Higher Studies or Job?

With the session coming to the end, final year engineering students need to make crucial decisions related to their careers. One of the most common questions in front of students is whether to go for higher studies or to go for a job. For people not doing their degrees from institutes of repute like IITs, few NITs and few more etc, it is more difficult to decide. Just like many others, I also faced the same dilemma after finishing my UG. Today, I would like to share my views and experiences about it.

If one is looking for a long term career in the industry, it is better to go for a job instead of higher studies. B.Tech. degree is sufficient to get into most of the industries. Also, one more question one thinks before going for higher studies is that how much value addition would take place in terms of package after masters'. Would one get a better paid job after master degree? Well, I believe, chances of getting a higher paid job is not bright. It was not in the past also. Hence, those who are looking for high paid jobs shouldn't opt for higher studies.  One will get salary almost equal to UG people.

Now, the one important question one must answer is that do one have qualities to enter into a multinational company? Quality of education in engineering institutes has degraded drastically in past few years. There are various reasons behind this. The most responsible factor is that the system failed to meet the growing demand of quality faculty. Hence, the quality has fallen sharply. I often keep saying that majority of the institutes specially state private colleges are producing "techno-craps" in place of technocrats. To improve once technical skills, it is worthwhile to spend two more years in higher studies. But again, selection of institute is really the key to achieve better skills. I strongly recommend,  one must opt for a reputed institute for higher studies. There is lot to learn in the premier institutions of the country like IITs, IISc, IISERs, few universities like JNU, DU etc. Apart from technical skills, one can develop other skills also like how to present yourself in a better way. Also, most of the good industries follow the ranking pattern for the campus placement. Better the institute, brighter the chances to get into a good company.  When I left the job from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to join Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for master degree, some of my friends asked me why I wanted to leave a well settled government job? I used to answer them, now I am an engineer from some college. But when I will come out after IISc, I would be an alumni of the best institute of the country, which is good enough for me to decide. Studying in a top institution always gives a feeling of confidence, which will turn into pride over the years. It is worthwhile to leave a few lakhs which one could have earned in the industry in the two years that one would have spend studying for the masters degree in one of the premier institutes.  

Why to single out anyone based on gender?

Today, I watched a video on youtube in which girls were drunk and were using abusive language in their chit-chat; just like some boys normally do after consuming alcohol (Sorry, I can't share video here. It will not be good for those girls in the video). Also, I don't want to focus on the video.   After some lighter conversations with one of my friends about the video (we both know some of the girls in the video), we had some good discussion. I would like to share some part of it with my own views on the issue.

He said; "If girls do such kind of crap after getting boozy is the height of insanity". Well, this is height of insanity for anyone whether; it's a boy or girl. Why is it ok for boys but not for girls? Why to single out girls for this? 

Acc. to him "If we see our culture or the trend from the past;  the girls were innocent" I agree to some extent. But was this the culture only? As I see, males (brother and/or father before marriage; husband after marriage) were dictating terms and deciding the fate of girl in the family. Now, also, they are doing the same but extent is less as compare to the past. This is hypocrisy on our side. If somebody wants to name it culture then, he/she can do. Will it change the reality? 

Then, he said "As in our society, it will be ok to the parents if their son comes home late night with his friends after taking a heavy dose of alcohol and smoking. It is problematic but acceptable after undergoing certain negotiations. But for girls, it will not be really less than a trauma for parents and society. We are not used to see such drastic changes" Again, this is hypocrisy of parents and society as well. 

Here I am not supporting the action by the girls in the video. My only point is why to use different yardsticks for boys and girls? Why to have different standards simply based on the gender? It reminds me of a forum discussion which I had few days back with some of my friends; "Is the education sufficient to empower women?" I would like to share my views on the topic. You can read the entire discussion in the link above. Well, I don't think that education is sufficient to empower women. Education can help up to some extent but will not empower women. People are educating girls. But, are they really doing it with the intention of empowering them? No, they are doing it to get them married. In-spite of being of the leading developing countries in the world, we are  struggling to maintain balanced sex-ratio.  In contrast to this, China and Korea are succeeding in bringing back the equality. If not worst, at least really bad sex ratio is in the leading states of the country , Haryana, Punjab, Delhi where illiteracy is lower than the other parts of the country.  Dowry is still there in the system. Even, educated and working girls are not getting the respect which they deserve,  in the families (neither before marriage nor after marriage).  Even, before marriage, they don't have much say in critical decisions related to their career and/or marriage. Males of the family (father/brother before marriage and husband after marriage) are assuming their right to decide the future of girls in the family (I mentioned few personal experiences in the forum discussion). I agree with Bhupender Singh's point in the discussion;  "Education may help girls in getting equality, but to what extent? Girls have to decide themselves about that."

Till the point, people would not change their mentality, things will not change significantly. If we as a society would not come out of mentality  that "लडकिया तो पराया धन है "; we should forget about equality based on gender. Also, this equality is essential not only for development for girls but also for us as a society. If we are dreaming to become developed without removing gender discrimination, then, I am so sorry, it will remain a dream forever. 

I am not saying anything against family culture in India. Parents make enormous sacrifice for their children. Concept of joint families is still here in India. This is something we must feel proud. Now, the bigger question is: are we ready to accept the negative side of this?  No improvement or little improvement would take place until we don't accept dark side of anything. It is time for us to do introspection. Sooner we do it, better for us. 

  

Yes, there is solution.

The Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Haryana; Mrs. Neelam Pradeep Kansi had initiated a mass awareness program (March 8, The Tribune, Chandigarh. You may need to scroll down for the news)  last year in September against female foeticide involving all sections of the society to "save girl child". The program involves mass pledge by people from all sections on the 6th of every month and held at  various places in Karnal district and more than 5 lakh people took the oath in the program. Guess, what!!! It gave results within six months. Sex-ratio has risen from 813 last year to 852 this year. Mrs. Kansi said that she would continue it till a balanced sex-ratio will not be achieved.

I congratulate her for such an initiative. It is a lesson as well  as  inspiration for all of us that, yes, there is solution. We just need to come forward. I don't want to write long in the post as you all are aware about the problem and its consequences. Also, I may sound pessimistic if try to write more about the issue and news will lost its beauty. Read the news and ask yourself, Is it that you can't do anything? Or, Is it that you don't want to do anything? 

Why would one serve the country?

Before writing this blog, I thought a lot. I was in confusion whether to write or not. Till now, I am not sure whether I am doing right or wrong. On one side, I should write as it can reach to some more people and make them aware about the situation. And, at-least, this is the minimum I can do. On other hand, I am behaving like the media persons who always seek attention on the misery of others. I leave it to your wisdom to judge it. With mixed feelings, I putted words and would like to share with you.

Last week, Narender Kumar, an IPS officer of 2009 batch, was brutally killed when a tractor loaded with stones run over him in Marona, M.P. Since then, Lots of noise have been made in the media. This was really an unfortunate and painful incident. Narender was fighting with illegal mining mafia of the region single-handedly. His own department was not with him. The same kind of incident had happened with him earlier also. But no action was taken to tighten the screws over mafia-political nexus. Even after incident, M.P. police officials denied the hand of any mafia in the case. What the hell are they talking about? Illegal mining is an open truth not only in M.P. but in the entire country. The series of (in)actions after his death is more painful. I watched an interview  of Madhurani Tewatia, wife of Late Narender Kumar, who herself is an IPS officer. First of all, I must salute the brave lady for her courage and the bold face she is putting in these tragic times. Some of the really painful and shocking facts told by her are: 

1. There has been no official communication to the Narender’s family from government side till today. Even, the condolences has not been conveyed 

2. A copy of FIR has not been given to the family even on the request of Narender’s father. 

3. A copy of postmortem report is also not given to the family. 

4. Narender’s pistol, purse and mobile phone are missing. 

Is this the way to treat martyrs of the country? Narender was an honest and brave officer who was doing what he supposed to do. Is this the price of honesty? What is the message entire country getting? That Honesty can kill you. Isn’t it shocking the way people in power are trying to cover-up the case? Why is CBI inquiry not ordered till now? Why is so much delay in the process? Any sensible person can easily guess, what’s going on. Every attempt has been made to save influential people involved in the case. This is injustice and disrespect to Narender’s martyrdom. Madhurani rightly said in her interview: if this is going to be fate, then, why one would want to serve the country? Red tape, corruption is already well known in our system. And, now the death of honest police officers. This is not a simple case of murder but, is a classic example mafia-political nexus.    

Like millions in the country, my younger brother is also a civil services aspirant and is planning to start preparation in coming months. Few days back, I asked from him: “Why do you want to join IAS? You are Masters’ in CS from a reputed IIT. You can easily get a reasonably good job. What’s your motivation for civil services?” He replied, “I can’t imagine myself sitting in an A.C. room and writing some boring codes (That’s his perception only not mine). I want to do some meaning full job where I can help people and contribute to the country” I am sure; many others also have the same feelings. Narender’s case is disheartening for them. If I had been in his place, I would have given second thought to my plans. But, I know, he will not do this. Perhaps, this is the reason why I am not in his place and also, not a big fan of IAS (Though, I will be really happy if my brother would succeed in his aim). The thugs sitting in power never allow honest officers to do their job. If somebody resists much, then, he/she could pay the cost with his/her death like Narender. 

Team Anna called for a three days protest in Bhopal from March 13 to March 15 to build pressure on the system for justice in the case and demanding for the immediate action. I sincerely hope for the success of their protest. Hope, Culprits will be punished without any further delay.

The Prank that paved the foundation of Apple

Few days back, on the way to Miami, one of the top places to visit in my long wish list :) :), for a trip, I was reading biography of American business magnet, Late Steve Jobs. It was a six hour journey, so, to kill some time, I read. Like many others, I am also a big fan of Steve Jobs. He was fascinated by electronics items since his childhood. He used to do many pranks using electronic items; like in school interchanged the locks of friends's bicycles, made sign boards and hung up in school announcing "bring your pets to the school on pet day" while there was no such day in the school's calendar; putting sound recorders in entire house and listening everybody's voice at the his room like a control room; putting explosive in the teacher's chair, designing TV noise generator and making people believe if they stand on one leg or in some other position while touching the TV antenna, only then  picture would show-up on the TV screen, making "Tick-Tick" bomb, even, school Principal was terrified from "Tick-Tick" bomb etc. List of his pranks is pretty long. All are really good LOL moments and exciting as well. Here, I wish to share one of his pranks which, according to Steve, paved the foundation of Apple i.e. "The Blue Box". After that, rest is history.

Steve Jobs met Steve Gary Wozniak, nick-named "Woz", a computer engineer from UC, Berkeley, USA. Soon, both became very good friends because of their common interests in electronics. Steve Jobs said about him "he was the only person I met, who knew more electronics than me". One morning, Woz's mother left an article titled "Secrets of the Little Blue Box" in the kitchen for him. At the lunch time, he read it and got excited. Actually, Blue Box was an unauthorized device developed by hackers that could generate same frequency tones used by telephone operators. And, one can make free long distance calls. Woz gave a call to his best friend, Steve. As expected, Steve was also equally excited with the article. As it had the potential to cause big losses to AT & T, the largest telecom service provider in US, it had asked to all libraries to remove the journal article from their shelves. On the same day, Jobs and Woz went to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) library. It was Sunday and the library was closed. They entered from the some secret door and got the article. They decided to replicate the machine and bought the parts to make an analog Blue Box. After several attempts, they succeeded but the analog version was not stable. Hence, Woz decided to make a digital version. Finally, they succeeded with the help of a music student. To try it, they attempted first call to Woz's uncle from Jobs's house in California. Woz said in the excitement "Hi, we are calling you for free! We are calling you for free!". Jobs jumped in between "We are calling from California! From California! With a Blue Box!" The man replied in anger "I am also in California". It was a wrong number. Nevertheless, they got the success and their Blue Box was woking. They continued to make fun and pranks with Blue Box. The most daring prank was to call the Vatican. Woz pretended to be Henry Kissinger and wanted to talk to the pope. He said "Ve are at de summit meeting in Moscow and Ve need to talk to de pope". It was 5:30 a.m. and the pope was sleeping. When they called back, they got the Bishop and he realized that it was a prank call. Woz got nerves and hung up the phone. Jobs came-up with idea of commercializing the Blue Box. They made the device at a cost of $ 40, and Jobs decided to sell it a price of $ 150. 

The fun and profit business came to an end when one day Jobs tried to sell to some guy at pizza parlor. After seeing demonstration at public booth, that man asked them to walk over to the car to collect the money. When they reached the car, he looted the Blue Box from Jobs and Woz at the gun point. The guy also gave a phone number to Jobs and said he would try to pay if it worked. Later Jobs called him and found that the guy was not able to figure out how to use the Blue Box. Though Jobs persuaded the guy to meet him and Woz but they decided not to meet the dangerous guy. According to Steve "If it had not been the Blue Boxes, there would not have been an apple". They learned how to work together and gained the confidence that they can handle technical problems and can put things to production level. After this, Apple is history.

Ref: Isaacson W., Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography 

Final year B.Tech. projects

Recently, the council of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT –M) has decided to make final year B.Tech. projects optional for the engineering students. In place of projects, now, student will have a choice of taking some optional courses after consulting with faculty members. The argument given is that many times students are not motivated enough to do projects. And, it’s really tough to get something significant without interest. The argument seems to be reasonable as nobody can force motivation. Prof. Idichandy, former deputy director, IIT-M, suggests that state engineering colleges should follow the footsteps of IIT-M and make the projects optional as most of the times, students get the ready-made projects form Ritchie Street, Chennai. Prof.C. Thangaraj, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University of Technology, Chennai admitted the fact but also pointed out that the idea is good for IITs but the students in state engineering colleges need to practice what they learn in theory. So, projects are necessary. 


First, the idea seems to be interesting. Let’s leave the IITs out of discussion. They have enough resources to implement the idea. Now, what about other engineering colleges especially state engineering colleges? Every city has its “Ritchie Street” and most of the times; students get projects from there. In B.Tech., I didn't get projects from any "Ritchie Street" but want to share my experience. I had two projects in last two semesters of UG, minor and major project, though; I don’t know why different names were given to the two, perhaps, marks were the reason. In 7th sem., Prof. S. D. Bhattacharya, retired prof. from IIT-Roorkee was my guide; hence, I learned a lot. While in major project, I didn't learn even half of the amount I learned in minor project. Though, topic of major project was more fascinating than the minor. Reason was simple; I didn’t get the expert like Prof. Bhattacharya for guidance. This is no longer a secret that until one is not motivated as well as gets guidelines from a good person for guidance (may be a faculty or industrial person), it's tough to learn something substantial. Most of times, students are guided by faculty members and faculty quality is very well known. Also, I don’t think, situation will change much if students would guided by industry persons. Some engineering colleges have the system of one full semester training for students at industries. Apart from few, majority of students don’t learn much. Reason is again the same; quality of persons who are guiding the students is not at par. Sometimes, people claim that they are too busy and don’t have time for UG people, which, at-least, I am not ready to buy. Even an hour every 2-3 days is sufficient to help students. They are making arguments to hide their incompetence. 

It is clear that projects and industrial training are not serving the purpose for which these were introduced. So, what’s the way forward? Should the final year projects/training (here I am focusing on 6 months training not on some weeks training) be scraped? Should the idea proposed by IIT-M be implemented? As I said earlier, idea is exciting and good, hence, can be tried provided  the colleges have resources like IITs. Let's face the reality. In present scenario, people are not getting sufficient exposure to practical training in the labs at colleges (no need to mention the condition of laboratories especially in state colleges), so, it’s not a good idea to make final year project optional. Along with this, I believe colleges don't have enough quality faculty to run useful elective subjects. Then, what’s the solution. Here, I would like to discuss which I believe can help. 

Introduce the projects/training where students are guided by both industrial persons and faculty members. For this, industries and academic institutions have to come together and identify the problems which interest the both. While identifying the problems, a larger goal must be defined which can be targeted over a longer period like 2-3 years. After defining the goal, things can be break up into smaller aims. When an action plan (smaller and bigger aims of the project) is ready, students must be "employed" on the projects. This way, I feel, everybody will be benefitted. Now, we need to take care of other important aspects also. There are double standards in India that if anybody wants to do things in education sector, he/she should not demand money. He/she should do for the sake of the society only not for himself/herself. This is mostly expected from academia people. This is totally unreasonable  and non-sensible especially from the one having quality. Today, during the lecture, professor said in the class that, now, he wants to do something revolutionary (device manufacturing or some technological change) in his research field so that he can spend rest of his life lying on a beach. I don’t see anything wrong in his statement. We need to accept that money is the driving force to make people work. People must be paid for their efforts including students. End of the day, students are going to make things happen. Also, one very important thing is that we must welcome the ideas from students because they are the fresh and untrained minds. They can come-up with out of box ideas. Let’s accept that in the growing age of technology, present generation (or so called “facebook” generation :D :D ) is much smarter than the previous generation. Students shouldn’t be forced to walk on a fixed path. The main goal must be explained to them. Then, allow the students to come with their own ideas. Equally important is that their ideas must be discussed on the table. After the discussion, execute the one which seems to best in the project’s interest. This is just a broad idea. Further details can be figured out with discussions. This way, industry academia interaction will get encouragement which is need of the hour. After getting success in this, further steps can be taken to enhance the collaboration of industries with academia like introducing some shared elective courses etc. 

Changes in IIT-JEE and AIEEE

Few days back, there was news in the media that there is going to be a single entrance examination for the admissions in all engineering institutes across the country including IITs, NITs, Central and State institutes. IIT-JEE and AIEEE will be merged together in 2013. Along with this, there are some other interesting proposals on the table. I would like to discuss some of them: 

• Weightage to the Marks of +2 standards: The entrance exam will not be given 100 % weightage. Marks obtained in entrance exam and in the +2 standard, together are going to decide the final merit list for admissions. The relative weightage of both can vary from institute to institute (IITs, State Colleges, and NITs). Proposed weightage for IITs is 40 %. This step is taken to reduce the effect of coaching institutes. Now, the big question is how to normalize marks of all the boards across the country. “Sources” in the media are telling that some formula has been created for normalizing 12th class marks across all boards. If some formula is there, then, why not make it public? Why is there so much secrecy about it? Let’s make it public so that experts and students can discuss it, hence, can comment on its merits and demerits. Why is MHRD in so much hurry? Has the matter been discussed with all the boards who are supposed to adopt this formula? Let’s 1st bring that “secret” formula on the table, see its applicability for a year. Then, analyze the results next year. Cheating in some of the boards exams is not a secret anymore. There may be a need to scrap some open and/or state boards for a fair deal for the students. The goal is that the student should take the school education seriously and not blindly prepare for the entrance exam. I am not sure; this is the right approach. Without improving things at grass root level, how government is expecting students to improve. 
• SAT type Test: The model opted for common entrance exam is based on the SAT exam, used for admission in colleges at United States of America. Hence, it is likely to be held online in coming years, may be from 2014. And, a professional organization like ETS is going to conduct this. It seems to be a good step. But before implementing it, we need to ensure that students get sufficient exposure to computer education and online system at school. Do we have enough infrastructures for this? I believe, no. In 2009 (I am not sure about year), an 18-year old boy from Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh managed to secure 453 rank in IIT-JEE with not enough to eat, and no money even to burn the midnight oil, in a village with hardly nine hours daily power supply. In present system, we used to hear some of these inspiring stories ever year. Can we provide computer education to these deprived but extremely talented students with the existing infrastructure in most government schools (where they are studying)? Aren’t we making things impossible for under-privileged class of the society? Why not wait for some years and improve education at school level? In some years, we will come to know the impact of Right to Education law also. 
• One exam; less stress: MHRD is very keen to reduce stress on students due to multiple exams, hence, merger of AIEEE and IIT-JEE is proposed. Will this really help? I have doubts about it. If MHRD really wants to reduce stress, then, GRE style model should be adopted, where a student can take exam multiple times until he/she is not satisfied with performance. Proposal is silent on this point. There is no clarity about this issue. Nobody wants to explain how one exam means less stress. 
• Is it right to merge so many institutes in one exam: I don’t see much issue with this. CAT has been working quite well over the years. So, it’s well known that this can be done easily. 

All in all, on the paper, proposal looks exciting. Decreasing quality of students at engineering college is surely an issue. It must be tackled. But MHRD is proceeding in a “typical” government style. Aren’t we creating a cart without having the horse? This can further worsen the situation. Why is there so much hurry? Quality can’t be improved over night. It's unreasonable to expect that 2013 batch students would be of better quality simply because they would be forced to adopt something new. Let’s be reasonable with students and move step-by-step.