Engineering – A Career full of Opportunities

Reasons to choose Engineering as a Career:

A career in engineering has always been one of the most important choice of the dynamic youth of this country. The challenges and the varied explorative opportunities that it offers fascinate the youth beyond any dimension. An Engineer commands respect in society for his/her innovative ideas. A talented and skilled engineer can set-up his own enterprise to achieve financial freedom and also contribute towards the development of society and nation.

To ‘engineer’ literally means to “make things happen”. Engineering is about the design and production of useful products and services. Engineering know-how converts scientific knowledge into technology and then technology into successful innovation. Many seemingly simple aspects of our daily lives have been conceptualised, designed and developed by an engineer.

There are numerous reasons for choosing engineering as a career, listing a few, which are as follows:

Engineers are the architects of society & nation:

The skyrocketing buildings, numerous industrial plants, small and large scale industries are the brain child of engineers. These industries provide employment to a chunk of the population thus contributing to nation development and bridging the employment gap.

Engineers have diverse careers opportunities:

The history of civilisation is the ready reckoner which proves that engineers have diverse career opportunities. Engineers have contributed to their communities, countries, colleagues and civilisations by making tools, machines and countless other things to help people improve their lives apart from making progress by leaps and bounds. The diversity in engineering offers you an array of opportunities ranging from IT to Biomedical Equipment and Mining, from building roads to space travel.

Engineers are in great demand:

Skilled engineers are in great demand across all engineering sectors. Scarcity of skilled technocrats is one of the barriers to business growth and delivery. We need more engineering personnel to build roads, conceptualize climate change projects, modernize our defence force and the list goes on.

Shortage of skilled engineers means job security for the expert ones.

Engineers get to work in innovative jobs:

Innovation and creativity is the integral part of Engineering. So, being an engineer means you get to try out new technologies like artificial hearts, developing environmentally sustainable buildings. Engineers design and build virtual reality worlds, soccer fields or new plants. Engineers discover and patent new materials that may allow us to set up colonies on Mars someday or even develop an AI powered assistant which can take care of all our menial jobs during the day. Engineers are involved in making the future a reality.

Engineers have job opportunities everywhere:

Engineers work everywhere: in cities, regional and rural communities, even remote wilderness areas. Some engineers work in business offices, classrooms, others in factories or research labs; some work outdoors or even in outer space. Some engineers have undertaken double degrees and go into medicine, law, business management, or in policy making. Trained as an Engineer, you have got numerous career opportunities and bright future prospects.

Qualities Required in an Engineering Aspirant:

• Good in Maths and Science.

• Enjoys puzzles, have problem- solving aptitude.

• Invites academic challenges and is a good time manager.

• Is curious and wants to know how things work.

• Wants a career that's interesting and varied.

• Enjoys working with other creative and smart individuals.

• Would like to make a difference in the world.

• Having strong IQ and analytical ability.

• Good communication and presentation skills.

• Ready to learn, unlearn and re-learn.

Post Engineering Careers:

Engineering is the threshold to enter the technical world. A graduate engineer has host of opportunities for higher studies, in research sector as well as in private sector. If a graduate engineer is unwilling to pursue higher studies in engineering, he/she has a lot of opportunities ahead in other sectors also, and can go forward equally to shape their career.

Some of the post engineering career opportunities are given below:

1. Civil Services – Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Engineering Services (IES).

2. Jobs in Public Sector Units (PSU) offering diversified, challenging and stable career options.

3. Research and development.

4. Teaching.

5. Defence Services.

6. Private Sector :

• IT Sector – Google, Facebook, Microsoft

• Metals & Mining – Vedanta, Tata Steel

• Heavy Engineering – L&T, ABB, Alstom

Selection of Right Engineering College:

IITs and NITs are well known for their teaching standards and therefore they are the first choice for students, who wish to pursue engineering. However, every student is not capable of qualifying the tough entrance tests that these institutes conduct to admit students. These students find it challenging to choose a good engineering college.

Here are a few tips about how to choose a good engineering college.

Institute:

The first thing to verify before applying to a particular college is its accreditation and affiliation. In India, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) holds value for engineering colleges, they need to be approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) and affiliated to Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Faculty:

Another important factor you need to verify is the faculty profile of the college. You can visit the college website to check their qualification, experience and information about where they have studied. A faculty member who is active in research will normally have a better understanding of the latest developments in the area and therefore be in a position to explain better. The number of faculty members is also important as the faculty to student ratio is an important aspect affecting the quality of education.

Infrastructure:

This is also one of the important factors that students need to check because the environment in the institute also has a huge impact on academic performance. Besides the classrooms, laboratory, library, recreational facilities, canteen etc. can be checked by actually visiting the institute. A fully-residential campus usually provides a better learning environment.

Internships & Placements:

Ultimately, every eye is fixed on placements and internships because career opportunities start right from here. Students can check the record of the companies that visit the institute for campus placements. You can talk to the students to find out details about the number of students getting placed in good companies; the packages being offered to them; the institutes or organisations offering internship and the kind of training they are provided over there.

JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) – In & Out:

JEE (Main):

• A common entrance for admission to all IITs, NITs, DTU, CFTIs etc.

• JEE (Main) consists of 2 papers: Paper-1 is a 3hrs paper on MCQs of Physics, Chemistry and Math. Paper-2 is optional for aspirants of B. Arch and B. Planning.

• The Admission in NITs, IIITs, DTU, CFTIs is completely on the basis of performance in JEE (Main) from 2017 onwards.

• From 2019 and onward, the JEE (Main) will be conducted twice before admissions in the next academic session.

• The examination for all candidates will be conducted in online (computer based) mode only.

• JEE (Main) 2019 will be conducted in multiple sittings and a candidate will have an option of dates to choose from. Scores of different candidates in multiple sittings will also be equated using standardization techniques.

JEE (Advanced):

• Top 2,24,000 students of JEE (Main) are selected to appear in JEE (Advanced) for admission to all IITs and ISM, Dhanbad.

• JEE (Advanced) consists of 2 papers of 3hrs each-both consisting Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

• Admission to IITs is based on category AIR of JEE (Advanced) subject to the condition that such should have secured at least 75% marks in the 12th Class examination, or candidates are in top 20 percentile of their respective boards in applicable category.

• For SC/ST candidates the qualifying marks would be 65% in the 12th class examination.

• The examinations for all candidates are conducted in online (computer based) mode only.

                         Myths & Reality about Engineering Entrance Exams: