So, engineering is your preference as a career? Then there are some questions that you need to ask yourself before you go choosing the right branch of study and college.
In India engineering is one of the most popular choices for students at the Intermediate level. The competition for the top institutions is cut-throat with students spending a lot of time and money in coaching classes to get the additional advantage for the competitive entrance tests. This high demand for engineering education has resulted in a mushrooming growth of a large number of engineering colleges in the country. Even though, the industry complains of an absence of trained quality engineers.
As per Wikipedia, engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to deliver solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, technology, inventions, machines and systems while taking into account the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost. The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to the requirements of humans. The role of an engineer is to design, analyze, specialize and exemplify ethics.
Designing
It is the job of engineers to develop new technological solutions. During the engineering design process, the responsibilities of an engineer include several things - defining problems, conducting and narrowing research, analyzing criteria, finding and analyzing solutions, and making decisions. Most of an engineer's time is spent on researching, locating, applying, and transferring the required information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56 % of their time engaged in various different information behaviors, including 14 % actively searching for information. Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution which best suits the requirements. Their crucial and unique task is to identify, understand, and interpret the constraints on a design in so as to produce a successful result.
Analyzing
Engineers apply techniques of engineering analysis in testing, production, or maintenance. Analytical engineers may supervise production in factories and other domains, determine the causes of a process failure, and test output in order to maintain quality. It is also their job to estimate the time and cost required to complete projects. Supervisory engineers are responsible for most components or entire projects. Engineering analysis involves the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system, device or mechanism under study. Engineering analysis proceeds by separating the engineering design into the mechanisms of operation or failure, analyzing or estimating every component of the operation or failure mechanism in isolation, and re-combining the components.
Specialization and Ethics
Most engineers specialize in one or more streams of engineering. Numerous specialties are recognized by professional societies, and each of the major domains of engineering has numerous subdivisions. Engineers have obligations to the public, their clients, employers and their profession. Many engineering societies have established codes of practice and codes of ethics in order to guide members and inform the public at large. Each domain of engineering and professional society maintains a code of ethics, that the members pledge to uphold.
Besides, an engineer is supposed to exhibit a lot of character and attitude. An engineer needs to persevere on a task until achieving success. An engineer needs to rebound, resurrect oneself and fight back from big failures relentlessly. An engineer should never give up easily on any of his objectives.
Engineering Education
A major challenge facing engineering education in India is getting students excited and enthused in engineering profession. The focus of the course/education system is on analysis and mathematical formulations. Students generally do not appreciate the hands-on component of engineering components/systems. There have been initiatives by individual faculty to bring in these linkages through special classes, laboratory sessions and technical competitions.
The IITs and IISc can be said to have succeeded to some extent in making students excited in engineering but have a high selectivity in admissions choosing only two to three % of the applicants for the engineering programmes. They receive major grant in-aid funds from the government. They contribute to less than one % of the engineering graduates in India, about 20 % of the M.Tech and 40 % of the engineering doctorates. These institutions have established quality academic programmes and are able to attract reasonable research funding.
Right after finishing Class XII, selecting the right college and branch of study would be the most difficult and at the same time, the most important decision. The accompanying diagram presents the engineering education lifecycle.
Choosing an Engineering College
The diagram presents a typical engineering education that can help one in selecting an engineering college as well.
A quality engineering college would have all those linkages established. An engineering college should have sufficient infrastructural facilities, equipment, building space, funds and most of all the linkages with the industry and society. After checking the requirements, one should not fail to consider the outputs such as number of graduates, postgraduates, Ph.Ds graduating from the college. Moreover, check on the outputs parameters delivered by the faculty in the form of publication, journals, books, patents and technology.
Those engineering colleges that have very good output parameters as mentioned above are expected to have good teachers to educate your wards. All the linkages including research, industry and education depicted in the diagram happens through the faculty. Thus, measuring the strength of faculty would be strength of the engineering institute. Another important signal in an engineering college or a specific department in an engineering college is the attrition rate of faculty. A high attrition rate either at the college level or at the department level signals back-off. There is big probability that either the management at the college level or at the specific department level is not just right.
Choosing a Branch of Study
Engineering has many specializations: electrical, mechanical, IT, aerospace, civil and chemical, to name a few of the most popular. No matter what branch you want to study, becoming an engineer takes a lot of hard work and dedication. If you are interested in entering the field, but do not know what to expect, begin by researching options to get an understanding of what the next 4-6 years has in store for you. Selecting a department on the basis of information you get from others do not guarantee a successful career but selecting a branch of study that you love or that interests you so much makes one for sure.
Every domain of engineering education is a potential field to excel and offers plenty of opportunities for exhibiting one's talents. So, it is necessary for parents to guide their children in decision-making to select the right college and right department and not to force a particular choice.
The following factors are of high importance in selecting the branch of study in engineering:
There are several entrance exams for engineering education in the country and the most competitive among them is the IIT, which is one of the most prestigious technical institutions in the world.
Apart from it there are some other entrance exams and once you have cleared any one of these entrance exams, you are granted admission on the basis of your score in the exam. It goes unsaid that a high score in the examination will not only get you the college of your choice, but also the branch which you want to study.
The engineering aspirants need to put on some research on the intended field of study to know about the subjects which will be studied. This is important as there have been cases where students have chosen a particular field of study, without really knowing the subjects and have suffered greatly later as the subjects were their weak points.
Breaking the Confusion
When in a dilemma of selecting between the good engineering college with not so good a branch of study and the best branch of study (this is highly subjective) in a not so good a college, it is advised to choose the best engineering college with not so good a branch of study. Better colleges generally have better systems of education, better professors, and better “resume value” (a major factor for a long, long time). Good teachers always will have a positive life time impact on a student. Also, in better colleges, the engineering aspirant will have better classmates. This matters in the short-term (because good classmates means more influence of friends who are interested in the right things), and the long-term (better “network”).
To a large extent, success in life is simply not about academic knowledge. It is also about a whole bunch of other factors like exposure and experience. This involves different kinds of things — like interactions with industry, several (non-academic) activities which you indulge in a city, seeing the various interesting and different things that people are doing in the city, opportunities of getting involved in different initiatives, and most important smartness. So, doing a degree in industrial cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore (considering a good engineering college), would be better than doing it in a college in a rural area with no industrial or commercial connections.
The transition from school to college can be a difficult and stressful time. It's probably the first time in life a student is on his/her own — free to make decisions about food, socializing and time management. Just because a fresher has all this newfound freedom doesn't mean he/she can go wild with it. Instead, a fresher should learn to manage it in a healthy way like:
Scheduling the work time
In India engineering is one of the most popular choices for students at the Intermediate level. The competition for the top institutions is cut-throat with students spending a lot of time and money in coaching classes to get the additional advantage for the competitive entrance tests. This high demand for engineering education has resulted in a mushrooming growth of a large number of engineering colleges in the country. Even though, the industry complains of an absence of trained quality engineers.
As per Wikipedia, engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to deliver solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, technology, inventions, machines and systems while taking into account the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost. The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to the requirements of humans. The role of an engineer is to design, analyze, specialize and exemplify ethics.
Designing
It is the job of engineers to develop new technological solutions. During the engineering design process, the responsibilities of an engineer include several things - defining problems, conducting and narrowing research, analyzing criteria, finding and analyzing solutions, and making decisions. Most of an engineer's time is spent on researching, locating, applying, and transferring the required information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56 % of their time engaged in various different information behaviors, including 14 % actively searching for information. Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution which best suits the requirements. Their crucial and unique task is to identify, understand, and interpret the constraints on a design in so as to produce a successful result.
Analyzing
Engineers apply techniques of engineering analysis in testing, production, or maintenance. Analytical engineers may supervise production in factories and other domains, determine the causes of a process failure, and test output in order to maintain quality. It is also their job to estimate the time and cost required to complete projects. Supervisory engineers are responsible for most components or entire projects. Engineering analysis involves the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system, device or mechanism under study. Engineering analysis proceeds by separating the engineering design into the mechanisms of operation or failure, analyzing or estimating every component of the operation or failure mechanism in isolation, and re-combining the components.
Specialization and Ethics
Most engineers specialize in one or more streams of engineering. Numerous specialties are recognized by professional societies, and each of the major domains of engineering has numerous subdivisions. Engineers have obligations to the public, their clients, employers and their profession. Many engineering societies have established codes of practice and codes of ethics in order to guide members and inform the public at large. Each domain of engineering and professional society maintains a code of ethics, that the members pledge to uphold.
Besides, an engineer is supposed to exhibit a lot of character and attitude. An engineer needs to persevere on a task until achieving success. An engineer needs to rebound, resurrect oneself and fight back from big failures relentlessly. An engineer should never give up easily on any of his objectives.
Engineering Education
A major challenge facing engineering education in India is getting students excited and enthused in engineering profession. The focus of the course/education system is on analysis and mathematical formulations. Students generally do not appreciate the hands-on component of engineering components/systems. There have been initiatives by individual faculty to bring in these linkages through special classes, laboratory sessions and technical competitions.
The IITs and IISc can be said to have succeeded to some extent in making students excited in engineering but have a high selectivity in admissions choosing only two to three % of the applicants for the engineering programmes. They receive major grant in-aid funds from the government. They contribute to less than one % of the engineering graduates in India, about 20 % of the M.Tech and 40 % of the engineering doctorates. These institutions have established quality academic programmes and are able to attract reasonable research funding.
Right after finishing Class XII, selecting the right college and branch of study would be the most difficult and at the same time, the most important decision. The accompanying diagram presents the engineering education lifecycle.
The diagram presents a typical engineering education that can help one in selecting an engineering college as well.
A quality engineering college would have all those linkages established. An engineering college should have sufficient infrastructural facilities, equipment, building space, funds and most of all the linkages with the industry and society. After checking the requirements, one should not fail to consider the outputs such as number of graduates, postgraduates, Ph.Ds graduating from the college. Moreover, check on the outputs parameters delivered by the faculty in the form of publication, journals, books, patents and technology.
Those engineering colleges that have very good output parameters as mentioned above are expected to have good teachers to educate your wards. All the linkages including research, industry and education depicted in the diagram happens through the faculty. Thus, measuring the strength of faculty would be strength of the engineering institute. Another important signal in an engineering college or a specific department in an engineering college is the attrition rate of faculty. A high attrition rate either at the college level or at the department level signals back-off. There is big probability that either the management at the college level or at the specific department level is not just right.
Choosing a Branch of Study
Engineering has many specializations: electrical, mechanical, IT, aerospace, civil and chemical, to name a few of the most popular. No matter what branch you want to study, becoming an engineer takes a lot of hard work and dedication. If you are interested in entering the field, but do not know what to expect, begin by researching options to get an understanding of what the next 4-6 years has in store for you. Selecting a department on the basis of information you get from others do not guarantee a successful career but selecting a branch of study that you love or that interests you so much makes one for sure.
Every domain of engineering education is a potential field to excel and offers plenty of opportunities for exhibiting one's talents. So, it is necessary for parents to guide their children in decision-making to select the right college and right department and not to force a particular choice.
The following factors are of high importance in selecting the branch of study in engineering:
- Interest in the area of study
- Opportunities of getting a job in the future
- Scope of continuing your education in the form of a post graduation in India or abroad
- Type of job which you wish to do once you have completed your course
There are several entrance exams for engineering education in the country and the most competitive among them is the IIT, which is one of the most prestigious technical institutions in the world.
Apart from it there are some other entrance exams and once you have cleared any one of these entrance exams, you are granted admission on the basis of your score in the exam. It goes unsaid that a high score in the examination will not only get you the college of your choice, but also the branch which you want to study.
The engineering aspirants need to put on some research on the intended field of study to know about the subjects which will be studied. This is important as there have been cases where students have chosen a particular field of study, without really knowing the subjects and have suffered greatly later as the subjects were their weak points.
Breaking the Confusion
When in a dilemma of selecting between the good engineering college with not so good a branch of study and the best branch of study (this is highly subjective) in a not so good a college, it is advised to choose the best engineering college with not so good a branch of study. Better colleges generally have better systems of education, better professors, and better “resume value” (a major factor for a long, long time). Good teachers always will have a positive life time impact on a student. Also, in better colleges, the engineering aspirant will have better classmates. This matters in the short-term (because good classmates means more influence of friends who are interested in the right things), and the long-term (better “network”).
To a large extent, success in life is simply not about academic knowledge. It is also about a whole bunch of other factors like exposure and experience. This involves different kinds of things — like interactions with industry, several (non-academic) activities which you indulge in a city, seeing the various interesting and different things that people are doing in the city, opportunities of getting involved in different initiatives, and most important smartness. So, doing a degree in industrial cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore (considering a good engineering college), would be better than doing it in a college in a rural area with no industrial or commercial connections.
The transition from school to college can be a difficult and stressful time. It's probably the first time in life a student is on his/her own — free to make decisions about food, socializing and time management. Just because a fresher has all this newfound freedom doesn't mean he/she can go wild with it. Instead, a fresher should learn to manage it in a healthy way like:
Scheduling the work time
- Understanding one's financial and family limits
- Talking freely to teachers in case of struggling
- Setting aside time to relax and doing things of interest
- Be your own person and never try to fake your identity forgetting you are unique.
- Always have the attitude of fighting back at your failures. Bear the attitude of never say never again.
- Keep a positive mind set. Negative thoughts can put one in a downward spiral, so always try to stay positive.
- Having a good circle of friends with whom every day's problems and happiness can be shared. Never be aloof. Never keep small or big things hidden from your close friends. Share it and get opinion from them.
This post is very helpful as the author has highlighted upon various aspects of engineering, and has also given tips on how to choose the right engineering college. CMR University is one of the Best University in Bangalore. CMRU School of Engineering & Technology, Bangalore, offers a plethora of engineering courses in the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The university offers B.Tech programmes in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, CSE, information technology and more. The curriculum is carefully designed to incorporate both theoretical and practical elements of the subject. The placement and internships cell in the university ensures that the students are placed in leading companies in order to pursue a successful career in the field. The university also ensures that the courses are designed to meet the growing industry requirements. For More details you can visit Top Engineering Colleges in Bangalore.
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