If you had a great fascination for mechanical engineering before joining IIT AND then took up IT only for the sake of money, then I’d say you’ve wasted it partially. If at least one of the above is not true (e.g. you were not sure what you would do after graduation – many of us are not OR you just wanted to go to the best university you knew) then I’d say you have not wasted it at all.

Actually I had great fascination for computer programming, but did not get high score in IIT-JEE to get CSE.

But, I also had a great fascination to study in IIT.

But my second fascination was more heavier, so I chose to study in IIT with whatever branch given.

After completing my second fascination, I moved to fulfill my first fascination.

Hey Abhishek, this topic really touched me. Its as if we build the foundation for constructing home at plot #1, and then changing to another plot as Indian Govt asked you get out of that plot for building Metro Rail Line. I myself confused till today, even after working for 7-yrs in IT industry. Somewhere my gene has electric current in action, not the C/Logics, even after I enforced for the later. Probably in India, we don’t get too many choices. Its not your fault nor that you are lost nor that you did not found where you are supposed to be, its your instinct saying I need back my home on my original foundation.

Never mind.. there would be so many in markets still confused what they are doing.. or questioning themselves are they doing justice to their education ??? Even if you would have entered to the domain where you had your educational foundation, even then you have good probability of getting confused… honestly its even true for me.. as well for many others.

So whatever is in hand.. lets perform it to the best !!! Doing justice to current job in hand does never ever make us guilty.

Recently when a prof at IIT was asked which branch should a JEE high ranker select Comp or Elec – prof replied that IIT develops student’s problem solving capability and if he takes any branch he should be able to excel with that.

Looks like problem of not getting a branch of choice has become more pronounced now a days. If one has given importance to studying at IIT in available branch, I would say it is perfectly fine to work in area of your choice later on. Abhishek I think you should be really fine with what you are doing.

However I would say that Krupasindhu need to do something that gives more pleasure to him. It is fine to continue working in IT, but if you heart is in electric currents why not develop some products in that area. This is what people do in US and hence you see that country always at top. In India we have many distractions and average person ends up doing nothing more than one activity (say Job) most of the time. However I see times are changing. Even IITs have incubation centers where young IITans think of doing something that will make a difference.

It is an endless discussion as the point of view of both sides are quite reasonable. One thing is very sure that IITians are going better in all the fields and this is what the IITs have generated in them. So We have not wasted our degree.

The thing is that you can only waste if you have gained something. During four years of engineering we learn many non-technical things which we regularly use in our professional life irrespective of the career path we have choosen. The only thing that can go waste is the hard core technical stuff and fundamentals that are specific to a particular branch.
But the thing is that how much of these stuff is really put to use (Except hard core R&D activities) even if we do not switch careers. If a Computer engineer takes up Mechanical Engineering job and executes it more efficiently than an average Mechanical engineer, then the Computer Engineer has not wasted anything. It is the Mechanical Engineer who has wasted his engineering degree. If you do not gain any competitive advantage after attaining a degree, then the degree is a waste.
That’s why in most of the cases when we switch careers we dont waste anything because either we have not technically gained anything (from the degree) for contributing, either we do not have proper choices or we cannot utilise it (so we waste it) even if we stick to the same field.

The path not chosen is always the one that looks more attractive! The grass is always green on the other side. Someone else’s life always looks more successful than yours – Dissatisfaction with where you are in life is a natural phenomenon. Second guessing and ‘what if I had done that instead of this’ is always there;

However there is only one reality – the present one! So if you don’t like it – change it! To change it – be prepared take a few steps back. Be ready to give up what you think you have to get the new thing! If you hang on to what you have (the comfortable thing to do), you will never find out what else is out there!

In the larger universal scheme of things what you are talking about is but a minor illusion!

To become a successful person in the current competitive world is a difficult task. we are not wasting the degree by choosing another profession. Its all about our satisfaction and the money we get.

IN ONE LINE “No Knowledge is waste”

Acquiring knowledge , getting Mech/Civil degree , scoring 8-9 CGPA among intelligent competitors, taught you very less about nuts and bolts or sands and composite material, rather it imparted to make your attitude “BUILT FOR THE KILL”.

Either its stress on aircraft blade calculation (or) efficient logic for “C” if-else (or) handling some crazy collegues (or) defining yourself different in this competitive world, all can be so smartly acheived with above “Built for the Kill” attitude.

Still I would say, your degree is like your past girlfreind(Mech/Civil degree), whom you could not marry for some xyz reason. I know, she gets recalled by you at odd times..and at times you keep comparing her with your current wife. But you have to forget and move forward, as at present you have a beutiful wife(IT job) to live and romance with. The present wife got home good salary.. good car.. good name..good apartment(though with loan)… So Cheers Man !!! I am sure, your girlfreind might not have offered all those to you. You knew your wife has power to give you lot money .. lot fame.. lot name… (So what wrong you did marrying her ??? Its tough to get undconditional love and money from the same woemen.

Never mind.. there are smarties who can meet the demand of love for their sexy girlfreind(Mech/Civil Research lovers) and current wife(IT jobs.. honey its money).. Its all about how much time you have and passion for your girlfreind. Co-living with your girlfreind and wife is not that easy job in INDIA, given so many nitty-gritties, unwanted stresses around. It needs lot support from both women, a great deal of time management as well. Let me steal quote from Obama and say “YES, YOU CAN !!” and with that go for a coffe break.

Cheers !!

I did my Manufacturing Engg from IIT Delhi, class of 1993. Am an educationist, teacher, entreprenur. Overall, I feel my education at IIT prepared me to a great extent for the challenges I faced as a teacher and entrepreneur. So, no regrets! Proud to be an IITian.

The IIT produce the following products, whose stability profile lools like this:
Mechanical engineers not knowing pump sizing
Chemical engineers not knowing upscaling a manufacturing process
Electrical engineers who will not know networks
Computer engineers who will not know logic designs
Civil engineers who will not know how to predict truss stresses
Chemists who will not know how to begin synthesis.
Generally speaking, they will all know this thing called IT.
Reverse is true in China where I live, work.
If you are a country and not an individual, you know the answer to the question: Yes, it is a bloddy, goddamn waste if I am building a economy ecosystem that is multiply reliant on its engineers. Try recruitiing IITians and all, bar none, answer the question to what they would enjoy doing as follows “I like simulations, mathematical modeling, software development”. I say: “Really?! …well, what would you model if you don;t know the building blocks. What you mean to say is you like C++, K–, or whatever the hippest programming language is at the moment.”

This is not to demean IT, but you simply need an ecosystem of engineers who can engineer and that stream is a trickle. I love those engineers from REC Warangal, UDCT (Gosh, I said it!).

I don’t know what chineese learn in their respective engineering… but for sure they learnt how to make low quality cheap products and sell it in black to india or other countries where exports checks are not that stringent.. even they did not spare to send those poisonous plastic product to US, though it was late to get banned.

I even don’t know how much home work an IIT student completed in grad times, but when they design and make product, americans tagged them “Quality Guranteed” and earned revenue for generations and generations.

C++/K– is tool… not the technology. But not a very true statement. Every engineer now make building blocks using this tool. I think you met some rare C++ freakies.. not the “techie + C++”. If someday you would meet the later guy.. you would get to know whats C++/K– and why they are hippest. The world now demands “technology + Software” as they togather make most amazing product

Anyway we are diverting the topic raised.

IITs have so much of halo around it that after succeeding in JEE students get into IIT though they don’t get their chosen branch (for many of them it is CS or EE). I hear some of them get in with the aim to do IIM (another way of getting higher salaries). This has skewed things. Where as admissions at NITs (RECs) and other 2nd level colleges are through AIEEE and you have more seats at that level (and at state level) probably resulting in more student getting in branch of their interest and then sticking to it.

I think the system (scarcity of good educational institutes, scarcity of good paying entry level jobs in other than IT / management fields etc.) needs to share larger part of blame.

By the way in china this is obviously may not be problem. Good to know that view from inside the wall is always taking highly of the situation there. Hope it is not the official requirement.

The basic problem is that we are still lagging much behind other developed countries in terms of industrial development and infrastructure (But we are more or less O.K with our software development).

The general trend for everyone is to earn money and become successful as early as possible. But product development requires patience and hard work. When a mechanical engineer graduates what offer can he get? Our country is only prosperous with imported electronic and manufacturing items. Have we developed or trying to develop any hardware which we can export to other developed nations.
If any product development firm can do that, they can earn and as well as give more money and opportunity to their engineers. Then I think we will not lose our Mechanical or other engineers to IT.
IT pays more, because it has overseas customers from which it generates a lot of income. But why are developed countries outsourcing their IT and software jobs to India and not their hard core product development jobs? I think apart from capability this is due to the huge demand of IT which they are not able to meet cost-efficiently and they do not want to waste engineering talent of other sectors to IT.

I am sure at some point of time some other countries will also become our competitor to IT (At that time we will lose our competitive advantage), but I am not sure when we can capture the outside market with Indian made products. Once Toyota and Honda were nowhere and now they have captured the US market.

I am a Mechnaical engineer and I dont think it has reached a point where we have to think we are saturated. If we take the automobile sector, lots of money is spent by developed countries to make fuel efficient and clean cars.
All I want to say is that how an engineering firm sees it engineers and how a engineering graduate sees his degree. In an engineering firm in Germany you can hardly move up in product development without a Phd degree (MBA does not help here) and engineers spend quite a lot of time after engineering before they move to management positions.
But it is not the students who can be blamed for that, but the environment. Degree is also like a product which needs to be sold (It can be exported even if there is a scarcity within the country) and so it all depends on the type of cutomers and how they value it. If not regulated, it will be sold to profession which gives you more money.

If an IIT engineer cannot do basic engineering tasks then it is not the fault of the engineer but the fault of the system which failed to assess his capabilities before giving him the degree.

If one considers IIT degree as a certificate of specialised training in specific facts, concepts, and skills, then yes it is a waste. However, if one looks at it as education for developing aptitude, approach, perceptions, values, and thinking, then it can not be termed as a waste.

I think its a shear waste of degree and talent by IITians. They take a degree in a particular field and keep jumping in software related jobs or civil services or management. They have just made IIT’s a jumping board. If they are not interested in getting technical jobs in their respective fields then they should think well in advance and make some other guys to get the seats who may be more seriously involved.
We are developing country still inspite of the fact that we have the largest technical talent catering to the entire world except India.
I have worked at various locations in Asia Pacific, South East Asia, Europe, South Africa and North America. The difference that I could see in them and Indians is that we keep jumping in whole lot of fields and in the end we are having nothing, we are never the experts. While in other countries a chemical engineer works in his specific field and gains the expertise to produce some cutting edge developments. They know their respective fields thoroughly and contribute for their country and the nation.
Just think over what we Indians are doing.

To begin with, IITs were always more geared towards technology. Nothing in my four years prepared me to open a rusty valve with a diameter of 2 ft. But others with similar (i.e. none) work experience knew no better. It is a bane of the Indian education system that does not teach the practical, instead focusing on the lofty and the theoretical similar to other socialist countries. Let’s consider the space program. The US could try out many rocket launches and not worry about failures; whereas Russia could not afford failed launches — so Russians worked out the theory in much better depth. The same is true of the theory of powerlifting and strength training. Similar “siege mentality” focus applies to Indian education.

People want to have challenging jobs that develop them. And it is sad that now most such jobs are in IT. But 100 years ago many engineering disciplines did not even exist! Fact remains that most engineering degrees are very specialized anyway and therefore run a higher risk of becoming “obsolete” at least how they are viewed in industry. It does not help that even now India does not have many good jobs — a small service sector and a not-really-prosperous middle class. The recession in the West surely must have sent a shock wave that the good times cannot last forever.

Suvankar is right. In Germany most degrees are Master’s anyway, so you need to have a PhD to demonstrate you have paid your dues and can think independently. They have a very regimented approach — logic and planning are must-have skills; creativity is secondary. Not to be stereotypical, but every country has its Nissus, much like how old Greek music is categorized.

While no one can prove or disprove that an engineering degree is being wasted when an engineer switches to software, the fact that this happens often is an indication that given a choice, more people would jump into computer science right away instead of first getting an engineering education.

Therefore, there is a need to increase the number of “high-quality” computer science programs available in the country, on par with those of IITs.

The term “waste” seems to indicate that the person switching is doing something wrong, but given the circumstances of available choices, an economist would conclude that people are acting rationally to maximize their self interest.

If “high-quality” engineering talent is needed, companies should increases salaries in that area. If an IIT trained chemical engineer is offered a choice between Rs. 150000 per month in an Chemical Engineering and Rs. 125000 per month in software, they would likely not switch.

If the chemical engineering profession is not offering high salaries compared to software, it could be because of two reasons:

(1) there has been a general economic shift that increased the demand for software

or

(2) The chemical engineering industry as a whole does not generate sufficient profits to be able to afford higher salaries.

In either case, the individual is doing what the individual does best – maximizing self interest. Don’t blame him/her.

Suresh

Can somebody tell me, did I waste all that time I spent of Biology, Social Science and Literature in school by going and getting myself an Engineering Degree?

This has been troubling me a lot. Just imagine the time I could have saved if I had just studied math physics and chemistry in school.

Oh !!! People are obsessed to discuss the prospects of switching careers.. But how many know that one does not decide a career in india ; similar to a student in US or Germany.. Here circumstances , family , money , reservation everything decides where a person is going to be…

When we get a job , and as few months roll out , the feeling creeps in that we have wasted our degree or we have wasted the choice at placements…. and start looking at other opportunities … some go for a phd , some for mba , some switch careers …. but many are struck at the same place … either in fear of taking a decision or otherwise….

what happens then is a small bird of hope , glimmers in the horizon , in the form a new shift in the perspective and then nobody will bend down his head and pretend that he hasn’t seen it…

I don’t think the change of careers or paths is a hard/wrong decision to make… we all just need to find the individual ways and just have to work at places which satisfy our happiness of struggling in this world…

i see IIT as a platform, a place that nurtured me, guided me, and prepared me for the life coming ahead… its not about taking an IT job after B.Tech… for only a few of us had entered into IIT because they really wanted to be an Elec. or Chem. engineer… and those who find interest in their 4 years undoubtedly go into core… but there must not be any compulsion…

IITians have done outstanding things in past.. and will continue to do it… Cheers!!

@nikhil: of course not… just stay focused where u r.. .and what u wannabe…

We cannot really FORCE people to pursue a specific career all their life just because of their rank in one exam they wrote in their teens! Neither can we have a Politburo deciding the best careers for us etc.

A typical graduate’s professional life is at least about 35 years. Every field goes through its ups and downs. Over 35 years, on an average, your chosen field will go through at least one boom and a bust cycle.

(Law of nature: Some days you would be a pigeon, some days you would be the statue.)

People graduating in the past decade were mostly lured into IT, Management etc, as these were the boom sectors/careers back then. To be honest, rest of the Industry was not able to compete with IT perks at the time – nor were there enough openings.

No harm in this, but we mustn’t assume that we’d outperform others in terms of career achievements and earnings, just because we started in a boom sector. In the long term, our batchmates, who went for further specialization in their own branches, would have a good career too.

Markets have a tendency to correct distortions in the long term, and the “neglected” fields soon have to make themselves lucrative enough to retain talent. It is already happening. For instance, I recently learnt that there is now a major shortage of Civil Engineers for all these infrastructure projects in India, and experienced Civil Engineers are commanding a premium in India.

The lack of good liberal arts colleges in India is one of the contributors to this phenomenon. It is very difficult for a teenager of reasonable financial well being to choose a good liberal arts degree in a field like say, economics, or math or law that would guarantee success in the future. So, the above average student often places his bets on safe havens like the IITs that guarantee success. Once he/she in, the economics of the market place and natural interests tend to take him away from his chosen degree and people who digress from their major have become the norm.

My hats off to those few bright teenage students who manage to defy the norm, know what they are interested in and follow it as soon as they get out of 12th grade.

It is the fault of other educational institutions that failed to raise to the occassion and meet all kinds of demands. Very few non-professional schools stand out in India (Loyola College in Madras, Stephens in Delhi, the law school in Bangalore, Indian Statistical Institute…) Every major city may boast one or two.

Even these schools do not attempt to serve the students with a placement center or any such processes that would help them when they graduate. How can you blame the student who resorts to a safe recourse?

Can you blame the IIT student? He is not obliged to pursue his chosen field. Can you blame the institution? Not really – the institution tries its best. But the tax payer should not feel that their investment is worthless. Imagine the jobs created and the foreign exchange reserves created by these graduates. Compare that to tax rupees on stupid s*** like re-elections, faulty construction projects, tax rebates to cricketers etc….. the investment in IITs have have been much more positive NPV projects than others.

I think it is a great waste of the limited resources India has, but at the same time I feel one cannot blame individual IITians. To start with admissions most of the students don’t know why they want to go to IIT except that they are the best institutes in India and they will have a good job at the end of it. Even the people who know what they are interested in usually end up not getting the branch they like because they didn’t get the required rank , or if they got the rank than parents and peers advised them to take the “best possible stream” that the rank would fetch.

Once they are inside, few people get genuinely interested in the branch they have taken, because they come to know that all the good jobs are in IT and other sectors not related to engineering. So most of them are not enthusiastic about learning the subjects taught. It becomes yet another degree where you need to score good grades for your resume and nothing beyond that. I have seen some of the brightest minds being dissipated due to the lack of interest in their field.

Come recruitment season most of the high paying jobs are in IT , Retail, Banking, Consulting etc. The jobs taken by the graduates have hardly anything to do with the knowledge and training acquired by them. The recruiters favor taking these graduates because IIT degree “signals” quality, and not for the knowledge of their individual branch of engineering.

Some people don’t have any problem with the state of affairs, they point to the amount of jobs and foreign exchange earned. I agree that jobs and foreign exchange earnings but i think that it is a very inefficient way to produce software engineers.

India has very few highly qualified faculty in Engineering sciences, most of them are in IIT’s. It is a great waste of time effort and money for all involved. The greatest waste is of faculty effort. The situation can be characterized as a great Internal Brain Drain.

So what is the solution??
I feel that any academic institution does not exist in vaccum, it exists in a socio-economic context. Merely giving the best possible training is not enough for technical advance of the nation. The ability of the economy to absorb the highly trained manpower in jobs that require the training is necessary. Beyond IT services there are few sectors that create jobs that require the level of training and pay comparable salary. It is not that there are no jobs globally in the various fields of engineering. Infact Indian industry and consumers import all kinds of technology from pharma to polymers to electronics to various kinds of machinery etc which were created by using advanced skills.

India at present does not have diverse knowledge intensive firms, therefore it is necessary to encourage growth of these industries.

Interesting! I love it.

WE NEED TO 'VE CLARITY ON OUR STUDIES AND ON OUR JOB

yes u really wasted what u learn in IIT…
since u got into IIT, it obviously means tht u have real super brain…
had u utlized same into some mech RnD firm, u would have created something really fundoo n tht would have earnd u much more money n fame than IT compaines can ever give..

just think it once, what ever u learnt in IIT, u r not using it now in IT sector.. so u r more or less like any other engg collg guy now…
u lost ur crediability…

@soniya: good point, but the problem is that not everybody even at IIT can come up with 'fundoo' things on a daily basis, hence they choose the safer option of going into IT