Passion
People who love computer science enjoy solving real-world problems with their skills. Big product-based companies provide such challenges and an environment to grow. Service-based companies often use pre-made tools and offer fewer opportunities to develop your skills, which can be boring for those who like to think and solve problems.

Money
Product-based companies usually pay well, which can improve your lifestyle. Service-based companies generally offer lower salaries and smaller raises. The only big financial benefit in service-based companies might come from long-term onsite opportunities; otherwise, living in big cities can be tough financially.

How to Get a Job in a Good Product-Based Company
Getting an Interview Call

Campus Recruitment: Many product-based companies hire from top colleges like IITs, IIITs, NITs, and other good universities.
Referrals: If you're from a less well-known college or already graduated, try to get referrals from people working in those companies. Keep good connections with software developers to get these referrals.

Job Openings: Look for job openings on company career pages and reach out to HRs on LinkedIn.
Preparation

Algorithmic Skills
Good logical and problem-solving skills are essential. Algorithms and data structures are crucial for clearing technical interviews. There are lots of online videos and resources to help you learn. Be confident in this area.

Coding Skills
Coding is key to clearing the interview. It's the tool to implement your algorithmic solutions. Be good at least one programming language (like C or Java). Technical interviews often involve coding tests where you'll need to solve problems using your preferred language.

Recommended Book: Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions by Gayle Laakmann McDowell.

Application Skills (Code Challenges)
Once you've mastered algorithms and coding, apply those skills. Participate in coding challenges on platforms like HackerRank, CodeChef, and TopCoder.
Work on open-source projects or develop a complete software product from scratch to learn a lot of skills.

Other Important Areas
Database Skills: Be good at writing SQL queries.

Core Subjects: Have a good understanding of your core subjects.

Mock Interviews: Practice mock interviews.
Tools and Frameworks: Get comfortable with popular tools and frameworks used for rapid development and apply them to personal projects.

Market Trends: Keep up with market trends.
Communication Skills: Present yourself clearly and confidently during interviews.

Don’t wait for anyone. Use the internet wisely and use your laptop for coding, not just for watching movies. You have better-configured laptops than many industry professionals, so start solving problems with your algorithmic and coding skills to make a difference. This will help you get placed in a good product-based company. If you don’t get in, you can always start your own company or become a freelancer.

All the best!

Prasanth K.