Engineering your career path!!

Most young people do not know what they want to do or be in their career. They are likely driven by peer pressure and perhaps pressure from family, particularly parents.

At this time in India, parents and young children are seized of the issue of admissions. The standard 12 marks are out and there are a variety of responses echoing around. Sweets are getting distributed for the top marks scorers. Coaching classes are putting out ads screaming success for the wards that they have purportedly coached.

And then there are those who did not get the marks they expected. Among these also there are those that will go for a review and revaluation and there will be those who will know in their heart of hearts that they did not work hard enough.

When I now look into my rear-view mirror of life, it does not matter one bit. The standard 12 marks I mean. Yes, it does impact your starting block for sure but in the long run it evens out if you are prepared to work hard FROM THIS POINT ON and ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY.

For some people, I have seen this penny drop instantly and their demeanor and focus changes substantially. And then there are others for whom the penny is still falling. :-)

I recently read a Forward on WhatsApp that talked of several courses beyond Engineering for 12th Pass outs. Even now when you complete 12th standard in India the choices are largely around Engineering and Medicine. The forward actually talks about the disadvantage of doing engineering today and encourages parents and youngsters to consider options like Multimedia/VFX, Event Management, Interior Design, Aviation, Film making / Script Writing, Data Science, Information Security, Foreign Languages etc etc.

India has been producing 15 lakh engineers per annum and bulk of them have been making it to IT firms, so far. Things are beginning to change unfortunately. I was coaching an IIT graduate in his 3rd year and he tells me that last year a large number of students from his college got rather low paying roles. Engineering students from tier 3 colleges are struggling to get jobs.

So much so that in Coimbatore a training firm called iTokyo Academy trains engineering grads from such colleges in advanced IT skills along with Japanese N3 level certification and places them into MNCs and into firms in Japan. Talk of reskilling and recalibration post a full-fledged engineering degree!!

So folks, doing an Engineering degree is NO GUARANTEE of a good job. And if you have to do an MBA anyway, why go through the rigor of a 4-year engineering degree?

BSc - IT or BCA are quite ok if you parallelly do certifications from Google - AWS - Azure etc and pitch yourself into AI, Analytics, Data Science and so on.

Likewise, BMS, BBA are also good options because it could open doors to industries like BFSI, Hospitality, Tourism, Healthcare, Education or even Agriculture. And by the way, these industries are not scrambling for engineers. BMS and BBA are also potential segways to do a quality MBA degree later.

But remember that in all these choices, there is always a Price To Pay. I am not talking only of the fees which in itself can be substantial; there is also a personal price to pay. This price can be paid upfront or later in life, but it generally comes up for collection. :-) Upfront could be about sacrifices in time, enjoyment and fun and later in life payment is through regret and investing additional time at that stage in playing catch up.

I will try and cover the dilemmas of youngsters post a degree of choosing what career path to take in the firm they work in another post!!

Write in with your experiences and suggestions in the Comments section.

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