I will be graduating next year with a Computer Science degree, but i don't have any internship experience yet. I am currently I don't want to be jobless even for a month after graduation. How hard is it to get a job without internship and 3.22 gpa? Will it be a wise decision for me to go a route of consultancy? (I don't need sponsorship for full time work)
Thank you all in advance

I can see visible trends in big companies hiring fresh CS graduates. Happening a lot where I work as well. But it's a competetive market; CS interns / graduates would have to demonstrate lots of side projects , hackathon involvement etc. If you are not up to speed you could still reach out to Mid Tier vendors (that is, NOT IBM, Accenture etc) and try to get an entry level (contracting) job with them. These mid-tier vendors do work directly with the clients. They might not be bigger service delivery partners like TCS, CTS, IBM etc. Mostly, they are NOT your conventional Indian Recruiting Consultancies. You Don't have to go that route. I would say start connecting with recruiters from these companies. Create a pro LinkedIn profile. Lookup new trends of presentment there. In Boston, few examples of mid tier to larger IT recruiting firms are, say, Beacon Consulting, Bridgewater Consulting, TekSystems, MODIS etc

Thank you Kalidasbhaisaab for a detail suggestion. After my search, i found out that the mid-tier vendors you are referring to have presence in my location as well. I will put them as my back up.

Create a solid resume and start applying for internships right now. Leave your GPA off your resume unless it's 3.5 or above.

Current economy's pretty stable and great for fresh grads. You shouldn't have problems getting an internship and subsequently, getting offered a FT position, provided you managed to impress your supervisors/managers.

Keep IT companies as your last resort as you don't need any sponsorship.

Thank you Sherlock for your valuable input.

It will be easier to find a job if you don't need sponsorship. Was in same boat year ago,F1 status, no internship, CS graduate but had 3.89 gpa. I just applied everywhere. In the meantime, i joined consultancy as well and studied. When i got the job i just left consultancy. Don't be scared to apply but be ready to talk about your college projects and stuffs you have participated in. If you get an interview call, they will definitely ask you shit tons of questions regarding those project and your approach to problems. best of luck

Thank you Alece . Do you remember the approximate number of interviews you had to go through before you landed your first gig?

no_more_crush, thank you for the info. I have already updated on my college's job site as "Yes" for relocation . I am interested in going to either Java or Python developer since i am more comfortable in these two programming languages. What kind of certifications are available for these two fields? Do you think i should start applying for jobs through company website starting now (10 months before graduation)?

Once again i appreciate each one of your inputs and sorry for too many questions.

Thank you.

- Yes !! College Career website / resources are also very good . Follow up on that too.
- My recommendation is to go with "Python". I have briefly elaborated about this on thread http://sajha.com/sajha/html/index.cfm?threadid=114307&noofposts=3
- Try self learning @ https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn - Basic python skill set provides additional value to other technologies ( Openstack, Cloud Computing, SDN etc)
- Start applying for jobs 3 months prior to your graduation. Don't forget to mention about your tentative graduation on Resume. 

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 You don't need to feel sorry about asking too many question as long as you are nice and polite. There are bunch of jerks in sajha who simply throw questions without much info provided and the level of expectation is too damn high.

Applied maybe 100+. Got calls around 10+ maybe.most conversations would end as soon as they know my visa status, but it shouldn't be a problem for you.So, keep applying.

Thank you alece and no_more_crush !