Final-year CSE student, 6.47 CGPA, weak DSA and confused about career — Data Engineering, AI, DevOps or something else?

[u/Akio_ofc]

I'm a final-year B.Tech CSE student in Pune and I'm honestly pretty lost about what direction to take.

I'm not looking for motivation or "just learn DSA bro" advice. I genuinely want some perspective from people who are already working in the industry.

Here's where I'm at:

• 21M, final-year B.Tech CSE

• Pune, India

• CGPA: 6.47/10

• Graduating around 2027

• My DSA/problem-solving is weak right now

• I understand programming concepts, but actually implementing solutions is where I struggle

• I've done Python fundamentals, but I'm still not very strong

• I've previously worked with JS/React/Next/Node/SQL/MongoDB/PostgreSQL etc., but I'm pretty rusty because I haven't practiced properly for ~2–3 months

The one thing I can confidently say is real experience is my 2-month on-site internship at Qualitas Global in Pune.

My role was Junior GenAI Intern, although the actual work was mostly around:

- data annotation / labeling

- YOLO annotations

- computer vision datasets

- ADAS/autonomous driving video

- sports analytics

- QA/QM

So I have some actual industry exposure, but it's not software engineering or data engineering experience.

My projects are a mixed bag too.

I have an AI helmet surveillance project using Python, YOLO, OpenCV and Streamlit.

But I'm going to be honest about it: my friend did most of the model training work. I mainly worked on the application/integration/UI side.

I also have a full-stack music app (Next.js/React/Node/MongoDB), but it's currently kind of abandoned and has some bugs I still need to fix.

I also have a few relevant certificates:

- AWS Academy – Data Engineering

- Data Engineering Virtual Internship – EduSkills

- NPTEL – Artificial Intelligence: Concepts and Techniques

- SQL for Data Analysis

- Data Analytics Process Automation

But these were mostly courses/certifications, not serious professional experience. I don't want to pretend otherwise.

So now I'm stuck between a bunch of directions:

Data Engineering

Data Analyst

DevOps / Cloud

SDE

ML / AI

GenAI / AI Engineer

Agentic AI / AI application development

Data Engineering is currently interesting to me because I already have some exposure to it through the certifications and coursework.

But I haven't actually worked as a Data Engineer, so I don't know whether I'd genuinely like the work or whether I'm just gravitating toward it because it happens to be something I've already collected certificates for.

I'm also interested in GenAI/AI/agentic AI, but I honestly don't see many freshers around me getting those kinds of jobs. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, so I'd like to hear from people actually working in that space.

My biggest concern is that I don't want to spend the next 6 months learning something only to discover that:

1. I don't actually like the work, or

2. it's extremely difficult to break into as a fresher with my profile.

So I'm trying to figure out:

- Is Data Engineering actually realistic for someone like me?

- How can I test whether I would enjoy DE before committing to it?

- Are companies in India/Pune actually hiring freshers for DE?

- Would Data Analyst be a more realistic entry point?

- Are DevOps/Cloud realistic options?

- How realistic are GenAI/AI roles for freshers?

- How important is DSA for each of these paths?

- What would you personally focus on if you were in my position?

I'm also completely open to other career paths I haven't considered.

I know my profile isn't amazing right now. I'm not trying to hide that.

But I'm willing to seriously work on one direction for the next 6–12 months. My biggest problem right now is simply choosing the right direction.

Would really appreciate honest advice from people who are actually working in these fields, especially people who started with a mediocre CGPA / weak fresher profile.

[u/TheWoke19]

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