Your Complete Guide to CDAC Courses & Institutes

CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) is a premier R&D organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. It offers various Post Graduate Diploma courses in advanced computing fields such as PG-DAC (Advanced Computing), PG-DBDA (Big Data Analytics), PG-DITISS (IT Infrastructure, Systems & Security), PG-DESD (Embedded Systems Design), and more. These are 6-month full-time courses designed to create industry-ready IT professionals.

To apply for CDAC courses, you need to appear for the C-CAT (CDAC Common Admission Test) which is conducted three times a year (usually in March, September, and December). After the exam, you need to register for centralized counseling on the CDAC website, fill your institute and course preferences, and wait for seat allocation based on your C-CAT rank. Once allocated a seat, you need to pay the course fee and report to the institute with original documents for verification.

The general eligibility criteria for CDAC courses is graduation in any discipline with minimum 50% marks (45% for reserved categories). For some specific courses like PG-DESD, a background in Electronics/Electrical Engineering is preferred. Mathematics as a subject in 10+2 or graduation level is required for most courses. Candidates in their final year of graduation can also apply, but they must complete their degree before the course commencement.

CDAC courses have excellent job prospects with most institutes reporting 85-95% placement rates. PG-DAC graduates typically get roles as Software Developers, Full Stack Developers, or Java Developers. PG-DBDA graduates work as Data Analysts, Data Scientists, or Big Data Engineers. PG-DITISS graduates find jobs as System Administrators, Network Engineers, or Security Analysts. PG-DESD graduates work as Embedded Engineers or IoT Developers. The average starting salary ranges from ₹4-8 LPA depending on the course, institute, and individual performance.