The Timeline We're All Chasing (And Why It Doesn't Exist)

Looking around I found out we all tend to completely mix our life events that we expect to happen with our present age and ongoing timeline. I don't blame them for it because that is how we were conditioned.

Instance One: JEE Preparation

During JEE preparation we were told that droppers run for selection whereas freshers (12th students appearing for JEE for the first time) run for ranks. We both are at completely different tracks, fighting for the same set of seats but at different hierarchy. Thus, if you're a dropper, you're too late to hold a good rank. That's instance one.

Instance Two: College Societies

Then comes the college societies. Speaking from my experience at IIT Roorkee, they expect you to learn about Development or ML or Business Consultation or Design early in your first semester because the recruitment happens just after that. If you don't know any of it, you'd probably be a better fit for other verticals of the same club like that of Events or Promotions. Thus, if you're late, you cannot have it. That's instance two.

Instance Three: Internship Season

Then comes the internship season in the 5th semester. If you're not yet ready with your target profile knowledge, high Aptitude and CGPA around 8, you better look for internships off campus just to build your resume. Forget about a PPO as of now. You're already late, try better at your placement season. That's instance three.

Instance Four: Placement Season

Then comes the placement season at the end of your 7th semester. If you fail to get placed in Phase 1, you better run parallelly with one leg each at On-campus placement track and another at Off-campus job applications. Because, come on, you're still unplaced and you're late. That's instance four.

Instance Five: Post-Graduation

Now comes the biggest nightmare: being unplaced even after graduation! You're not JUST late now, you're unemployed. That's instance five.

The Timeline We're All Chasing

This is exactly where we confused life events with age and timeline. We could be at any instance, getting "LATE" but what we need to understand is that even if we're late, the world doesn't end there.

I have seen:

• People in drop year ranking high on JEE Advanced
• People who've never been to the "best" societies on campus cracking GSOC or national-level case competitions and having valuable connections
• People who didn't secure an on-campus internship but getting placed on campus on Day 1
• People who didn't secure an on-campus placement but interned off campus and got a full-time opportunity

But at the same time I have closely observed:

• Droppers who thought they can settle for NIT instead of IIT because they're droppers
• People losing their confidence because they couldn't get into the college societies
• People signing up for unpaid or off-track internships because that's what they found best off-campus
• And the last one is crazy: people thinking of pursuing MBA (or any higher studies) because they couldn't get placed on-campus during their UG placement season

The difference between these two groups isn't talent or luck. It's that one decided their timeline doesn't need to match anyone else's milestones, while the other let the system's definition of "late" dictate their next move.

You're not behind because you took a different path. You're behind only if you stop moving on your own path because you're comparing it to someone else's.

Everyone's on a different timeline. Stick to yours.