What is the fate of engineering grads of a tier 3 or 4 Indian colleges?

The same as that of an engineering grad from an IIT.

Disclaimer: this answer would be beneficial for Computer Science students only. Others would not find it useful.

The biggest challenge that Tier 2, 3 and 4 college students face is the lack of guidance and mentorship at the college level. Till the 12th standard, everyone is provided appropriate guidance by parents, coaching, teachers, tutors, etc. However, when one gets into college, things become difficult since students have to rely on their own self. The fact is that professors and teaching assistants assume that the students are grown-up and can manage things on their own.

The competition, however, is fierce and managing so much of CS curriculum is mind-boggling. There are just too many online and offline resources and most students struggle to pick the right resource. In fact, often, the timing is also absolutely wrong.

As an example, one of my friends who was not from a CS major was trying to learn Android App development without even knowing the basics of programming. Such a random exercise can seriously kill your love and passion for Computer Science.

The best students, however, understand this early on and they plan their entire undergrad in a highly organized manner. This is typically the case at the IITs where the learning process is divided into 4 phases:

• Learning to write code
• Improving Problem-solving skills
• Learning web/backend development and cracking an internship
• Learning deep technologies and cracking a dream job

Any student, be it from an IIT or from a tier 2, 3 or 4 institutes can get a high-paying job by following the above template that the IITians use. The key is to learn the right things at the right time, not changing the order of learning.

So, your fate is nothing but how you envision yourself. If you see yourself as a weak, hopeless tier 3 or 4 college student, that’s what you’d become. However, if you see yourself as a successful professional and work hard to achieve that goal, I can assure you that nothing can stop you.