Sakshi Education
Engineering is an exciting career. Engineers achieve great things. Throughout history, people working in engineering have contributed to their communities, countries and civilizations by making tools, machines and countless other products to help people improve their lives and progress onto better things.
The diversity of engineering means that whatever be your area of interest, there is probably a place for you to work in such area in engineering. From information technology to medical science and mining, from building roads to space travel, engineers are working to make things happen.
With ever growing number of Engineering Colleges both in Govt. and Private Sectors in India, engineering has become a common professional degree. Lakhs of students pass out every year from engineering colleges, but how many of them get on to the path of a career of their choice? How a student should groom oneself during third year of engineering course to get aligned to a career path in this competitive world? Let us probe further.
Engineering Degree- Students Orientation
Despite being a common professional degree, Engineering is always an unique and evergreen course to pursue. The students will undergo a total transformation not just academically but also personally while pursuing an engineering degree. Students enter into campus life after undergoing a lot of spoon feeding type of education during Schooling and Junior College days. Unfortunately, our education system is making the students just followers of whatever they are being taught or mug up whatever they are asked to.. by the institutes. They are not encouraged to cultivate the habit of questioning the teachers whenever they do not understand certain topics in the subjects. In engineering, the basic attitude of questioning the concepts to get deeper insights in the subject topics is required. Engineers during their professional work need to first define a problem correctly and then arrive at several alternative solutions for which an interrogative approach of asking questions and probing to find several answers is needed. In engineering, it is important that one should develop self learning skill. Otherwise, they will lag behind others. The students need develop confidence to face problem situations comfortably and to arrive at intelligent and innovative solutions.
Importance of Third Year of Engineering
In a four year engineering course curriculum, the first two years of engineering course makes a student orient towards the basics of engineering in their respective branch of specialization. During First year of engineering, much of the focus is on basic sciences and humanities subjects, while second year introduces the student to fundamentals of their domain subjects apart from understanding of application of other branches domain knowledge in their branch of engineering. For example, a mechanical engineering student will learn basics of electrical engineering and electronics engineering during second year of engineering.
The third year of course curriculum will revolve around the deeper understanding of the subjects relevant to their respective branches of engineering. Hence, students must be academically focused during third year to gain insights into their core engineering subjects. Apart from deeper understanding on the theoretical concepts, the students must be agile to understand applications of such concepts in the engineering field. They must cultivate the habit of reading Journal papers/ conference papers to get updates on the latest research efforts in their field of engineering.
Apart from academics, the students should focus on their personality development. Spoken English has to be given special attention. They should focus on acquiring other skills such as participating in Group discussions and Team events. Learning to build good vocabulary, word power, quantitative/ analytical ability and logical reasoning should be done on a continuous basis as these things cannot be acquired overnight. Extra Curricular activities can be taken up as they will also form important components of their resume when they start applying for Jobs / Higher studies.
The students should participate in various competitions in different colleges at state level and at national level. This gives them confidence and an exposure to new things and also they will learn how to manage things while working in a team, and also improve upon their communication skills, time management and lot more. Exposure to practical things teaches many new things to the students. And one should also identify ones’ weaknesses and should find ways in overcoming them to build self confidence.
Career Planning- Choices for Engineering Students
A student should realize what he/she wants to achieve in his/her life. There are three options available to be taken up after engineering
1)Taking up a job
2)Pursuing higher education
3)Taking up entrepreneurship
Taking up a job
The job aspiring candidates have the following choices:
1)They can plan to get a Campus Placement
2)Aim to get a Job in PSU by qualifying through GATE
3)Aim to get a Central / State Govt. Job by preparing for relevant group services selection exams.
4)They can strive for career in Civil services or Engineering Services ( IAS / IES)
Students aiming for Jobs must prepare a resume that appeal to the Interviewers. For every branch of engineering, there are a wide variety of career options. The students must make efforts to understand the requirements of varied career options and finalise one career option to match their interests. If getting good campus placement is aimed at, Students targeting at core jobs should have sound knowledge of fundamentals of their stream of engineering. Students targeting software jobs should be good at programming. If target is to get an opening in a Multi national company, then learning one foreign language would be handy. Soft skills are important criteria that any company checks for before offering a Job. English language communication skill is one of the important employability skill that one should acquire. Learnability and Team working are important skills that an interviewer probes for during the interview. Some companies intentionally avoid class toppers, as they think that they cannot work well in teams! Hence, getting ranks is not so important in Engineering. Gaining employability skills takes more precedence over getting Ranks in Engineering Courses which most parents are not aware of. The parents should not put stress on the Students to get top ranks in the College. Instead, they should encourage students to gain all round personality development. However, it is important that Students should strive to be academically in top ten percent in the class to add value in one’s resume. During third year, core engineering subjects will form a part of curriculum. Hence, one should never lose focus on academics. Maintaining a steady GPA / Percentage of marks during four years of BE course work is very important.
In campus placement, the students are asked to appear in an Online / written aptitude test. The test consists of sections on Verbal ability, Quantitative ability, Logical / Analytical reasoning etc.,. IT Services companies may have a section on programming concepts. The students must practice on such sections much ahead of their placement season preferably in the third year of engineering, as they cannot be acquired overnight. Attending mock Group discussions and mock interviews would do lot of good in their preparation for campus interviews. Dress code, body language and time discipline will all be closely watched by the HR officials during selection process by the Companies. Resume preparation is very vital and preparation of answers to typical questions like “tell me about yourself” is very important. For the resumes to be attractive, the efforts must be put from BE second/third year onwards focusing on achievements on curricular and extra/co curricular activities. The campus placements are usually scheduled in the final year. With focused attitude and preparedness, getting a Job in a dream Company will not be difficult.
Preparing for IAS /IES would need special emphasis on current affairs and general knowledge apart from domain subject knowledge. The intensive preparation for such career paths must happen from third year itself. Students who plan late for such exams end up in remaining idle without job after engineering specially preparing for such exams. Students aiming for PSU Jobs must prepare well for GATE and have sound knowledge on Subject fundamentals. If preparation for GATE is done, appearing for State /Central Govt. Core Job selections will be easy.
Pursuing higher education
Higher studies may be pursued in Engineering or Management streams either abroad or in India. If one wishes to pursue higher education in management, it is advisable to work in an industry at least for two years before applying for admissions. Industrial experience will be an added advantage and is given due weight age during admissions to Management programs. Again it is worthwhile to mention here that getting MBA from any college will not be useful. It is important that one should aim to get MBA from a reputed institute with good placements.
If one aims to pursue higher education in engineering in India, they should prepare for GATE exam. Good score in GATE will also help candidates getting good jobs in Public sector units like NTPC, BHEL, ONGC, HPCL and IOCL etc., For planning to go abroad for higher education in engineering, they need to appear for GRE, TOEFL or IELTS exam depending on which country they wish to pursue higher education. Good scores in these exams will help in getting financial assistance in universities abroad.
Taking up entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is offered as an elective generally in Final year of engineering. Students need to opt for such subject to understand the nuances of entrepreneurship. It is advisable for the students to approach entrepreneurship development cells in the college to know the sources of finances and how to apply for them. It is better if a student gets management education before taking up entrepreneurship although it is not mandatory. If a student has an innovative product idea and have risk taking capability with a good technical and financial support, getting into entrepreneurship immediately after engineering can be ventured into.
Summary on action plan for Third Year Students
During third year, students should firm up on their career path and plan to work towards realizing the same. Selection of correct career, offers lifelong economical and social stability. It helps to adopt high living standards. Having higher aims in life is not sufficient, but it should be accompanied with great determination and hard work. One should be careful in choosing one’s career. They should consider all pro and cons of various available career options. Based on a proper assessment of one’s ability and interest levels, they should make up their mind on right career option. Discussion with teachers, seniors, alumni as well as parents is very important in arriving at a final decision. Once a decision is taken, it should be pursued with full dedication and a disciplined approach. Students should chalk out a plan of action so as to realize their goal of getting good scores in CAT, GATE and GRE etc., based on the career option chosen.
A balance between academics, extra-curricular or co-curricular activities and preparation for CAT/GATE/GRE is a must. It is very important to balance studies and college fun equally. A student should not totally concentrate on one and loose focus on other. Time management, Team work and multi tasking are very crucial skills to be acquired by practice.
The students should aim to present papers in international /national conferences/ symposia as they broaden their knowledgebase in the technical areas by interacting with academic and research fraternity during such conferences. The students should also cultivate event management skills by organizing various tech fests in the college. Before final year, during summer break, it is good to take up some industry attachment program. Such exposure in industry may help them in identifying a good project work which they can take up in their final year of engineering.
Whether student wants a job, higher education or something else after engineering, one need to equip with requisite skillset with committed and dedicated efforts and show evidence of such skills when demanded by the chosen career path to succeed in life.
The diversity of engineering means that whatever be your area of interest, there is probably a place for you to work in such area in engineering. From information technology to medical science and mining, from building roads to space travel, engineers are working to make things happen.
With ever growing number of Engineering Colleges both in Govt. and Private Sectors in India, engineering has become a common professional degree. Lakhs of students pass out every year from engineering colleges, but how many of them get on to the path of a career of their choice? How a student should groom oneself during third year of engineering course to get aligned to a career path in this competitive world? Let us probe further.
Engineering Degree- Students Orientation
Despite being a common professional degree, Engineering is always an unique and evergreen course to pursue. The students will undergo a total transformation not just academically but also personally while pursuing an engineering degree. Students enter into campus life after undergoing a lot of spoon feeding type of education during Schooling and Junior College days. Unfortunately, our education system is making the students just followers of whatever they are being taught or mug up whatever they are asked to.. by the institutes. They are not encouraged to cultivate the habit of questioning the teachers whenever they do not understand certain topics in the subjects. In engineering, the basic attitude of questioning the concepts to get deeper insights in the subject topics is required. Engineers during their professional work need to first define a problem correctly and then arrive at several alternative solutions for which an interrogative approach of asking questions and probing to find several answers is needed. In engineering, it is important that one should develop self learning skill. Otherwise, they will lag behind others. The students need develop confidence to face problem situations comfortably and to arrive at intelligent and innovative solutions.
Importance of Third Year of Engineering
In a four year engineering course curriculum, the first two years of engineering course makes a student orient towards the basics of engineering in their respective branch of specialization. During First year of engineering, much of the focus is on basic sciences and humanities subjects, while second year introduces the student to fundamentals of their domain subjects apart from understanding of application of other branches domain knowledge in their branch of engineering. For example, a mechanical engineering student will learn basics of electrical engineering and electronics engineering during second year of engineering.
The third year of course curriculum will revolve around the deeper understanding of the subjects relevant to their respective branches of engineering. Hence, students must be academically focused during third year to gain insights into their core engineering subjects. Apart from deeper understanding on the theoretical concepts, the students must be agile to understand applications of such concepts in the engineering field. They must cultivate the habit of reading Journal papers/ conference papers to get updates on the latest research efforts in their field of engineering.
Apart from academics, the students should focus on their personality development. Spoken English has to be given special attention. They should focus on acquiring other skills such as participating in Group discussions and Team events. Learning to build good vocabulary, word power, quantitative/ analytical ability and logical reasoning should be done on a continuous basis as these things cannot be acquired overnight. Extra Curricular activities can be taken up as they will also form important components of their resume when they start applying for Jobs / Higher studies.
The students should participate in various competitions in different colleges at state level and at national level. This gives them confidence and an exposure to new things and also they will learn how to manage things while working in a team, and also improve upon their communication skills, time management and lot more. Exposure to practical things teaches many new things to the students. And one should also identify ones’ weaknesses and should find ways in overcoming them to build self confidence.
Career Planning- Choices for Engineering Students
A student should realize what he/she wants to achieve in his/her life. There are three options available to be taken up after engineering
1)Taking up a job
2)Pursuing higher education
3)Taking up entrepreneurship
Taking up a job
The job aspiring candidates have the following choices:
1)They can plan to get a Campus Placement
2)Aim to get a Job in PSU by qualifying through GATE
3)Aim to get a Central / State Govt. Job by preparing for relevant group services selection exams.
4)They can strive for career in Civil services or Engineering Services ( IAS / IES)
Students aiming for Jobs must prepare a resume that appeal to the Interviewers. For every branch of engineering, there are a wide variety of career options. The students must make efforts to understand the requirements of varied career options and finalise one career option to match their interests. If getting good campus placement is aimed at, Students targeting at core jobs should have sound knowledge of fundamentals of their stream of engineering. Students targeting software jobs should be good at programming. If target is to get an opening in a Multi national company, then learning one foreign language would be handy. Soft skills are important criteria that any company checks for before offering a Job. English language communication skill is one of the important employability skill that one should acquire. Learnability and Team working are important skills that an interviewer probes for during the interview. Some companies intentionally avoid class toppers, as they think that they cannot work well in teams! Hence, getting ranks is not so important in Engineering. Gaining employability skills takes more precedence over getting Ranks in Engineering Courses which most parents are not aware of. The parents should not put stress on the Students to get top ranks in the College. Instead, they should encourage students to gain all round personality development. However, it is important that Students should strive to be academically in top ten percent in the class to add value in one’s resume. During third year, core engineering subjects will form a part of curriculum. Hence, one should never lose focus on academics. Maintaining a steady GPA / Percentage of marks during four years of BE course work is very important.
In campus placement, the students are asked to appear in an Online / written aptitude test. The test consists of sections on Verbal ability, Quantitative ability, Logical / Analytical reasoning etc.,. IT Services companies may have a section on programming concepts. The students must practice on such sections much ahead of their placement season preferably in the third year of engineering, as they cannot be acquired overnight. Attending mock Group discussions and mock interviews would do lot of good in their preparation for campus interviews. Dress code, body language and time discipline will all be closely watched by the HR officials during selection process by the Companies. Resume preparation is very vital and preparation of answers to typical questions like “tell me about yourself” is very important. For the resumes to be attractive, the efforts must be put from BE second/third year onwards focusing on achievements on curricular and extra/co curricular activities. The campus placements are usually scheduled in the final year. With focused attitude and preparedness, getting a Job in a dream Company will not be difficult.
Preparing for IAS /IES would need special emphasis on current affairs and general knowledge apart from domain subject knowledge. The intensive preparation for such career paths must happen from third year itself. Students who plan late for such exams end up in remaining idle without job after engineering specially preparing for such exams. Students aiming for PSU Jobs must prepare well for GATE and have sound knowledge on Subject fundamentals. If preparation for GATE is done, appearing for State /Central Govt. Core Job selections will be easy.
Pursuing higher education
Higher studies may be pursued in Engineering or Management streams either abroad or in India. If one wishes to pursue higher education in management, it is advisable to work in an industry at least for two years before applying for admissions. Industrial experience will be an added advantage and is given due weight age during admissions to Management programs. Again it is worthwhile to mention here that getting MBA from any college will not be useful. It is important that one should aim to get MBA from a reputed institute with good placements.
If one aims to pursue higher education in engineering in India, they should prepare for GATE exam. Good score in GATE will also help candidates getting good jobs in Public sector units like NTPC, BHEL, ONGC, HPCL and IOCL etc., For planning to go abroad for higher education in engineering, they need to appear for GRE, TOEFL or IELTS exam depending on which country they wish to pursue higher education. Good scores in these exams will help in getting financial assistance in universities abroad.
Taking up entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is offered as an elective generally in Final year of engineering. Students need to opt for such subject to understand the nuances of entrepreneurship. It is advisable for the students to approach entrepreneurship development cells in the college to know the sources of finances and how to apply for them. It is better if a student gets management education before taking up entrepreneurship although it is not mandatory. If a student has an innovative product idea and have risk taking capability with a good technical and financial support, getting into entrepreneurship immediately after engineering can be ventured into.
Summary on action plan for Third Year Students
During third year, students should firm up on their career path and plan to work towards realizing the same. Selection of correct career, offers lifelong economical and social stability. It helps to adopt high living standards. Having higher aims in life is not sufficient, but it should be accompanied with great determination and hard work. One should be careful in choosing one’s career. They should consider all pro and cons of various available career options. Based on a proper assessment of one’s ability and interest levels, they should make up their mind on right career option. Discussion with teachers, seniors, alumni as well as parents is very important in arriving at a final decision. Once a decision is taken, it should be pursued with full dedication and a disciplined approach. Students should chalk out a plan of action so as to realize their goal of getting good scores in CAT, GATE and GRE etc., based on the career option chosen.
A balance between academics, extra-curricular or co-curricular activities and preparation for CAT/GATE/GRE is a must. It is very important to balance studies and college fun equally. A student should not totally concentrate on one and loose focus on other. Time management, Team work and multi tasking are very crucial skills to be acquired by practice.
The students should aim to present papers in international /national conferences/ symposia as they broaden their knowledgebase in the technical areas by interacting with academic and research fraternity during such conferences. The students should also cultivate event management skills by organizing various tech fests in the college. Before final year, during summer break, it is good to take up some industry attachment program. Such exposure in industry may help them in identifying a good project work which they can take up in their final year of engineering.
Whether student wants a job, higher education or something else after engineering, one need to equip with requisite skillset with committed and dedicated efforts and show evidence of such skills when demanded by the chosen career path to succeed in life.
Published date : 24 Apr 2015 05:02PM
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