– By Shubhodeb Bhattacharya In 2020, during the fifth semester of her BCA programme at a government college in Telangana’s Rangareddy district, Ayesha Samereen reached an uncomfortable conclusion: a degree alone would not get her a job. The daughter of a driver, she had earned a free seat on merit because a private college was beyond her family’s means. She enrolled in a placement-focused skilling course run at her college. Out of 86 students in her batch, she was selected for a role before completing her final semester. What began as an accounting course has since grown into a career as a software developer, building applications. The challenge she faced has only sharpened since. As AI reshapes entry-level work, employers are looking past qualifications, and even past familiarity with AI tools, towards something harder to certify: the judgement to use those tools well and the capacity to keep learning as