The biggest problem was with those students who were performing really well in B.Tech with scores of more than 70% but somehow lacking 60% either in 10th or 12th or in both. They had put in a lot of efforts to improve their academics in engineering but almost no IT company was ready to listen except Accenture as far as I remember. From TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra to HCL, all said strictly no for students who had lesser than 60% in 10th/12th irrespective of their B.Tech scores. I was one of them.
I had no clue at that moment why does it matter. Even today after spending 12 years in the IT industry, I'm clueless. I have seen people having 70% throughout struggling with their career or with the salary while students having less than 60% in 10th/12th performing outstanding in their careers. In short, there is no logic to it. At that moment, somebody said to me, "End of the day, the only thing which matters is money in your bank account and happiness in your life. Nobody cares from where it is coming into your life. It should be in your life and that's it." I was not sure what that guy was talking about. At that moment, I was only waiting for a company where my academics can fit in. Because I was unable to see another way around to make money and make myself happier.
We had made a group of 5-6 people in our college and everybody had less than 60 in 10th/12th and above 70 in B.Tech. Till the last day of our college, nobody got a job in our group. After college some started CAT coaching, some tried for govt. job, some became faculty in colleges, some thought of doing M.Tech, some joined other courses without any clue of their future. Everybody had somewhere in mind that their friends have got 2.5 lacs to 4 lacs job offers during placement season and they haven't. What wrong they did in B.Tech? They performed well in B.Tech. At some places better than placed students. Everyone used to criticize IT companies' criteria but that wasn't the solution.
Now when I see people from that group, they earn awesome money with properties in their name. They travel often overseas. They are enjoying their lives. So what went wrong 12 years back? Some of them are still working in the companies that still keep this 10th/12th criteria for college passouts. If you have 1 year of corporate experience, they waive-off the criteria for you. How does it make a difference?
There are more than 10,000 engineering colleges in India and every engineering college has avg. 300 students. If I assume correctly, there should be at least 5% of students in every engineering colleges who have been suffered in 10th/12th scores. There should be at least 1,50,000 engineering students in India every year, facing 10th/12th criteria issue for their first job.
It's an open question. Rather, IT companies can conduct a written test for every student irrespective of their 10th/12th scores, and based on merit they can choose a student for an interview. Making criteria strict for students based upon their 10th/12th scores shouldn't be the bar.