TOMORROW'S ENGINEER – EMPLOYABILITY

your journey for the career

M. Raja Reddy

OUTLINE

• Why study engineering?

• Present status of employability for engineering students

• Which direction is good?

• Where do you find your career?

• Different roles and names?

• Core engineering jobs?

• Non engineering jobs?

• Skill Set Required for getting Jobs

• Why focus on practical knowledge?

• What you should do?

• Higher education – options

• Final advise

Why study Engineering?

• Best paid jobs, comfortable life and respect in the society

• Job satisfaction

– Global career – works with different worlds on common flat form

– Important to find a career you enjoy.

• Variety of career opportunities

• Challenging work

– Problems will be open-ended

– No single answer to solve complex problems

– No answer in the back of the book

– No teacher to tell you that you are right or wrong

– You find a solution and persuade others that yours is the best one.

• Respect

– People know that engineering requires hard work and strong

technical skills. As a member of this profession, you will receive a

high amount of respect

Why study Engineering?

• Intellectual development

– Develops your ability to think logically and to solve problems

• Benefit to society

– You can choose projects that benefit society

– Cleaning the environment – safe carbon free

– Developing prosthetic aids for disabled persons

– Finding new sources of energy

• Financial security

– You will be well paid and Engineering graduates receive the highest

starting salary of any discipline

• Prestige

– Engineers greatly help

• sustain our nation's international competitiveness

• maintain our standard of living

• ensure a strong national security

• protect public safety.

Why study Engineering?

• Professional environment

– You will work in a professional environment in which you will be

treated with respect and have some freedom in choosing your work.

• Creative thinking

– We are in a time of rapid technological changes, therefore, the need for engineers to think creatively is greater than ever before.

• Technological and scientific discovery

– Do you know why only few elements behave as semiconductor?

– The diode works differently for different applications, why they were designed the way they are?

– Do you know why nanotechnology is developing rapidly?

– An engineering education can help you understand many things in the world electronics.

Present status of employability for engineering

students• Less than 20% engineers are employable for software jobs, 7.49% are

employable for core engineering jobs, even though more than 90%

aspire for such jobs.

• Lack of adequate domain knowledge key reason for low employability

in core job roles in both software and non-software domains.

• Very few engineers, (<6% )even though equal percent of males and

females, want to work for startups.

Employability in various sectors

Which direction is good?

Where I find my career?

• Aerospace industry

• Automotive industry

• Construction industry

• Defence industry

• Electronics industry

• Fast moving consumer goods industry

• Marine industry

• Oil and gas industry

• Pharmaceuticals industry

• Power generation industry

• Rail industry

• Telecoms

• communication industry,

• Other industries like steel, cement, petroleum and chemical industry,

directing control and testing production process.

Different Roles, Different Names

• Research and Development (R&D): Engineers whose role is to do

research and then plan for new products, materials, process,

parts and components

• Design & Development: Professionals whose responsibility is to

design the system, components, or part of the system

• Production: Engineers who supervise the manufacturing of

electrical and electronic components and machines.

• Analysis and testing: Engineers who analyse and test different

types of machines and their parts to ensure that they function

flawlessly.

• Installation: Professionals who install electrical machines,

instruments and parts at the client location.

• Operation &Maintenance: Engineers whose primary role is to

ensure that machinery is working as per specifications.

Core Engineering jobs - ECE

• Electronics Circuit Design

• Signal processing

• Wireless & optical Communication

• Robotics

• Embedded Systems

• Analog & digital electronics

• Telecommunications

• Power & consumer Electronics

• Control systems

• VLSI

• Defense & Aerospace

• Nanotechnology & manufacturing

• Mobile technology etc

Core engineering jobs - ME

Aero

Engines

Aerospace

& Defence Energy Industrial O&G Transportation Healthcare

Electronic

equipment

Design/ CAD x x x x x x x x

Material Science x x x x x x x x

Engineering Software x x x x x x x x

CAE x x x x x x x x

Manufacturing x x x x x x x x

Prototyping & Testing x x x x x x x x

Field Engineering x x x x x x x x

Product services x x x x x x x x

Consulting x x x x x x x x

Business administration x x x x x x x x

Technical Writing x x x

• Nanotechnology & MEMS – Micro/Nano devices, materials, processes,

mechanics, systems

• Robotics, Rapid Prototyping

• Biotechnology – Computational Bioengineering, Functional Tissue

Engineering

Core engineering jobs - CSE

Programming and Software

Development • Systems analyst

• Systems consultant

• Software engineer

• Systems programmer

• Database analyst

• Artificial Intelligence programmer

• Scientific applications programmer

• Embedded systems application programmer

Information Systems Operation and

Management • Electronic data processing (EDP) auditor

• Database administrator

• Systems administrator

• Computer security specialist

• Management/IT consultants

• Information systems Management

Graphics and Multimedia • Animation/Special effects developer

• Multimedia developer

• Computer game designer/

programmer

• Electronic sound producer

Training and Support • Technical support representative

• Trainer, software applications

• Technical writer

Computer Industry Specialists • Systems integrator

• IT recruitment consultant

• IT sales professional

• Journalist, computer-related

publications

Core engineering jobs - EEE

• Electrical engineering

– Substation designers, installers and maintenance

– Transmission and distribution

– Switchgear and power system engineering

– Power plant design and engineering

• Power electronics

– Converters/inverters/DC-DC etc.

– Control systems for motors, machines and power systems

– Electrical instrumentation

– Intelligent control systems

• Renewable energy sources

– Solar/Wind/Biomass etc.

• Smart metering/smart grid design and engineering

Major Players

•Pratt &

Whitney

•Rolls Royce

•GE

•HAL

•BELL

Helicopters

•Volvo Aero

•Snecma

•Honeywell

•Boeing

•Airbus

• Lockheed

Martin

• Boeing

• Airbus

• Goodrich

• All DRDO

Labs

• ISRO

• Bombardier

• Northrop

Grumman

• General

Dynamics

• GKN

•GE

•Siemens

•Alstom

•MHI

•Rolles Royce

•Toshiba

•Schnieder

Electric

•Suzlon

•Vestas

•Sun Power

•Ocean Power

•Shell

•GE

•Chevron

•Exxon Mobil

•BP

•Conoco

Phillips

•Haliburton

•Schlumberger

Aero

Engines

Aerospace &

DefenceEnergy Industrial

Oil

&Gas

• Atlas Copco

• BEML

• Caterpillar

• Hitachi

• JCB

• Doosan

• Forbes

Marshial

• L&T

• Ingersoll

Rand

• Bosch

• Thermax

Major Players

Electronic

EquipmentConsulting

Engineering

SoftwareHealthcareTransportation

• GE Rail

• All Major

Auto

companies

• GE

• Siemens

• Philips

• Toshiba

• Applied

Materials

• Philips

• ABB

• Samsung

• Novelus

• ACME

• Siemens

• Hyperworks

• PTC

• TRIAD

• ANSYS

• Geometric

• GOODRICH

• TCS

• Infotech

• Rolls Royce

• Mckinsey

• BCG

• PWC

• Black &

Vetach

• KPMG

Potential employers – Power generation and

distribution• Birla Power Solutions Ltd.

• Essar Group

• Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.

• Nuclear power corporation

• Kirloskar Electric Co

• Lanco Industries

• National Thermal Power

Corporation (NTPC)

• Reliance Power

• Tata Power

• Torrent Power

• Adani Power Ltd

• DLF Power Limited

• GMR Infrastructure Ltd

• Gujarat Industries Power

• GVK Power & Infrastructure

• Power Grid Corporation

• Suryachakra Power Corpn.

• Suzlon Energy Ltd.

Top organizations - Government

– DRDO- Defense and Research Development Organization.

– BEL-Bharat Electronics Ltd.

– HAL-Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

– ECIL- Electronic Corporation of India Ltd.

– ISRO-Indian Space & Research Organization.

– ITI – Indian Telephone Industry

– BHEL-Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited.

– Railways

– Ministry Information technology

– BSNL/MTNL

– Many more

Top Companies – private - CSE• Google

• Microsoft

• Yahoo

• Hewlett-Packard

• IBM

• Toshiba Corporation

• Dell Inc

• NEC Corporation

• Canon Inc

• Apple Inc

• ASUSTEK Computer Inc

• Acer Inc

• SAIC

• Sun Microsystem

• TCS

• Infosys

• HCL

• Wipro

• Techmahindra

• Qualcomm

• Broad comm

• I gate

• Accenture

• Mindtree

• Camgemini

• Oracle

• SAP

• L&T

• GE

• ABB

• Siemen

• NXP semiconductors

• LSI logic

• Intel

• Many more

Non-engineering jobs

– Logistics

– Operations management

– Patent law and intellectual property

– Procurement, purchasing and buying

– Supply chain management

– Teaching, academia and lecturing

– Technical consulting

– Technical sales, marketing, business development

– Technical training

Market Watch

• The job market for electrical engineers is perennial. Even the vagaries

of the global economic crisis could not knock out the demand for these

professionals in the Indian job market.

• Engineering industry is expected to absorb maximum number of

engineers

• Technology is expected to change radically and advanced technologies

with aerospace, automotive, micro/nanoelectronics, MEMS, Sensor,

smart grid, renewable power sources are in high growth

Skills Map

Pay Packet

• Salaries differ based on the companies you get placed.

• Big International Companies like Texas Instruments offer

salaries in the range of Rs 60,000 – 120,000 per month.

• Indian companies offer salaries in the range of Rs 30,000

– 60,000 per month.

• If you get placed in US or Europe , salaries are in the

range of $2,500 – $4000 per month.

• Based on your talent and experience, salaries can vary.

Why focus on practical knowledge?

• There is a gap between engineering course content and therequirements of the engineering services industry

• Engineering education system imparts knowledge on varioustechnical/non-technical areas, it often falls short of meeting theexpectations of the real world.

• One reason for this gap is a fundamental lacuna in theengineering education framework. This is the only professionwhere an individual goes from an academic programmedirectly into a job, with no prior on-the-job training.

• “Getting fresh graduates ramped up quickly to productivity isa key concern across the industry, graduates sometimes takesix months to a year to become productive.

• When fresh graduates enter the working environment, theyhave lots of theoretical knowledge which is redundant, rather

than the necessary practical knowledge.”

What should you do?

• Pay attention to basics

• Strong foundation of the basics of engineering must

• Good knowledge of design engineering and tool sets

• Expertise in MATLAB and other software tools

• Languages, one must be familiar with C or C++.

• Other skills - domain knowledge of design, engineering,

testing and verification.

What should you do? Get trained to have an extra edge

• Curriculum may not provide all the learning you need. Make an effort to gain some extra skill, be it technical or interpersonal.

• Work on system-level design using off-the-shelf ICs

• The demand for electronics design engineers having product, domain and software tools expertise is high.

• Actively look out for competitions that organisations/educationalinstitutes conduct. Such initiatives are excellent opportunities todemonstrate creativity, secure mentoring opportunities fromindustry experts and participate in exciting, competitive andrecognized events. Try engaging consistently with theinstitute/university faculty to understand sponsorship andscholarship opportunities offered by companies/ universities.

• Students must possess excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities, english communication skills, and organization andmanagement skills for an all-round perspective.

• Emphasises on ethical behavior as majority of the MNCs empowertheir staff and would like them to showcase good ethics while dealinginternally or externally with vendors or customers.

•

What should you do?• Exploit your internship

• Even if it is not compulsory in your course curriculum to do aninternship, do one anyway. In fact, try enrolling for more than one ifpossible. Taking up a project or internship to build something isessential, as there is plenty of learning for the student to imbibe,whether the project succeeds or not.

• Colleges have included industry visits, seminars and projects for thispurpose. Unfortunately, many students treat these courses lightly. Myadvice would be to take the internship seriously, for the soft skills theyimpart will be invaluable.

• Keep in mind that “interning is about more than just showing up at anoffice and earning a recommendation letter

• Grab every opportunity to chat with everyone from senior members tofresh recruits. You’ll learn a lot about the industry, job and theirexpectations. It may help to join the same company after completingyour course. In fact, interning is just like auditioning you try thecompany to check whether it suits you.

What should you do?

Know the industry trend

• You need to be conversant with global trends and pioneering researchdone worldwide. To acquaint himself with the challenges that will face himin the future, the engineering student should re-examine and realign hisgoals with the current scenario that prevails.

• Do on-the-job research. Students need to have some insights by eitherworking or doing some research on how the industry segment of theirchoice actually operates.

• The electronics industry is very large today. There are multiple sub-disciplines. Even some software disciplines require a sound knowledge ofelectronics along with a strong grip on programming

• Becoming a member of a professional society and taking active part inseminars and workshops will also help in understanding where theelectronics industry is headed.

• Use core journals and newsletters to keep track of trends and latestdevelopments in electronics engineering.

• Keeping abreast of the industry and economy may even help you to find anextremely satisfying career outside the mainstream.

What should you do?• Understand your aptitude• Students should have the ability to assess the situation, identify key issues

that need to be addressed, break down complex problems into simplermanageable problems and resolve the problem to develop workablesolutions.

• Companies are looking for people who can fix problems with minimaldirection. They don’t want to have to tell people to react when fires areburning. So once you’ve understood your aptitude and carefully evaluatedthe job market, you can make your leap.

• It is advised in your second or third or fourth year of engineering, thestudents should begin to think of what industry they wish to join and startdigging into the relevant literature. If you are fortunate enough, you mayget to do an internship in the industry of your choice.

• once you figure out what is of your interest, work towards developing skillsrequired for that vertical.

• Finally, your future is in your hands. So don’t hesitate to spend enough timeexploring all the possible ways before final settlement.

•

•

Scope for Higher Education

After graduation with B.E/B.Tech you can look for

M.E/M.Tech/M.S in any of the following areas

– Mobile Communication

– Telecommunication

– Satellite Communication

– Networking

– Micro Electronics(VLSI)

– Semi Conductors

– Signal Processing

– Control Systems

– Software Engineering

– Embedded Systems

– Automotive Electronics

Final advise

• Many opportunities – plan your focused area

• Work on both mini and major projects

• Get the deep insight of the technology

• Write papers for reviewed journals, conferences

• Volunteer speaking on your specialized area

• Read, Read and Read

• Do not postpone the activity and try to finish on the defined date.

• Work in the team for the project and share the ideas

• Be sincere, hard work and with good attitude

• Look for clarification if you have doubt.

• Get one or two internship projects with industry

Thanks and best wishes