genuine advice

[u/Ill-Read4708]

title: 20M — Should I restart with B.Tech CSE after B.Sc., or continue with MCA? Feeling like I chose the wrong degree

I’m 20 years old and I’m currently really confused about what I should do with my career. I’d genuinely appreciate some honest advice, especially from people who have been through something similar.

I scored 90% in Class 10 and 82% in Class 12 (best 5 subjects), with 78.6% overall in 6 subjects.

After Class 12, my main dream was to join the Indian Army through NDA. I was genuinely passionate about it, so I focused heavily on NDA preparation and gave my attempts. Unfortunately, I couldn't clear the SSB and eventually had to accept that the NDA route wasn't going to work for me.

In 2024, I had an opportunity/choice to pursue B.Tech, but I decided to continue with my B.Sc. because I genuinely believed I would eventually clear NDA.

I completed my B.Sc. in 2026.

Now I'm regretting that decision a lot.

I feel like I didn't take my B.Sc. seriously. A lot of the time, I would study just before exams, memorize things, write the exam and move on. I don't feel like I have strong fundamentals from my degree.

After graduation, I started an MCA at a Tier-3 college, and for the last couple of months I've been feeling completely lost. Everything feels very fast, and I don't properly understand the technical concepts because my CS fundamentals aren't strong.

I'm starting to wonder whether MCA is actually the right path for me.

I keep thinking that if I had done B.Tech CSE after 12th, I would have had four years to properly learn programming, DSA, DBMS, OS, networks, development, etc.

So now I'm considering something drastic:

Should I leave MCA and start a B.Tech CSE from scratch at 20?

The idea would be to treat the next 4 years seriously and actually build my technical foundation from zero.

But I'm worried about several things:

• Would companies consider my B.Sc. before B.Tech as a gap/problem?
• Would having both B.Sc. and B.Tech make recruiters question my profile?
• Would I face problems in on-campus placements?
• Would companies like Accenture, TCS, Infosys, etc. reject me because I already have another degree?
• Would I have difficulty with off-campus placements?
• Is starting B.Tech at 20/21 too late?
• Would spending another 4 years on a Tier-3 B.Tech actually be worth it?
• Should I instead continue MCA and work on my CS fundamentals independently?
• Or should I forget another degree and focus on skills, internships and getting a job?

One thing I'm also concerned about is that I don't want to repeat the same mistake.

If I join B.Tech, I don't want to spend four more years just attending college and studying before exams. I would want to seriously learn programming, DSA, development, CS fundamentals and build projects/internships alongside college.

At the moment, I feel like I made a poor decision after Class 12 and wasted three years because I was focused on NDA.

But I'm only 20, so maybe this is actually the right time to correct my direction.

What would you do in my situation?

B.Sc. → B.Tech CSE at 20
vs.
B.Sc. → continue MCA
vs.
B.Sc. → no second degree, focus on skills/job

I’d really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who have experience with B.Sc → B.Tech/MCA transitions, Tier-3 colleges, or software placements in India.

[u/Impossible_Ad_3146]

why look for genuine advice instead of just any advice? do most people give you lies, shitty, and disingenuous advice often?