IIT toppers take high-paying jobs in non-engineering companies.
Over the years the Indian Institutes of Technology have proved their excellence in engineering education. Two main reasons were the selection of students and the fantastic faculty. The JEE produced the best students and the faculty moulded into the best in the world. The goal of the students was excellence in technology and being the best in this field.
But that was some time ago. Times have changed.
A student came up to me and asked which branch of engineering he should take to complete the IIT easily and get into an Indian Institute of Management. Students ask for internship in banks and help from the alumni for this endeavour. A III B. Tech student asks for opportunities in music at an entrepreneur meet in an IIT. IIT toppers take high-paying jobs in non-engineering companies.
All these may seem stray cases. But isn’t it surprising that the top placement firms in the IITs are consulting, IT, banking and insurance? They seem to be taking away the chunk of the toppers. The number of B.Tech students opting for higher studies in engineering and research also seems to have declined.
The IITs were formed to improve technology and produce world-class engineers and scientists. But they have now been reduced to a brand image without the zing of engineering. The goal of students seems to be cracking the JEE, and not engineering. All these students are confident of completing the course with at least 5 point CGPA. Not really interested in engineering.
What is the reason? The quality of the students? The curriculum? The teachers or the lack of them? The parents? The coaching classes? The market opportunities for engineers? The JEE itself?
The coaching classes seem to have mastered a way of cracking the JEE. The student is bright and taught the methodology of cracking the JEE. Maybe, the JEE must not be so structured as we have it now. Maybe, it should be more randomised in the type of questions. Maybe, the questions should be related to more practical aspects of engineering. But if you want to be a top-notch engineer, it takes much more than that and years of painstaking learning in industry. Is it possible that the student is not aware of this aspect of engineering? Can the JEE bring this aspect to the fore?
Sometimes, parents force their children into the IITs because of their brand image. I wonder how many of them insist that their children stick to engineering as a career option?
Engineering seems to be one of the few fields where there is no compulsory internship like in medicine, law and CA. This is one of the reasons why students may not be fully aware of the beauty and possibilities of engineering.
Engineering is also a field which is like a joker in a pack of cards. The graduates fit into any career! Naturally, the student will graduate into a more lucrative/easier career. Would a barrier to this help in getting committed students?
Imagine the plight of the professors! They have to deal with more number of uninterested students. They teach engineering knowing fully well that very few of their students are going to use what they are taught. What can be more demoralising to the teacher in a professional course? With the number of institutes multiplying, can there be enough teachers of that high calibre? We seem to be diluting the importance of a temple of excellence.
Once upon a time, we were grappling with brain drain when most of the IITians went abroad. Now we have a great environment and demand for good engineers but we don't have them! True, it is a field where you need to build a reputation over time and the remuneration does not come as fast. It requires a great deal of passion to become a good engineer.
Does all this mean that the IITs have lost their relevance? To a certain extent, yes. They are not serving their basic purpose. If the IITs cannot produce great engineers, the purpose is defeated. We are unable to get the students interested in engineering. Yet, we are increasing the number of the IITs.
We are probably producing good thinkers at the IITs, which is why other fields are picking up the students. So should we rename it the Indian Institute of Thinkers?
(The writer is an IITian. Email: rkbala@hotmail.com)
When I entered IIT, all I wanted to learn electronics. When I graduated I realized
there were many things I liked more than electronics. Being in IIT gives u a platform to learn,evolve and realize what u really want to do.
Yes, IITs were made to improve the technology but somehow they are serving a
greater purpose now. Giving students the confidence and free will to take their own decisions rather than being governed by someone else.I don't know whether it would be correct to stop this evolution.
It is interesting to read Rahul's comment (IITians can be expected
to do well in almost any field) in light of the comments by Vaibhav
(about them not bragging and not being well versed with their
subjects) and K Sreenivasan (sense of entitlement). On the one hand,
this kind of intellectual self confidence is good, on the other hand
the line between arrogance and self confidence can be thin
sometimes. I think what the IITs should pay more attention to are
their graduate students. It is those students who do their Masters
and PhDs at the IITs who are probably better suited for the real
engineering jobs and who can improve the state of Indian academia
beyond the IITs.
The problem I see is that people prepare for JEE not because they are passionate about stuying engenering but they are passionate about at least the brand. Therefore most of the reseachers don't end up in research but in some MBA jobs.
I am a mechanical engineering student in an IIT,and can anyone please
convince me and my peers as to why should one not take up a non-
engineering job when most engineers in India can be clearly seen to
be sweating for peanuts? Our society respects wealth and nothing else.
So, the general mindset is usually like "the easier the cash, the
merrier it is". The truly interested guys do go for MS degrees from
universities in the states etc. and there is very little inspiration
in IITs anyway. I dont think this to be appalling though, as the people
involved are IITians and therefore can be expected to do well in
almost any field( pity that the JEE is taken by mere high school
seniors who can very rarely decide their interests)
Dear Bala: Your observations are correct but not your inference. I was a topper (1951-59, National college, University College of Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, and later on Ph.D from University of Pennsylvania). I taught computer science at IIT, Guwahati for two years and I was startled by students's attitude especially after living in the Silicon Valley for 35 years where the IITians are beholden! In the main IItians have a heightened feeling of entitlement, especially after spending 5-7 years of their formative stage to prepare for the JE. They enter IIT's feeling they have attained Nirvana. Most of them futz around choosing a path of least resistance. They do not take studies seriously simply because the Indian Industries offer them jobs (the Placement Roulette where the loser gets five offers) without consulting the Faculty:-) I have lived in US since 1960 & I have never seen it here! IIT's are necessary part of the bigger puzzle where IITians perform an important role.
I visited IIT-B for hiring last year and to my shock many of the resumes boasted about internships @banks and described them in hi- fi sounding tone . Few of the candidates did admit that what they did was mostly trivial work like sorting some data sets, taking averages or some kind of modelling with little sophistication using some in built excel capabilities.
When I grilled them around their subject matter, to my disappointment most of them did not do well.
I was also told by the co-coordinator that some dudes from CSE branch had rejected offers from FB/MS Redmond in favor of i Banking jobs.
It is the society, the business environment in our country and pathetic unbalanced status of colleges other then engineering/medicine(IITs/AIIMS) that has led to such a situation.
I really miss the engineers I grew up with, but thankfully still there are few engineering students(non IITs as well) who carry this engineering attitude and passion for it.
I visited IIT-B for hiring last year and to my shock many of the resumes boasted about internships @banks and described them in hi- fi sounding tone . Few of the candidates did admit that what they did was mostly trivial work like sorting some data sets, taking averages or some kind of modelling with little sophistication using some in built excel capabilities.
When I grilled them around their subject matter, to my disappointment most of them did not do well.
I was also told by the co-coordinator that some dudes from CSE branch had rejected offers from FB/MS Redmond in favor of i Banking jobs.
It is the society, the business environment in our country and pathetic unbalanced status of colleges other then engineering/medicine(IITs/AIIMS) that has led to such a situation.
I really miss the engineers I grew up with, but thankfully still there are few engineering students(non IITs as well) who carry this engineering attitude and passion for it.
In reality, yes it should be named as Indian Institute of Thinkers.
Along best of faculty and facilities, IITs give chance to interact with
best of peer group. This is the environment when he/she mostly thinks
what do they want in their life or Is engineering is what I want to do
!!!!
Some realise what they want to do and move on !!!!
It would be better they should be knowing what they are getting into
exactly !!!!
The root of problem lies with the mindset of people.No doubt society
needs to correct its biases against certain profession. Blaming it on
students or institution is simply ignoring the root of problem.
Falling interest level in engineering can be attributed to dwindling
demand of quality engineers in industry.Moreover
1)For 'most' of students the factor that drives them for career
outside engineering is the same which motivated them towards IIT's in
the first place.(i.e money, career growth etc)
2)Engineers who go into industry gets frustrated by the quality of
work, peer group & apathetic(read ill-equipped) management and hence
are not keen to continue even in cases when they are interested in
engineering profession.
3)Option of research outside India is limited with universities which
they feel are 'good' and provide them scholarship(it is debatable and
can be addressed to increase awareness among students).
It is not the love of engineering or aptitude that is forcing these kids
to opt for IIT. The prestige associated with the institution, the
resultant prospects of getting a much higher dowry at wedding time and
better opportunities to "Quit India" for greener pastures in foreign
countries are forcing these kids and their parents to opt for IIT. This
is proven by the inability of Indian IITs to even reach a single spot
among the top 200 slots of engineering institutions from all around the
globe.
Well said sir. During the course of engineering the students are
influenced to compete and score in examinations, which takes place
almost every week. Thus their target after college is not to work in an
'everyday innovation' environment but bag a high paid job. The Indian
economy gives rise to the influential environment which in turn kills
innovation and hence we see engineers designated as financial analyst.
We are a part of the economy in a way we cannot imagine.
It is not at all the question of losing relevance on the part of the IITs. The curricula and academics are maintained to train students in respective branches of engineering, for sure.
This observation is not new, it has been felt over more than the last decade and it reflects the mind set of the society rather than relevance. Pre-conceived notions, pressure from peers, parents and society where salary seem to be mattering most appears to be driving a significant fraction of the IIT students towards well paid jobs. But, this observation should not be generalized to all. In a free world of supply and demand, it is any body’s rite to offer a salary and to choose a job. If you peep in, you will find a number of concerned faculty trying to educate and motivate the students in the right direction. Bringig in awareness in the society with articles like this certainly helps.
Well written article but then there are other kind of IITians who want
to do something different. Bank jobs and office jobs are preferred
because there is certain stability is associated with as what my dad
tells me. Students are still afraid to go for start-ups. There is a
certain lacking in Research opportunities in India because of less
funds. So either person will go abroad for research and possibly
settle there or will go to IIMs and then go for bank and office jobs.
But merely joining IIM should not be the criteria to say that person
has failed IIT because managing engineers in a project or managing a
company requires certain engineering mind and skill to understand its
technicalities. I personally call that bad if an IIT-IIM passout goes
for "foreign banks".
I m not against your article but just adding a perspective. And I am
an IIT student who wants to go for masters but not sure which college
in India will provide me ability to research freely without any money,
etc problems.
Dear Sir:
The write-up is articulate and thought-provoking! The basic question addressed by you as "Why are Engineers drifting away from technical?", troubled me a lot lately. The best explanation I see as a response to this question is the desire to earn more. The very reason that financing, banking, and the other white-collar jobs, on-an-average pay more, contributes to the answer. Nowadays, students rate their success in terms of the packages which their would-be company would pay. It looks abysmally awful when I myself being a research student see my friends getting captivated by not the nature of work they are supposed to do after engineering but a lofty salary. I admit, there is less monetary payoff for anything which is on-the-core technical, be it advanced researches or joining a core company after engineering, especially in India. But one should remember, in the long run it's the passion to do the work you love to do, living every moment, survives. Money is ephemeral!!
Great piece of work by an IITian and is absolutely apparent in the minds
of many IIT aspirants. Even the parents of every aspirant feel so and
the tragedy is that these IITians crack the UPSC exams with ease.
Abysmal growth in the research oriented studies has made the IITs
nowhere near the Top 200 Universities in the World.
My dear friend, the article is written very well. From the past two years, I have been struggling with this problem but yet to find a solution. What I personally feel is after class XII, we will be at a stage where we have to take an important decision in life but we are not matured enough and depends on parents who always wants us to be either engineer or a doctor. During graduation we realise what we are passionate about and choosing a field which is irrelevant to engineering. Some students forcelly takeup engineering because of parents pressure and complete it without passion and opt a choice of their dream later.
I am an alumni of iit kharagpur. I worked in GM and now working in BHEL. None of the work given to me in above companies is technical, instead i was given a logistics job in GM. If the country is full of body shops doing outsourcing / managing without core technical R & D .why should the best engineers stay in our country ?
Its not just the IIT but the whole education system which is suffering from fever. The faculty in private engg. and govt. Aided colleges is also not gud . The teachers just satisfy criteria of getting a job in that college but knowledgewise they are zero. If ask them how many national and international research papers n technical papers they got published , they will say zero. God knows what Aicte and UGC do in this country. These governing bodies have no interest in knowing what is going inside the college or university. They just keep publishing guidelines which colleges and universities are supposed to follow. But not interested in knowing whether it is getting implemented or not. The pattern of question paper asked while pursuing engg. Is also not fix. Even universities like Pune university follow worst quality of pattern but no one is going them any question.
This is true that the quality of students getting into IIT is deteriorating. The selection procedure , quota system , putting different percentage limit for 12th marks are few reasons for this. Students there are ready to work for Google and Facebook but are not enough gutsy to start their own networking site or search engine. The fact is that they are not so innovative they are just in the habit of mugging up formulae , not interested in knowing from where it came into picture.
I fully agree with your assessment! IITs should stop serving as a private / public limited company's recruiting service. They should focus on research output, which unfortunately none of the profs are focusing on. They are more interested in teaching jee students rather than m.tech/ph.d. students.
Dear Bala, The article is well written. Even in USA, ASME reports engineers drifting to other professions but it happens during the mid life crisis situations!!. In our country, it is very common not only in IITs but even in other Engg colleges to find students openly telling their preferences for Banks or Finance companies. Last year, I received the resume of a final year Electronics student who stated that he wanted job in an "office" and not in a factory. It is considred to be below dignity to work in "plant" related jobs. Many want to join either a corporate function like Procurement or IT atleast something having the flavour of generalists. The reason could be that our lecturers encouraged us to choose a creer in Engg and today the lecturers themselves do not speak well about the career in Engineering.
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