IITM - The Hindu - Mentoring Session @ May 15th

Written by Ramanan R, Spokes Person of PAN IIT HYD Alumni Society:

IITMAA & The Hindu organised a counseling program in Hyderabad yesterday, the 15th May. An amazing over 1000 turned up - may be more. Even the balcony in Ravindra Bharati was full.

Many Senior Alumnus spent the morning explaining, what to expect of each branch of engg & the key skills required. Then they answered wide range of questions.

There technical questions, questions on career prospects, how to plan a career, and was there even a questions on physical handicap. To which Sridhar answered that only very few cannot be surmounted - like colour blindness in aircraft certification.

Many dropped guard and used language they would use in the campus. Dr.Venugopal started off with - I am an IITian, so expect me to talk about myself first then the subject. That had the whole hall in splits.

The credits for the organisation were shared by Murali who lead along with many others like Srinivas, Praveen, Vasu, Kishore and many volunteers. It was an absolutely professional job with a bunch of researchers sitting in the background with their laptops picking up data from the internet to back up experiences of the counselors.

The Hindu is putting up all the presentation on their website.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/16/stories/2010051660790200.htm

An insight into engineering and its careers

R. Ravikanth Reddy

Alumni of prestigious institutions interact with IIT and NIT aspirants

— Photo: Nagara Gopal

Expert guidance: Resource persons at an interactive workshop held by The Hindu Education Plus interacting with students and their parents on Saturday.

Hyderabad: Follow your dreams and excellence, and not money, was the advice for the IIT and NIT aspirants from the distinguished alumni of those prestigious institutions even as they gave an insight into engineering as a course and a variety of options it throws up in terms of academics and careers.

Strong basics

The alumni were addressing the IIT and NIT aspirants at the counselling session organised by The Hindu Education Plus in association with Gajendra Circle, a subset of IIT Madras Alumni Association here on Saturday. The programme was inaugurated by the Hyderabad district Collector, Gulzar Natarajan. The event was sponsored by State Bank of India. Demystifying the IIT education, the galaxy of speakers, who are mostly successful entrepreneurs in India and abroad now, said the difference between IIT and NIT engineering from others is that students get to compete with the best in the country while having access to highly qualified teachers and world-class facilities. The brand name of IIT that gives them recognition across the globe is an added advantage for the job seekers or entrepreneurs. Whatever the course might be, students need to acquire strong basics in the core subjects.

The evergreen engineering courses like mechanical, civil and chemical will continue to provide newer and better opportunities to students in the job market, they said. “Whatever course the students take up, it all boils down to the hard work and effort the student puts to achieve excellence,” they said.

K. Ramchandra Reddy, CEO and co-founder of MosChip Semiconductor Technology pointed out that to be an ideal engineer a student should be willing to go beyond the course work. He said electronics engineers will have bright future with the ever expanding gadget market and innovations in it.

Civil Engineers will always be in demand in a growing economy like India, said R. V. Chakrapani, Managing Director of Aarvee Associates. India will see investments of Rs. 17 lakh crore in infrastructure projects in the next five years and it showcases the demand for civil engineers. Firm grip on basics, logical and analytical skills, visualisation, ability to work in a tea and social awareness are required to become a good civil engineer.

P. Venugopalan, Director, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) who introduced students to Mechanical Engineering explained the opportunities in both private and government sector. Be strong in physics, maths and sciences because they form the basics, he said adding that Mechanical was the base of all core engineering subjects.

Computer jobs

About six million computer jobs will be available in the next five years said, Santanu Paul, CEO of TalentSprint explaining opportunities in the software sector. He wanted the students to follow excellence and a bright future will be assured. Specialisation subjects in computers like artificial intelligence, computer architecture, computer graphics and robotics will be in huge demand.

Nagesh S. Walimbe, founder of Zen Consultants said ideal chemical engineers should be passionate about chemistry, mechanical and bio-chemistry. “Clear concepts in chemistry, physics and maths are mandatory. Being an industry that has elements of chemistry, mechanical and biochemistry, you need to like these subjects to excel,” he said.

A knowledge panel consisting of Prof. Kesav Vithal Nori, Prof. P. Sriram, H.S. Kalsi, G. Sreedhar, V.A.Srinivasan, K.V. Ramana, Venkatesh – all distinguished alumni from IIT, and Ajay Antony answered questions of students. Neeta C. Rao, deputy manager of State Bank of India provided detailed information on education loans and special schemes available to IIT and NIT students.

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