Shiksha Opinion: Is the obsession with CS and the IT industry really viable for engineering aspirants?
Every year, at least one million Class 12th pass-outs are flocking to become engineers. A whopping majority of them opt for Computer Science (CS) and Information Technology (IT) specialisations.
Well, there is nothing wrong in wanting to pursue CS or IT engineering. Except, India is producing more software graduates than the IT industry can absorb.
Last year (2013), I met AICTE Chairman SS Mantha during an assignment. He casually informed me that there are about 3,700 (approximately) engineering colleges and around one million candidates are passing out of these colleges every year. The IT and software industry are absorbing about 15% of these graduates, while the public and private sectors hire another 25% (total 40%) students. In other words, about 400,000 CS engineers are passing out every year. (Read the interview here)
According to a report by BBC, “The industry now adds more than 200,000 jobs a year providing employment to nearly 10 million people.”
So, we have 400,000 CS engineers vying for 200,000 new IT jobs every year. That leaves us with 200,000 CS engineers facing unemployment or opting for non-IT profiles.
According to Mantha, there is no unemployment. However, under-employment is rampant. Over-qualified candidates end up taking lesser jobs due to lack of opportunities and a host of other reasons.
So, why is there such a drastic imbalance between the demand and supply of IT graduates?
I see a three-fold answer to this:
The primary fault lies with us. We Indians are obsessed with engineering – more specifically IT or computer science engineering. Most JEE and other entrance examination rank holders opt for computer science streams because of the much-hyped placements and high salary packages. The CS stream is also associated with career mobility (such as consulting, coding and so on).
The reality is, only a limited percentage of IT jobs are high paying. And career mobility is highly dependent on market factors. If tomorrow, IT jobs are no longer in fashion, career mobility will be redundant.
The second reason can be attributed to apex bodies such as AICTE and UGC. Despite thousands of engineering seats going vacant in various states, these bodies keep approving more engineering colleges or more seats in existing engineering colleges. Authorities are simply turning a blind eye to the existing unemployment and under-employment problems. Thankfully, UGC is beginning to realise the problem and has said no to new engineering colleges or increase in seats.
Thirdly, many of these engineering graduates are passing out from substandard colleges. Despite the four years of education, IT companies have to re-invest in these candidates to make them employable. This is an expensive affair. Hence, companies end up hiring students from different engineering streams.
So, dear students, stop following and start exploring!
Don’t aim to get in the IT industry simply because the media and the society ask you to do so. IT industry doesn’t have as many jobs as projected and neither does it pay exceptionally more.
Explore your own skills. Other streams such as civil or mechanical or electrical engineering also have good job openings. The idea is to keep an open mind while deciding your future. Take a look at the overall statistics, while keeping in mind the bigger picture.
All the best!
