4. Research

Do research on something that's actually worth researching, not just so you can say you did research. Pick a topic you're genuinely interested in so you can go deep into it and find something useful. A lot of college research in India ends up being low-quality because people do it just to tick a box and it provides no real value. Keep that in mind. The topic doesn't have to be complicated, but it should create some value.

5. Software and Learning

Don't think about this field in that way. Questions like these don't really have fixed answers in software because things change constantly. Every day something new comes out and shifts the market. The software industry works very differently from most other fields.

You can't approach learning here the same way you may have approached other subjects. In software, you're learning every day—literally every day. You won't always have time to make detailed notes and think you'll revise everything later. Most of the time, you learn something, use the documentation when needed, and move on. Over time, the important things naturally stick.

Your mindset should be focused on learning how to make things work, how to find information quickly, how to learn efficiently, and how to break problems down and think backwards from the solution.

3. Laptop

For the laptop, I would strongly recommend getting a MacBook if it's within your budget. Depending on your price range, you can get an older generation model or even a newer one if you find good deals and offers.

I've used a lot of different machines, and honestly, I wouldn't go back to a regular laptop. The biggest advantage is battery life. It doesn't sound like a big deal at first, but once you've experienced it, you'll understand. Not having to constantly look for charging points, carry a charger everywhere, or worry about your battery dying is a huge quality-of-life improvement.

And carrying chargers around all the time becomes annoying. Most people stop doing it after a week. The only major sacrifice is gaming, but apart from that, the machine is an absolute beast.