When I say this, it comes with experience. Computer Engineering and IT engineering are the most sought after fields in engineering today. The highest cut offs are in these fields. The biggest rush is towards these fields. The core engineering fields - Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical etc have lost their charm. Most students go there as an after thought or because they cant get into telecom or computer or IT or electronics.
Lets come to the basic question. Why do you choose a field? Because of the opportunities? Because others influence you? Because of your personal inclination?
Most at the age of 18 dont decide for themselves. Its their parents decisions. But here's the problem. Very few follow their heart. Very few think what can I get out of this course. And today when engineers in India are a dime a dozen, its time to start thinking of your field and get the correct reasons to join one.
For example Computers and IT . The attraction level for these fields is at a big high. This is because of the attractive pay packages and the Indian IT companies that are making waves in the industry. But here is the dilemma. Does this degree help you in securing jobs into the IT companies? The answer is NO. the companies want engineers, be it mechanical or electronics or IT. This is because they are looking for aptitude and not computer/programming etc knowledge. All have a training course which helps you grasp various concepts and then you are put into the projects where you learn along the way. You are as good as your performance and nothign else. So whats the value of your degree when even a mechanical engineer can do your job? Wheres the job security? Where are your options? Can you do the job of a mechanical engineer? The answer is No. This is the cruel reality of these courses. Even though its attractive , its not value adding.
So what do you do? the best way is not to lock ur self by specialising. And frankly IT and computer engineering lock you to a domain. The bigger the base u have , the larger the number of domains you can capture. This does not mean that you do a basic engineering field, but this way you have more options for your future. But then again there is a question of personal liking. You wud be miserable doing what others say. So if your heart says Computers - do it, but do have a clear future in mind. Find various options available and differentate yourself from other engineers. Find your niche. and thats the way to plan a career.
1 comments:
This is a good thought. I agree that one should think of one's interest to some extent. It is right that Computer Engineering started with the attraction of pay packages or as a growing industry etc. This is also right that companies used to want engineers not specifically "computer engineers". Infact this thing has enabled a lot of engineers to make their attractive careers in IT along with contributing to the growth of Indian Economy.
But this is no longer true with all the companies. In America and now in India also, computer engineering is a well defined domain, only for computer engineers. It is not plain IT where anyone can just learn a couple of languages and start working on IT projects. Computer science, as a study and as a career choice, is much bigger. There are plenty of specialized jobs for software engineers.
Also, one thing very importantly, Computer Sci & Engg is also a full fledged engineering like other branches. There's no other area in which the growth of development is as much as in software. Here, I am not just talking about the Indian Services Industry's revenue, but it is in products domain. Some of the example of famous companies in India that won't hire a non-computer (or non-electronics) engineer are HP, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cadence, Adobe, Mentor Graphics, Texas Instruments etc.
Some of these hire only computer engineers, other hire only electronics engineers and some hire both. However usually the work profiles of CS and ES guys in different.
Also, this is a reality that today because of such core companies (as in other sectors), good students have stopped joining companies those hire engineers from all the branches because that doesn't ensure that one will get to work on what one has learned in computer engineering courses.
Moreover, the higher study options are also very good if one chooses CSE.
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