What is the Alternative?
The alternative is simple, don't be a gradiot i.e. don't attend college. Rather, Learn skills, put yourself out and bag an internship by showcasing your portfolio. When you choose not going to college, the world becomes your stage and the internet transforms into your holy grail for learning and guidance.
Let's think smartly and analyse the purpose of "good" college. It assembles several talented individuals under one roof and creates an atmosphere of learning, building a portfolio of projects and networking.
And we can achieve this atmosphere even without opting for college in a three step process:
1. learning
2. building
3. networking
Let us now explore each of these three points in depth:
1. learning
"Where there is a will, there is a way."
Opting for self learning is a powerful choice that makes one accountable for his own life's success or failure. Remember, it is necessary to get skills from the right sources, choosing quality over quantity and following a goal oriented approach towards learning. The process of self learning entails following a comprehensive route map towards upskilling yourself and transforming into an adaptable individual. A powerful step one can take is approach champions of his/her field who have real experience. This could be done through various social media platforms. The mentor can guide you with the "actual" syllabus according to industry demands. This will be a real unfair advantage and skyrocket your chances of success.
2. building
"Certificates are not your true skills,
But your skills are your true certificates!"
~Dhruvam Thaker
The second step is building a bunch of versatile projects which can be added to your portfolio. You can host all the source code online, get it validated from a few domain experts and also write a blog about the whole building experience from scratch. The purpose of a portfolio is that it gives you credibility and allows recruiters to judge if you can add value in their company. Your portfolio can easily surpass the validation of a degree. Working on open source projects and freelance assignments also stands as a great way to prove your skills.
3. networking
"Learn skills, put yourself out and go for an internship by showcasing your portfolio. A simple analogy will be learning the foundation rules of football, practising kicks and then going out to play with other footballers. It makes more sense to actually go and practice to sharpen your skills rather than reading about football and watching football tutorials for four years. "
~Varun Maya
Networking helps you to meet like minded people and leverage each other's knowledge and help each other grow mutually. You can join both, offline as well online network groups. An offline learning group allows stronger peer to peer connection than even a traditional college. Regularly attending meetups in your location can really help you to work on your overall personality and social skills. Hackathons is another great way which brings techies, entrepreneurs, marketers and designers under one roof. It will help you to cull your complexes of not attending a college and also help you to inculcate sales, marketing, management and design skills. Thankfully, internet is fast now and communities are online. Find good placement networks like hirist, IIM jobs, naukri etc and start applying to jobs. Even if you don't get selected in the first try, it will be a great source of feedback. The next step will be to work on your shortcomings apply again. Your network group can also act as saviour for getting a referral in their workplaces. Referrals have a higher chance of getting an opportunity for an interview.