Dear Students,
LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think basic conventional engineering will continue to rule the roost despite newer and niche courses coming up in future?
BEST RESPONSE
The demand for engineering courses will always stay skewed in favour of basic conventional ones as it is tough to wipe out the perception that 'the more you specialize, the more you corner yourself into a niche'. A niche course in engineering will garner demand only when there exists a parallel trend in the industry which calls for recruitment of students with such specialised skills. A student might not end up being as specialized as he/she thinks since industrial experience and on-the-job training is what matters as far as building a career in engineering goes.
- Vasudeo Tewari, Birla Institute of Management Technology, (BIMTECH) ,Greater Noida.
OTHER RESPONSES
New courses are basically manifestation of conventional courses only. Conventional courses were made to tackle the engineering issue in conventional industries. In any epoch the need and importance of conventional courses are not going to subsidize. Conventional industry is the root for modern development. The newer courses are made as per demand from the new and nascent industry. These new and nascent industries will come and go, but the conventional industries will always rule the roost as they are the backbone of industries.
- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee
Pursuing a general graduation degree that covers a wide range of topics is not beneficial to students since they won’t need it. Students usually decide on a career option after much research, after they have had a taste of what they are getting into. It is beneficial for students to complete a specialized course at the UG level.
- A Bhuvana Bhimaiah, Alagappa University.
I think basic conventional engineering will continue to rule the roost despite newer and niche courses coming up in the future because there will always be demand for basic conventional engineering. However, to live in the modern age, newer and niche courses are also important. Students who have opted for non conventional engineering have to learn certain subjects of conventional engineering like Engineering Mechanics,Engineering Drawing, Basic Electronics and Electrical.
- Rituparna Saha Ray, Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai.
Attractiveness for opting any course depends upon the extent of potential employment in that sector but such an employment generation depends on investments and economic activities. In the last few years either due to global recession or other reasons negligible investment has been made in infrastructure projects that led to unemployment. This has made conventional engineering unattractive but time is changing . Students are opting for conventional engineering courses because of its increased lucrativeness. Niche courses are part of conventional engineering which will come and go. But the main basic conventional engineering will continue to rule the roost.
- Sumit Sourav, Regional College of Management, Bhubaneswar.
In India software exporting services sector provides an employment to almost 90 per cent of engineers irrespective of their branch. This is so because India is still in a developing phase and is not an industrialised nation providing very less or no jobs in other hard core engineering sectors. Moreover very less is spent on R&D in our country which is the backbone of these niche courses. Plus these niche courses are overlooked by the cliched thinking of students and parents as they are risk averse due to its opaque nature in career advancement. So conventional engineering will rule the roost in future.
- Nandish Agarwal, Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida.
After completion of one's engineering course, a student is mostly bombarded with queries about what kind of niche job he/she is looking for. However, ideally a student should go for the stream that he/she is passionate about. Unless this happens, the conventional engineering will definitely continue to rule the roost despite newer and niche courses coming up in future.
- Saurabh Kumar, Institute of Management, Nirma University.
Conventional courses cover a wide range of domains within a given stream of engineering which tend to add more value by imparting knowledge about each of the domains. Whereas the newer courses just focuses on a particular domain which are in recent trends. The enthusiasm for these courses may come and go depending on the demands but the conventional engineering are the building blocks of each of these courses and will continue to rule the roost. However, the focus should be on imparting education about the niche courses based on recent trends.
- Debayan Daw, ITM University, Gurgaon.
I do think that engineering will remain as one of the most sought after career option for students in coming years. Mushrooming of several hundred engineering colleges in the recent years, along with presence of Ivy League institutions across the country is a testimony to engineering being considered as the hottest career option available among conventional and non-conventional careers available. The prospects of the field are not limited to a specific industry but are highly applicable in almost all sectors. There is no dearth of opportunities for aspirants after graduation in engineering as it offers a promising and lucrative career.
- Vivek Patel, Institute of Management Nirma University (IMNU), Ahmedabad.
It's easier to stand out from the job seeking crowd when you have a unique combination of skills, experience or attributes. Despite knowing this fact, when it comes to career selection, the Indian parents are very choosy in nature. They don’t want to take any kind of risk (experiment) by opting off streamed courses. While on other side, engineering has remained as an ever green career option to opt for due to plethora of job opportunity and kind of social status associated with engineering it in India.
- Smit Patel, LJ Institute of Management Studies, Ahmedabad.
Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think joining a B-school is the best bet during a downturn?
