I chose higher studies over employment: Sakshi Aggarwal

Two years ago, I completed my BTech in Computer Science. My life had been a roller-coaster during engineering. Though it gave me a variety of career options, but what my forte is, I realized in the pre-final year. All my friends and classmates were desperate to earn money and were looking for lucrative jobs. To be independent is a dream for every youth. They did not even care for the heavy fee structure before they enrolled themselves into technical training sessions, programs and workshops. They used different tools for designing an effective resume and much more, just to be hired by IT companies. But my ambition was completely different from them. I chose higher studies over employment.

Since childhood, I have been considered a bright student among teachers. I always secured the top rank in batch. My classmates appreciated my work and decision. I aim to work with the prominent scientists of India. I was influenced by personal as well as professional lives of some veterans like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. They brought India in the era of nuclear missiles and weapons. I wonder their modesty, long hours spending in labs and ways of combating with failures, perseverance and uncountable qualities they possessed even at the age of 50. I admire their compassion for their countrymen and responsibilities towards society. Therefore, I aim to work for the dignity of my nation because nothing can compensate the affection and respect given by the people of the country. And to support my dream, I have decided to excel in research rather than seeking a high package in multinational companies.

Besides all family pressure and hurdles, I successfully enrolled in MTech with specialization in Software Engineering. I am an avid scholar for learning innovative and emerging concepts and technologies. But during my first year, I found that research is merely confined to publishing a paper and awarding a degree. Researchers are not interested in spending time for deep studies and analysing recognized and published work. Even faculties want students to publish papers, per subject per semester. They ask students to write at least a survey paper and guarantee to publish it in reputed journals. But reputed journals mean a high publishing fee. It doesn’t care about the content and research work. After submission, they mail the confirmation to the corresponding authors within 3-4 days and offer to publish the research in next 2-3 days after registration. It seems research is taken for granted in India. Students can’t think out of the box because of the extreme pressure by the faculties and families for completion of the degree in stipulated period of time. They care more about the placements rather than inventions, for they are running out of time. And if they don’t get into the IT sector, they feel teaching is the best profession; it doesn’t need much skills and expertise. The whole scenario crunches my heart.

Earlier, scientists spent their entire lives in validating their research. They didn’t even leave any stone unturned. The theories and algorithms were supported by valid arguments and statistics instead of implementation on inferior and biased data. I salute them and conclude that the research is not a one-day process. It is a continuous assessment of findings, implementation and outcomes. The focus relies on analysing and optimization. Scholars need to emphasize on quality rather than quantity of the research papers. Theoretical foundation must be correctly mapped with the implementation platform. Writing a paper doesn’t mean only documentation but an endeavour to disseminate the knowledge, underline the shortcomings of the existing work, troubleshoot the problem effectively and generate opportunities before youth. It will lead to the birth of young researchers and scientists that will make the nation proud. Then only we can stand among the scientists of developed countries and India can promote its research and development across the globe.

About the Author:

My name is Sakshi Aggarwal and I am a research scholar at Galgotias University, Greater Noida. I am also pursuing Masters of Technology in Software Engineering (2017-19). I completed BTech in Computer Science in the year 2016 and I cleared GATE in 2017 in CS. My research area so far includes Data Analytics and Decision-Making. In my leisure time, I love to nurture plants, listen music, and watch movies and cartoons.