Recently, news of top IIT institutes struggling to find placement offers for their students has made headlines. According to TOI, IITs in Delhi, Mumbai, Madras, Kanpur, Roorkee, Guwahati, etc. have failed to successfully place their students. A couple of prestigious institutes have also turned to ex-students for help regarding placements.
Amidst the current failings of the job market in India, a software engineer working for Microsoft named Nishant Chahar took to LinkedIn to share some advice for fresh engineering graduates.
He highlighted that instead of focusing on just the IITs, we need to also think about the lakhs of engineering students who will be graduating this year. Even they are having difficulty finding jobs with a decent salary.
“Everyone is talking about IIT BOMBAY’s placement statistics. But these are just 2000 students. We should be worried about 10 lakh+ students who will be graduating this year. IIT Bombay students will somehow find them in a job (if they need to) and a lot of companies will actually be ready to roll out offers to them. But what about students from tier-3 colleges? Who constitute the majority of the engineering students,” he wrote.
During a time like this, just developing skills is not enough. Considering the number of aspirational jobs in India is limited, one has to start somewhere, with whatever salary they get. Once they have set foot in the industry, it will be relatively easier for them to climb the ladder.
His advice was simple – don’t run after the top companies. Start anywhere.
“Unfortunately skills can’t solve the problem of unemployment. The number of aspirational jobs in India is limited. Getting skilled will just help you to gain knowledge & become proficient at the individual level. But what about the companies who have tiny places for freshers? My advice would be simple, get the job at whatever the best salary you can. Don’t run blindly for FAANG, Remote or any kinds of jobs.”
After a graduate starts working in the industry, they can always change their job after a year and find something better.
“Economy is tough so you better be ready to adapt. Then after getting into the industry, you’ll get ample opportunities to switch and it gets a little easier with experience. Do your best, learn skills and definitely your efforts will pay off.”
Have a look at his full post here:
Several people online agreed to what he had to say. They highlighted how we must shift our focus from elite institutes and look at the larger picture. Have a look at some of the responses here:
Do you agree with what he has to say here?