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⚙️ Technical Skills Preparation: Beyond DSA

While DSA gets you through the door, your technical skills—Development, Core Subjects, and Tools—are what make you an engineer.

🏗️ The Technical Stack Tiers

Tier 1: Core Fundamentals (Non-Negotiable)

These are asked in almost every technical interview for CSE students. * Operating Systems (OS): CPU Scheduling, Deadlocks, Paging, Virtual Memory. * Database Management (DBMS): SQL queries (Joins, Subqueries), Normalization, ACID properties. * Computer Networks (CN): TCP vs UDP, IP Addressing, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, SSL. * OOPs: The 4 pillars (Abstaction, Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism) in your language of choice.

Tier 2: Development (Your Projects)

Pick ONE domain and go deep. * Web Development: React, Node.js, Next.js, Django. * Mobile App Dev: Flutter, React Native, Swift/Kotlin. * Cloud/DevOps: AWS, Docker, CI/CD pipelines. * AI/ML: Python, Scikit-Learn, PyTorch (Only if you have solid projects).

Tier 3: Industry Tools

Knowing these makes you "Job-Ready." * Version Control: Git & GitHub (Branching, PRs, Merge conflicts). * Postman: API testing. * Linux/Terminal: Basic bash commands (ls, cd, grep, awk). * IDE Proficiency: Learning shortcuts in VS Code or IntelliJ.

🗺️ How to Build Your Stack

  1. Learn the Syntax: Don't spend too much time here.
  2. Build "Useless" Things: Small scripts, calculators, or clones.
  3. Build a "Capston" Project: One complex project that solves a real problem.
  4. Open Source: Contribute to one small issue on GitHub to learn collaborative workflows.

📚 Learning Resources

  • Roadmaps: roadmap.sh (The best place to see what to learn).
  • Courses: MDN Docs (for Web), Official Documentation (always best), and YouTube (The New Boston, Fireship).

[!TIP] Quality over Quantity: It's better to know one tech stack deeply (e.g., MERN) than to know the basics of five different ones.

✅ Technical Readiness Checklist

  • Can you write a SQL query to find the "2nd highest salary"?
  • Do you know what happens when you type google.com in your browser?
  • Can you explain the difference between a Process and a Thread?
  • Is your GitHub profile active with at least one major repository?