Engineering job opportunities in the country are projected to touch an all-time high in the days to come. With the IT boom all set to make a comeback and many industries waiting in the wings to take off, undergraduates of our engineering campuses have a good reason to cheer. But the stream they follow and the campus they study on will determine the type of job they get.
The post-recession scenario has seen a renewed interest among engineering graduates to opt for core engineering jobs instead of settling for IT-related service jobs. This is particularly visible on campuses of top engineering colleges, including National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut and College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET).
With the recession fears clearing up, major industries have started coming to campuses seeking graduates for core engineering sectors. But such industries are largely restricting themselves to the top few Tier-I and II engineering institutions. .
The 15 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 30 NITs, and dozen-odd Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) can be grouped in Tier-I. Only 20-odd colleges with more than 20 years of history in Kerala can be grouped in Tier-II category. And all the remaining engineering institutions set up in recent years can be placed in Tier-III.
When almost all institutions of Tier-I and II offer major core programmes like mechanical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, electrical engineering, computer science engineering, few of the colleges set up in the last decade have programmes like mechanical or civil or chemical engineering.
The reason is obvious. Programmes like civil, mechanical and chemical engineering need larger infrastructure, floor area and investment than required for computer science, electronics and electrical streams. Therefore, most engineering colleges that started in recent years took off with computer science, electronics and electrical engineering programmes. Only a few colleges have added mechanical and civil streams in the last decade.
When almost all engineering colleges churn out computer science, electronics and electrical graduates every year, only 40 per cent of the colleges produce mechanical and civil engineers.
According to T. K. Suresh Kumar, professor and head of Training and Placement at NITC, the demand for all core sector jobs is almost the same. “But the difference is felt when you have 40 mechanical or civil engineers vis-à-vis 100 computer science or electronics or electrical engineers,” Dr. Suresh said. “Demand for engineering undergraduates of all core streams has increased,” he said. Computer science students on Tier-I and II campuses are approached by IT product companies. “Computer science students of our campus would rarely turn to IT services,” Dr. Suresh said.
Companies like Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, Amazone, Netapp, McAfee, HP Labs, Oracle, Yahoo and Google are recruiting from top engineering campuses for IT product development. “Computer science students can utilise their entire computer science background, and can contribute for new product development,” Dr. Suresh said.
Similarly, students of electronics and communication on top campuses are approached by companies like Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Cisco, Philips, Samsung, Nokia, and semi-conductor companies like Cypress, SI Microelectronics and Freescale. Electronics students also get opportunities to work on IT product companies if they pick up some programming skills, algorithm, and data structure. They are used by various companies for development of embedded software. Knowing this well, most engineering institutes are giving emphasis on programming.
Electronics students have lots of opportunities in signal processing, communication engineering, and network-based companies such as C-Dot, Alcatel, Lucent, Basche, Zte, Huawei, and Internet and mobile service providers. Defence organisations such as DRDO and ISRO and various public sector companies such as Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) employ electronics graduates in digital electronics domain.
The core opportunities for electrical engineers include all oil manufacturing and distributing companies such as IOC, Bharat Petroleum Company Ltd. (BPCL), HPCL, and Reliance Petroleum. Most automobile industries like Tata, Mahindra and Maruti too employ electrical engineers for development of auto control components.
Electrical engineering students have better core job opportunities in electrical manufacturing companies like Crompton Greaves, NTPC, Bharat Bijlee, Jindal Power, Tata Power, and Larson and Toubro, as well as in tyre industries like MRF, Michelin and Ceat. Up to 80 per cent of the engineers of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) are from electrical stream, and the remaining 20 per cent are mechanical and civil engineers.
Most companies have started asking for circuit branch students – that is, students of computer science, electronics and electrical engineering. Experts recommend that electronics and electrical students develop some flair in programming, algorithm and data structure. “This will help them increase their potential for further employment,” said Dr. Suresh. The opportunities for mechanical engineering students are also steadily on the rise. Almost all manufacturing industries need mechanical engineers. Apart from oil companies and automobile companies, auto component manufacturing industries, equipment manufacturers, tyre manufacturers, large construction undertakings like Larson and Toubro, Energy Infratech, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, and Bosche consistently recruit mechanical engineers. “We have hardly anyone to give. All our mech students have already been placed,” said Dr. Suresh.
Mechanical and computer science are currently two most sought-after engineering streams. When there is a dearth of ‘excellent' mechanical engineers, computer science graduates have plenty of jobs on offer. Civil engineers, who are responsible for construction and design of buildings, dams, roads and bridges, are also in demand, but not as much as mechanical or computer science streams.
Civil engineers are required for almost all companies. Although there is good demand, few companies visit campuses seeking civil engineers. But the good news is that dozens of builders in Kerala are at present engaged in dozens of mega projects. It is estimated that all districts have 20 big builders on an average, and all of them have at least two projects. In Kozhikode city alone, there are 32 builders. The initial pay for a civil engineer may be less compared to others. The average annual pay offered to computer science and mechanical students on NITC campus was Rs.6 lakh, electrical students were given Rs.5 lakh, and civil students Rs.4.5 lakh. But once a civil engineer gains experience, their pay becomes on a par with mechanical or computer science engineers. In fact, experienced civil engineers are harder to get than mechanical or computer science engineers.
Chemical engineering is offered only in a handful of colleges, and is not so widely preferred. Jobs are available in fertilizer manufacturing industries, paper pulp industries, nuclear and atomic industries, pharmaceutical industries and oil processing industries.
IT too has high opportunities, though it is widely considered an engineering application course and not a core engineering course. The recent uncertainties in IT industry have instilled fears about IT among students.
“Irrespective of the stream you follow, if you have sound knowledge in your core engineering area, then you will certainly land a good job,” said Dr. Suresh. He said that recruiting companies check whether a student has acquired fundamental of his core subject, whether he has flair to learn, whether he has communication skills, and whether he is fit for the company. Some companies prefer computer science students to IT students because IT is considered only as application and that computer science students can perform better.
When companies like Texas Instruments, Adobe, Netapp, Intel, Oracle,McAfee, Amazon, Samsung, C-Dot and Cypress concentrate only on NIT andsome top government colleges, IT service providers move over to Tier-II and III campuses for mass recruitment.
For example, Infosys picks more number of students for its IT service business from Tier-II and III campuses than from Tier-I campuses. Companies too have differential pay scale for different campuses. Yahoo, for example, gives Rs.8 -10 lakh a year for an NIT student and offers Rs.12-15 lakh for an IIT student.
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