They walked in with a lot of apprehension over the courses and colleges to choose and walked away with clarity on not just what they want to study but what awaits them after the completion of their studies.
It was an eye-opening and confidence-infusing session for engineering aspirants at The Hindu Edge Career Counselling session for engineering aspirants, organised at the JNTU-Hyderabad auditorium on Sunday. Guiding the students and clearing the doubts were senior teachers and placement officers of top engineering colleges.
The panel included N. Yadaiah, registrar of JNTUH; Siva Reddy, former Professor in Computer Science Engineering, Osmania University College of Engineering; V. Uma Maheshwar; Placement Officer of Osmania University College of Engineering; N.L.N Reddy, Associate Professor at CBIT and S.V.S Prasad, HoD of ECE at MLR Institute of Technology.
One of the common questions that haunted parents and students was whether priority should be accorded to a particular college or a stream/course. The unanimous answer from the professors was “college”. “Recruiters come to the colleges [on the basis of their reputation] and not for the courses,” said Prof. N.L.N. Reddy.
Is there a difference between Computer Science Engineering (CSE) and Information Technology (IT) streams, asked several students to which Prof. Siva Reddy said there is essentially no difference between the course structures, apart from a few extra papers. For recruiters, though, there is no such difference.
Speaking on the significance of certification and ratings, Dr. Prasad suggested the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) are among the important certifications that students need to keep an eye out for, if they wish to join a good college.
Asked about coaching and preparations for IIT entrances, T. Yadaiah spoke about the importance of not pressurising the student and instead, giving him/ her due discretion in making a decision.
He also mentioned that recently, a number of colleges and universities are including Artificial Intelligence and Data Science courses into the curriculum.
Apart from this, Programming Skills, Proficiency in Communication and Project works, Creativity, Emotional Intelligence and Problem Solving Attitudes are soft skills that companies expect from students said Prof. Uma Maheshwar, while also highlighting the need for certain skills expected of students by the placement cell, like becoming self-centric, enabling self-study mechanism among the students, turning into a team leader, etc.
On students choosing specialised courses like Robotics or Aviation or Production Engineering, the speakers advised students to choose such subjects at the post-graduate level after studying core engineering subjects like Mechanical, Electronics and Electrical.
The resource persons also made it clear that there is no tough or easy branch in engineering and anybody can excel in their chosen stream as long as they are passionate about it.
(With inputs from Dhruti Kalavapudi and Mega J. Pandya)
