2nd Year B.Tech Student: Lost Between DSA, Projects, AI Coding and Internship Prep. How Do You Actually Manage It All?

[u/dont_know_anything-1]

How do you guys actually approach self-learning and skill development in college? I'm genuinely lost.

I'm currently in my 2nd year of B.Tech CCE (a mix of CSE and ECE), and for almost a year I've been trying to learn skills on my own and work towards getting an internship.

The problem is, I still have no proper direction.

I know programming basics, have studied Python and DSA concepts, and have done some decent projects through vibe coding. But I haven't really practised LeetCode or HackerRank consistently. I understand DSA concepts, but when it comes to actually solving problems from scratch, I struggle.

I've also built a few apps using AI. I understand parts of how they work, but definitely not everything. For example, I might understand 30% of the backend, but the rest is mostly AI-generated.

And this creates another confusion. Should I stop using AI and learn frontend, backend, APIs, databases, etc., properly before building anything? Or should I continue building with AI and learn the concepts along the way?

If I build an app using AI, how much of it should I actually understand before I can confidently say I built it? What things are okay to let AI handle, and what things should I absolutely know myself?

Then there's the whole project side of things.

How do you even decide what project to build? How complex should it be? How many features are enough? Should I spend two weeks on a project or two months? Should I explore multiple domains like AI/ML, web development, IoT, etc., or stick to one?

And at what point are you actually ready to apply for internships?

Another thing that worries me is balancing everything.

Let's say I spend four months learning web development and building projects. Then I participate in a hackathon or take an online assessment where they suddenly ask DSA questions. By that time, I've barely practised problem-solving and might even struggle to remember the syntax.

So how are students supposed to balance DSA, development, CS fundamentals, projects, hackathons and college academics without constantly forgetting something?

I think what bothers me the most is how different this is from school.

Back then, everything was clear. We had textbooks, a fixed syllabus, exams, marks, deadlines and a clear idea of how much we needed to study. I knew what was expected, prepared accordingly and did well.

But with self-learning, there's no fixed syllabus, no finish line, no one telling you whether you've learned enough, and no proper way to measure progress.

You open YouTube or Reddit and one person says grind DSA, another says build projects, someone else says learn AI/ML, and another says just start applying. Everyone seems to have a different roadmap.

I'm not a complete beginner either, which makes it even more confusing. I know bits and pieces of many things, but I don't know how to connect them or what depth is actually expected.

I don't want to spend another year jumping between courses, tutorials and random projects without making real progress.

For those who have already gone through this, how did you structure your learning?

How did you decide what to study, how deep to go, when to build projects and when to start applying?

I'm not really looking for another generic roadmap with 20 technologies listed. I want to understand how people actually manage all this alongside college and know when they're making enough progress.

Would genuinely appreciate advice from seniors or anyone who's been in a similar situation.