India - Engineering the "Engineers"

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When we are 16, most of us are wondering what we want to do with our life (i mean careers here)... Some of us find our calling by interest, some by force, and some just manage to dabble through different things and get there....

 However, in India, one of the most "chosen" careers is that of an Engineer. Its almost a national hysteria - an admission in a good Engineering college. This phenomena has had a ripple effect..
The first being that now there a huge number of Engineering colleges (with little or no infrastructure whatsoever) which are full of students trying to soak in the practical aspects of science and technology... none of them realizing that they'll soon become a part of this ocean.. of Engineering graduates (i refuse to refer to the likes of us as Engineers!!! )...
The second is the total ignorance towards the other lesser known career options, be it psychology, journalism, law, photography, medicine, architecture, design and the many others...

 A direct result of this can be seen in today's B schools, where 80% of the class comprises of Engineers.
Please note, that you won't find a law student, a doctor or an NID graduate sitting in those classes... turning specialists into generalists....
Don't get me wrong, even I am belong to the league of B Tech - MBA... and am a strong advocate of the thought that even the most Purposeless thing/person has its own Purpose in the larger scheme of things :)

 I am just trying to find the hidden secret behind the success... or is it ?

Comments

  1. KK10 July 2013 at 11:32

    My opinion. In most other countries, you are guaranteed of a baseline lifestyle in most jobs, or even if you don't work. For example, rich people in developed countries wear good jeans, and poor people wear bad jeans, but everybody has clothes. Same goes for food and places to stay (Same old roti, kapda, makaan theme).

    Here, everyone (PARENTS) have seen someone in a bad condition, be it some relative, some neighbor, some coworker, the subziwala or the maid. So, people simply want their kids to be as far away from any kind of material scarcity as possible. Engineering is a great middle-path alternative. Not impossible, not bad (e.g. Medical is too hard due to less seats, and you can't think of a 'sustainable' career in arts etc.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dwiti R10 July 2013 at 20:21

      Agreed... But if that was the sole explanation, this would've been a phenomenon in Non-Metro cities or tier 2 cities only....
      But with exception of Kolkatta (which is probably culturally more evolved), every other part of the country chase the profession....

      Delete
    2. KK11 July 2013 at 18:28

      What you say about cities is right, but I think somewhere you have had an uneven sampling of people. There all all sorts of people when it comes to rich and poor etc. in India. Thing is, not all of us have the same wants because we are not all in the same situation. In 2008, my parents started building a home, but since my brother was in school, and my mom had her job, and my dad's job took him out of station for at least 1-2 months at a time, it was left to me to take care of the construction and the lots of activities that go with it (flooring, paint, carpenter, electricity/wiring, plumbing, ...). Gave me some excuses for being 'busy' and wasting my 3 semesters of college :-)

      I chatted with contractors, foremen (Mistri in Hindi/Punjabi), laborers and workmen's version of interns. I was really surprised about these people. They seemed to have entirely different priorities in life. Their discussions among themselves were different from what me and my family/friends had. They just wanted their kids to be healthy, and maybe land a (shitty, underpaid, never-on-time-payment (not salary)) job with a good contractor, as if any contractor of this kind exists.

      I got an answer in 2013 itself, and it is called Maslow's Hierarchy. If you see, different people are at different levels. In a growing country like India, it is possible for 3 generations in a family to be at 3 different levels. For the most part, it is safe to assume that children get their level during childhood and keep up with it throughout their lives. And another fact is that we Indian children pay great respect to our parents' decisions. So, in the end, we are all a level or two below where we ought to be.

      Don't know if it answers this question for you. It did for me :-)

      Delete
    3. Dwiti R11 July 2013 at 22:24

      Agreed. What you are saying is true...
      But like you pointed out, even at there level, they are very clear that they will educate their children to the extent of earning their livelihood i.e. vocational education.
      If I were to draw a similar parallel, once an Engineer, I should've found a relevant field of work and stuck to it. Unfortunately, I was the kind of nomad, who was happy learning anything & everything, and not directly applying anything...

      My reference is to the others like Me...

      Delete
    4. KK12 July 2013 at 21:52

      I am in the same category like you, except that I 'jumped' more then I learnt. Engineer, 2 jobs for a little over a year, now going to join govt. job. Don't know what next though my mom talks of 'killing' me if I think about anything other than this current thing. I don't know what the explanation for people like us is, because as long as we are going through it, we will not be able to have an outside perspective :-)

      Delete
    5. Dwiti R21 July 2013 at 22:01

      agreed...

      Delete

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