“With a booming market and increasing investments, Information Technology (IT) and Energy sectors provide the best opportunities for a great career. Therefore, have IT and Electricals and Electronics Engineering (EEE) as first-choice streams when you attend counselling,” said Jayaprakash Gandhi, education consultant, who conducted a pre-counselling guidance session at The Hindu Education Plus Career Counselling here on Sunday.
Addressing a packed hall at Jayaram Thirumana Nilayam, Mr. Gandhi advised engineering aspirants not to base their decisions on the past and look at future prospects while choosing their area of study. Breaking the myth that the IT sector is not doing well, he said it recruited more than 2.5 lakh people every year with Tata Consultancy Services alone recruiting more than 69,000 people last year.
“Even the majority of those who opt for other streams end up taking jobs in the IT field. So do not believe when people say IT is fading,” he said.
Pointing out that colleges across the country were starting new courses in the subject of energy, Mr. Gandhi said there is huge potential for employment in the power sector, where government investment is growing rapidly. On the other hand, the communication sector had “saturated.”
Mr. Gandhi listed out civil engineering, mechanical and electronics and communications behind IT and EEE and gave the last places for aeronautics and biotechnology, which he said are not good options if one is looking for employment in India.
Urging students, who take civil engineering to go for specialisations, he said that people who study courses such as earthquake engineering are in great demand across the world and given high starting salary.
Apart from the usual engineering streams, Mr. Gandhi advised the students to look at branches such as poultry technology, agriculture and forestry that are picking up in the last four years.
As regards medical courses, Mr. Gandhi pointed to the lack of good quality medical colleges that provide postgraduate courses and said that for every 17 MBBS seats, there are only five PG medical seats.
Therefore, students must look at opportunities within the medical field such as veterinary and pharmacology, where demand for skilled persons is high.
Students posed questions to Mr. Gandhi, who clarified doubts on a number of areas including civil service, charted accountancy and law.
