Got placed at Accenture (12.5 LPA), but want to target 25+ LPA in the next 8 months — how realistic is this?
I recently got placed on campus at Accenture with a **12.5 LPA CTC (10 LPA base)**. I'm grateful for the offer because I come from a financially weak background and also have an education loan of around **₹7 lakhs**.
But honestly, I don't want to stop here. My joining will most likely be around **8 months from now**, and my goal is to use these 8 months to become good enough to target **25+ LPA off-campus opportunities**.
Right now, I'm honestly not very skilled.
I'm learning web development from scratch through Scrimba and doing DSA through Striver's sheet. My current plan is:
* Next \~4 months → Complete web development + Striver DSA
* After that → CS fundamentals (OOP, DBMS, OS, CN)
* System design basics
* Start contributing to open source
* Improve projects and resume
* Start reaching out to college alumni/recruiters and applying aggressively
* Use the remaining time to prepare specifically for interviews
I haven't done open source before, and system design is also completely new to me. I'm basically starting from the fundamentals and trying to build myself into a good engineer.
# My main question:
**How realistic is it to go from a 12.5 LPA campus offer to a 20–25+ LPA off-campus offer within the next 8 months?**
I'm not expecting it to be easy. I want to know what would actually give me the highest probability of getting there.
Should I focus heavily on:
* DSA + LeetCode
* Strong development/projects
* CS fundamentals
* System design
* Open source
* Networking/alumni referrals
* Competitive programming
* Something else?
Also, how should I approach the **off-campus job hunt**?
My thought was that once I become reasonably skilled, I'll start contacting my college alumni working at good product companies and ask for referrals. Alongside that, I'll apply directly and try to maximize the number of interviews I get.
My biggest concern is actually getting **interviews**. I understand that being good at DSA doesn't matter much if I can't get shortlisted.
# Another thing I'm genuinely worried about:
Everywhere on Reddit I keep seeing posts about **AI replacing software engineers** and how the entry-level market is becoming terrible.
I don't know how much of this is actually true versus Reddit doomposting.
My long-term goal isn't just to chase packages forever. Eventually, after getting enough industry experience and building some financial safety, I'd like to start a startup.
For now though, my priority is very simple:
**Get a high-paying job → build financial stability → become a genuinely good engineer → gain industry experience → eventually build something of my own.**
I don't know yet whether I'm naturally good at coding. I'm still learning. But I do believe that being good at engineering comes from repeatedly building things, solving problems, learning from mistakes, and sticking with it.
I also know I'm probably comparing myself too much with my peers because many of them have significantly higher packages already. I got placed and I'm grateful for it, but I also don't want to become complacent.
So if you were in my position, with **8 months, a 12.5 LPA backup offer, and a goal of 25+ LPA**, what would you do?
I'd especially appreciate advice from people who have actually made a similar jump or are working in product companies.
**What should I prioritize, what should I ignore, and what would give me the highest ROI over these 8 months?**
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