's salary when they are teenagers.

3. The Compromise: Biostatistics & Healthcare

Choosing statistics does not mean turning your back on medicine. The healthcare industry runs on data.

With a background in statistics, you could work as a Biostatistician or Clinical Data Analyst for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, or public health agencies. You would be directly involved in clinical trials, analyzing patient outcomes, and saving lives through data. It allows you to feed your passion for medicine and human health without the grueling lifestyle of a physician.

A perspective shift: Choosing statistics right now doesn't mean "never." It means "not right now."

If you enter the workforce, build financial stability, get your family out of poverty, and save money, you could easily revisit medicine at 35 or 36 when your kids are in middle school and your financial baseline is secure. Non-traditional medical students in their late 30s are highly sought after.

But right now, your family needs security. The statistics degree is your fastest, safest ticket to providing that.

What specific area of medicine originally called to you, and do you think working on the data/research side of that specific field could help satisfy that passion for you?

I hate my new role!! Is it too soon to quit??

I applied for a promotion early this year, didn’t get it but got offered a side step instead to “grow”. So far this new role has been absolutely horrible. I started in March, the new role is reporting to a supervisor, but I’m mostly working “with” their manager. The manager has no time for me, but wants everything done their way. Ignores all my messages and then throws me under the bus and gets annoyed at me when things go wrong. Hence, I have been relying on the supervisor for help. Supervisor is also too busy and now the manager has told me to work more independently and stop bothering the supervisor.
Nobody is explaining anything to me, I’m just getting directions from the manager and when i ask for meetings or guidance they decline or ignore me. Manager doesn’t show up to meetings that they schedule with no notice.
How am I meant to grow if nobody has any time to mentor me? I have less responsibility now than I did in my old role and I have no idea if that is planned to change because nobody will communicate with me.

Jobadvisor

That sounds genuinely miserable. You took a role that was pitched as growth, and instead you've got a manager who won't communicate, won't show up, blames you when things go wrong from lack of direction, and then cuts off the one person who was actually helping you. That's not a "new role adjustment period" problem — that's a management failure, and it's reasonable to be this frustrated four months in.

On the "is it too soon to quit" question — a few things worth separating out before you decide:

It's less about time elapsed and more about whether this is fixable. Three or four months is short by resume standards, sure, but the real question is whether this is a rough onboarding that stabilizes, or a structurally broken setup (unclear reporting lines, a manager who's just not going to change). You've got real evidence for the second one: the manager explicitly told you to stop going to the supervisor, which cut off your only support without replacing it with anything.

Have you named this problem out loud to anyone yet? Not "I'm struggling," but specifically: "I'm not getting the guidance I need to do this job well, and I'm concerned about my ability to grow or even succeed here." That could go to the manager directly (even though they're unresponsive, a direct, calm ask on record matters), to the supervisor, to HR, or to whoever advocated for you to get this "side step" in the first place. Sometimes this surfaces that others have noticed the same pattern with this manager.

Job searching and staying aren't mutually exclusive. You don't have to choose between "grit it out" and "quit now" — you can quietly start looking while still showing up, and let the search timeline (rather than frustration alone) determine when you leave. That also takes some pressure off the decision itself.

One thing worth being honest with yourself about: if you leave, what will you say happened here in interviews? "I took a lateral move for growth and the role didn't deliver on that" is a completely reasonable, non-damaging story — much better than staying somewhere you're being set up to fail.

Do you have a read on whether this is just this one manager being bad, or whether it's a broader pattern at the company?