Recently, Stupidsid conducted a poll posing a question to its readers: “In which sector are you looking for a job?” The results of the poll raised a few eyebrows in our camp. With the recent trend of most students across India opting to study CS and IT, we expected software to win by an overwhelming majority. However, the poll results stood at 45% for software/IT sector which was in close competition with core jobs which garnered 43% votes. The remainder was brought about by 5% of the votes going in favour of finance and marketing, another trend- breaker. The remaining 7% votes were for the others category which clearly indicates some of our engineers are looking to explore vistas beyond the conventional job routine.

Post the IT boom in India in the mid-to-late nineties it has been a trend for most Indian youths to chase jobs in this sector. There are 2 distinct varieties of companies in this sector. Ones which offer research related work which involves a high level coding like Microsoft Research, Google and Facebook. These companies are very choosy in the colleges they visit and also the students they take. Only those who have natural inclination for programming are chosen. It is at this end where the real mullah is and make’s all others so tempted by the big ticket IT industry. On the other hand, where one will find the maximum regular junta are companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro. These companies visit practically every college under the sun and pick in large volumes sometimes even 4 figure numbers and are very low paying jobs. A lot of students who do not get any other job generally end up in these companies. Due to a large number of fresh recruits every year, it is almost sure that you maybe lost in the crowd unless you perform really well.

However, our poll clearly goes to show that there is still a large number of engineers out there who want core technical jobs and stay true to their department of mechanical, electrical and chemical which they have studied for 3-4 years at the time of their placement. The sad part here is that core companies are few. Their recruitment criteria is very strict and a special level of knowledge in one’s field is required if you really want to make it to those organizations which do cutting edge work like Texas Instruments and Tata Motors. Again these companies also visit select campuses and pick very few students. There are other organizations like L&T with its vast conglomerate which recruits some technically skilled students from even lower tier colleges and thus giving them a chance to do some true core work and escape the IT grind.

The move by the PSUs to accept GATE scores to recruit fresh graduates has opened avenues for all those seeking core jobs. Students from far-flung colleges are now at the same level playing field as those from the top colleges. The PSU work may not be the most happening thing but is definitely more satisfying than being a part of the workforce of a huge IT company. Moreover the top PSUs like Indian Oil, NTPC and BPCL are known to pay well comparatively which is a huge plus point for students.

Another trend-breaking result which we observed in the poll result was the lowly 5% of students opting for the finance and marketing job sector. A large number of engineers opt to do MBA and prefer working in FBSI (Acronym for Finance, Banking Services and Insurance) or consultancies subsequently but this is again a move done by most to earn more money because of the sector being clearly more lucrative. On seeing this result we can only analyse that most students intend to avoid finance related jobs till a later stage in their career when they have gained some experience. Financial institutes like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan visit only a few colleges and that too in some cases the work maybe related to their IT requirements. It is rare to find analytical jobs in such firms unless you are studying in top end colleges. Companies like Mu Sigma, ZS Associates and Ernst & Young are less selective and choose students for their advisory wing.

Now, having a job in all these sectors is in itself a huge security in life. But there are other avenues which you should explore. 7% of the voters are clearly adventurous enough to tread this path. The foremost thing, we recommend is being an entrepreneur. There is nothing like being your own boss and being able to take decisions which shape the future of your own brainchild. The thrill at being your own manager is something which must be experienced to be believed. We are pleasantly surprised that there are some who want to chance their arm. Other than this working in a start-up will be great exposure. The work will span probably every profile from content to tech to even sales and marketing. The growth curve will be steep and the work environment dynamic because of being surrounded by like- minded people who put their heart and soul into making the start-up run.

I also believe that many are keen on joining research organizations where one must be prepared to spend large amounts of time working intensively in labs for long hours to achieve the breakthroughs. TIFR, IISc and DRDO are some research organizations which are doing good work.

Not just all these traditional sectors engineers have now branched into creative fields like writing and advertising. A large number of teachers in colleges, schools and even unfortunately coaching classes are engineering graduates. All these varied interests of the people are reflected in the 7% votes which have gone to the “others” section. We hope that this number increases with time.

I sincerely hope is that the number of core jobs increase so that all those who really want to do technical work get this opportunity and the students are relieved of being forced into doing what they really don’t want to do. It is now up to AICTE, MHRD and T&P offices of all colleges to take initiatives to look into and revamp the whole placement scenario for the betterment of student welfare.

Be it software, the core fields, finance or anything else like fine arts engineers will be everywhere. So no matter wherever engineers go they will always excel because of the sheer training they have gone through over the 4 years. Team Stupidsid hopes every engineer finds his true field where s/he wants to excel and pursue his ambitions and scale the heights of success.

  Students can make the most of the numerous and varied Job Profiles listed on Stupidsid.