All you Need to Know about MCA in a Glance.
Once a student completes his graduation, there arises a big question whats next? A popular choice among science and computer science graduates is MCA. MCA or master in computer application is a degree that can open doors for enormous opportunities. This course includes sufficient fundamental knowledge and concepts to get the entry in the software industry. If you are still confused about opting the course, we are here to help. Lets look at MCA degree in a deeper way and find out whether you should go for it or not. Eligibility for getting admission in an MCA course: If you want to get admission in the MCA course then there is a particular criterion for the admission. You must have studied mathematics as one of the subjects in your 12th class. Or You should have done B.Sc. with Mathematics or statistics. A BCA student is also eligible for taking the admission in the MCA course. There are various central and state-backed universities and institutes that conduct entrance exams for their MCA courses. For example, if you want to take admission in top colleges of Uttar Pradesh, you have to take UPSEE exams that are conducted by Dr. Abdul Kalam Technical University. Jawahar Lal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University conduct their own exams for taking admission in MCA courses. What you learn as a computer application postgraduate: Some students have pre-assumption that MCA is difficult than B.Tech courses. It’s not true, it depends on your capabilities, no course is difficult enough for a hard-working student. I n MCA courses you just have to study computer applications, unlike Btech courses where you have several braches and streams. The main syllabus of any MCA course primarily consists of Mathematics and Computer science concepts. Since only those students get admission in MCA courses who have mathematical and computer science background, they don’t feel much difficulties during the courses. MCA syllabus is designed carefully to train a student in computer science. In your first year, you learn the C programming language. C is a very powerful language and very good to start with. Once you get mastery in the C programming language other programming languages will be a child play for you. In every semester of the MCA course, you’ll study one paper of mathematics. If you practice well then mathematics paper can help you to score tons in exams. Till your last semester of MCA course, you start to understand the system design of a computer, How does computer network work, what is the internet and various web technologies apart from that you’ll learn many programming languages such as Java, Microsoft’s dot net, C++. Basically, in your MCA courses, you get a fair idea of everything related to applications of computer science and from there you can take your skills at the further level. MCA courses are like a gateway to the software industries through which you can go to the desired path of your career. Placements after MCA: Once you complete your MCA, you have plenty of job options. Most of the top colleges have a placement cell in their campus. Placement cell invites various IT companies to visit the campus. Sometimes, colleges organize pool campuses where students of many colleges participate in the placement process. Every IT company has its own criteria and method to select students as software engineers. Some companies conduct online coding exams as a screening process. Some IT companies have criteria for students marks, for example, Tech Mahindra only screens those students who have more than 60% marks throughout their academic career, TCS won’t accept more than a 2-year gap in your acedamics, Capital IQ take interview of those students who have secured more than 70% in all degrees and courses. Apart from this, there is a general pattern for campus placements, first, there is a general exam where a company will asses your logical reasoning and general studies ability, once you clear that round you may go through 1 or 2 technical rounds depending on the company, after that you have to appear before the interview panel and if everything goes well you’ll have HR round in the last of the interview process. If you prepare well, there are very good chances that you may land up at least 2-3 job offers in your hand at the end of your course. Initial packages offered by companies : According to Glassdoor reviews, average salary offered by IT companies to the freshers of college is 3,19200 / year. Since October 2018 the big IT giants have changed their salary structures for freshers. Wipro offers 3.5 lakh/year salary to its fresher in general, TCS also offers 3.5 lakh/year salary. Infosys and Cognizant are offering 3.75 lakh/year salary to college students. This is just a rough idea and salary may increase according to the college’s reputation and students intelligence. Since Indian IT companies are facing fierce competition from the global companies they are ready to pay higher packages to the students who have exceptional skills. According to some news report, TCS and Infosys are offering 6.5 lakh/year to 7 lakh/year salary to the students who are equipped with latest digital technologies such as data analysis, artificial intelligence, etc. Options are limitless, you just have to grab one. Roles for which companies hire students: Generally, companies hire students as a software engineer trainee and once you complete your training you get the designation of a software engineer. Depending on your performance and companies requirement you could become a system engineer, a database administrator, data analyst, network administrator, programmer or software testing, etc. Every role is quite interesting and at the same time challenging too. MCA courses can give you entry to the wonderful world of software industries but how far you can reach, it totally depends on your capabilities and hard work. Keep learning new things, work hard you’ll achieve every success you ever desired for. If you want to explore the software industry and want to know the logic behind technologies, without giving a second thought go for MCA. Good luck!