Career as an Electronics Engineer: Gadget Gurus

With the automation industry progressing and touching lives, one can say that the future lies in digital electronics - Gaurav Garg, engineer with a top MNC

The lowdown

From healthcare to space research, from TV sets to iPods... electronics engineers can handle anything. They seek solutions to practical problems by inventing or working on gadgets that make life simpler, or more entertaining. They are the ones responsible for the transformation of bulky cell-phones and TV sets to ultra slim phones and LED sets boasting of features such as 3D and surround sound.

Clock Work

10 am: Check the day's assignments

11 am: Delegate work and discuss it with colleagues

12 pm: Meetings and feedback sessions

1.30 pm: Lunch

2 to 3 pm: Visit manufacturing plant, check product and test results

4 to 8 pm: Check competitor's products, find the gaps and look for ways to better it

9 pm: Leave for home

Payoff

On gaining a BTech or similar degree from a good institution, you can expect to earn anything between Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh a year. As you work your way up in the organisation and learn implementation, architectural and design-level skills, you could make about Rs 10 lakh a year. At the managerial level, you can earn anything between Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh a year. People at the top rung can rake in upwards of Rs 60 lakh a year

Skills/Traits

• Good analytical and reasoning skills
• A creative and innovative mind
• A flexible outlook
• Thorough understanding of circuits and drawings, etc
• Strong foothold in the fundamentals of electronics engineering
• Ability to learn on the job
• Ability to continue educating oneself right through one's career
• Ability to design, construct, maintain and sustain products, services, and information systems
• Good problem-solving skills

Getting There

Take up physics, chemistry and maths in Class 12 and then sit for the joint engineering entrance tests to bag a seat in any engineering institution. After completing a bachelor's, you can opt to either work or study further. Those wanting to study further can go for an MTech or ME degree and then apply for a PhD programme

Institutes

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, www.iitkgp.ac.in
• IIT, Guwahati, www.iitg.ernet.in
• IIT, Roorkee, www.iitr.ac.in
• IIT, Delhi, www.iitd.ac.in/
• National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur, www.nitjsr.com
• NIT, Karnataka, www.nitk.ac.in
• NIT, Kurukshetra, www.nitkkr.ac.in
• NIT, Srinagar, www.nitsri.net
• Delhi Technological University (DTU) formerly Delhi College of Engineering(DCE), DU, www.dece.edu/
• PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, www.pec.acin/HOME.asp

Apart from the IITs and NITs, there are several institutes like Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) and regional engineering colleges etc that impart quality education and training in electronics engineering

Pros And Cons

• The intellectual stimulation is rewarding
• The quest for perfection can be stressful. Since most designs are for products that touch a consumer or meant for space research or military, an electronics engineer has to work out optimal solutions which require lots of patience, effort and hard work
• Product deadlines take a lot out of you
• Meeting timelines is, of course, the key to success but it does limit the ability to innovate

Source: HT Horizons

Date: 25th March, 2011

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