How freshers get software jobs in India

Freshers get into software through three doors: mass hiring at large IT services companies, startups and smaller firms, and product companies. Each one screens differently. Prepare for the door you want most, and keep one backup door open.

Door 1: Mass recruiters and national hiring tests

Large IT services companies hire freshers in big batches, on campus and off campus, through online tests.

• What the tests cover: aptitude (numbers, reasoning and verbal) and coding, and at some companies an English or communication test.
• An example: TCS's All India NQT has a Foundation section (numerical, verbal and reasoning ability) and an Advanced section (advanced quantitative and reasoning ability, plus coding). Your score decides which interview track you are considered for: Ninja, Digital or Prime.
• Eligibility filters: many drives set a minimum percentage or CGPA in 10th, 12th and your degree, allow no active backlogs, and limit which passing-out years can apply. Read the eligibility before you prepare.
• Where to find them: the company's own careers page and your college placement cell. Register only on the company's official site.

Door 2: Startups and product companies

Startups and product companies hire fewer freshers and test deeper. They look at what you have built and how you solve problems.

• Online coding test: a few problems on data structures and algorithms (DSA), on a platform such as HackerRank or HackerEarth.
• Projects and GitHub: they open your links. One working, deployed project with a clear README beats ten copies of tutorials.
• Referrals: a referral often gets your resume read. Ask people you have actually spoken to or worked with.
• Startups also hire through LinkedIn posts, Wellfound, hiring challenges on Unstop or HackerEarth, and direct emails to founders.

Build two or three real projects

For a fresher, projects are your experience. Pick problems people actually have, and finish them.

1. Pick one stack and stay with it: for example Java with Spring Boot, Python with Django, or JavaScript with React and Node.js.
2. Build one full-stack app with login, a database and a live link: a hostel complaint tracker, a clinic appointment booker, or a shop's stock and billing app.
3. Build one project in the area you want: a data dashboard for analytics roles, a test-automation suite with Selenium or Playwright for QA, or a CI/CD pipeline on a cloud free tier for DevOps.
4. Put each on GitHub with a README: what it does, a screenshot, how to run it, and what you would improve. Commit as you build; steady activity over months says more than a burst the week before placements.
5. Write one resume bullet per project with a result. Example: “Built a clinic booking app (React, Node.js, MongoDB) used by two local clinics for three months; cut phone bookings by about half.” Only write what is true.

DSA basics versus practical skills

You need both, in different amounts for different doors.

• For every door: arrays, strings, hashing, sorting, searching, recursion, linked lists, stacks, queues and basic SQL.
• For product companies: add trees, graphs and dynamic programming, and practise regularly on LeetCode, Codeforces or CodeChef.
• For services companies and startups: Git, one framework, REST APIs, SQL joins, basic Linux commands and debugging matter as much as DSA.
• Core subjects interviewers often ask: OOP, DBMS, operating systems and computer networks.

Internships and apprenticeships

• Do at least one internship before final year, even a short one at a small company. Real code reviews and deadlines count.
• Engineering graduates and diploma holders can also look at NATS apprenticeships on nats.education.gov.in: 6 months to a year of paid training, with a minimum stipend of ₹12,300 a month for graduates and ₹10,900 for diploma holders.
• Open-source contributions and hackathons such as Smart India Hackathon count as real work on a fresher resume.

Resume and LinkedIn

• One page: education, skills, projects with links, internships and achievements. Skip the objective statement.
• Skills: name real tools (Java, Python, SQL, React, Git, AWS), and only ones you can be quizzed on.
• LinkedIn: the same facts as your resume, a clear photo, your GitHub link, and a headline such as “Final-year B.Tech CSE | Java, Spring Boot, SQL | Open to software developer roles”.

The interview rounds

1. Online assessment: timed aptitude and coding.
2. Technical interview: your projects in detail, a coding problem on a shared screen or paper, and core subjects (OOP, DBMS, OS, networks).
3. A second technical or managerial round, at some companies: problem solving, a deeper project discussion, and how you work in a team.
4. HR round: about you, relocation, shifts, the bond or service agreement, and your joining date.

Service bonds and training agreements

Some companies ask freshers to sign a service agreement: stay for a set period after training, or pay an amount if you leave early. In May 2025 the Supreme Court upheld a minimum-service bond in an employment contract (Vijaya Bank v. Prashant B. Narnaware), so treat the bond amount as money you may really have to pay. Before you sign, check:

• The period, and whether it starts from joining or from the end of training.
• The exact amount, and whether it reduces as you serve.
• Whether the bond still applies if the company ends your job.
• Whether they will keep any original documents. Offer attested copies, and take the originals back the same day after verification.
• The notice period, and whether it comes on top of the bond.

Avoid paid “job guarantee” scams

Real companies do not charge you to hire you. Be careful with anyone who:

• Asks for a fee for an offer letter, “pre-joining training”, a laptop or a “refundable deposit”.
• Promises a guaranteed job at a named company if you pay first.
• Sends an offer letter without any interview, or from a free email address.
• Pressures you to pay today.

If you have paid and been cheated, call 1930 or report at cybercrime.gov.in straight away.

Mistakes to avoid

• Watching tutorials for months and never finishing a project.
• Listing ten languages you cannot be tested on.
• Applying only to mass drives, or only to product companies.
• Skipping aptitude practice because you can code.
• Copying a project from a video. Interviewers ask why you made each choice.
• Signing a bond or paying a fee without reading the terms.

Your checklist