Core sector is passé. Non-core sectors like e-commerce, consultancy, data analytics and information technology — where applied use of engineering is in vogue — are the new craze among budding engineers at IIT-Patna.
Sample this: Around eight students of computer science and electrical trades at IIT-Patna opted for e-commerce company Amazon, which offered them a Rs 25-lakh annual package. Seven students from other branches joined Snapdeal, an e-commerce company, at an annual package of over Rs 15 lakh and four students joined Flipkart, also into e-commerce, at an annual package of over Rs 12 lakh.
“Students find the applied use of their knowledge more challenging. A lucrative pay package is the icing on the cake,” IIT-Patna professor K.C. Ray said on the choice the aforesaid students made.
Sources said 50 out of IIT-Patna’s 115 students have got placement and over 25 of them have opted for jobs that require applied use of knowledge.
Aman Kumar, who is in the final year of mechanical engineering at IIT-Patna, said: “Last year, consultancy firm Cisco USA hired IIT Patna graduate Himal Kumar for Rs 90 lakh annually and Apic System hired Ankit Jain for Rs 62 lakh annually. The trend is gaining currency this season because of healthy pay packages in non-core sectors.”
Even at NIT-Patna, another major engineering cradle in the city, of the 230 students who have got placement, over 100 have opted for non-core sector jobs. “Around 70 students had opted for non-core sector jobs when placement came to a close last year. This year, the figure is in three digits even though another 130 students are still to get placement. Going by the trend, the number of students joining non-core sector from this college is likely to cross 125,” NIT placement in-charge Asim Kumar Burman told The Telegraph.
NIT-Patna students offered the same logic as IIT graduates vis-à-vis the craze for non-core sectors. “Pay package matters a lot. While a core sector company offers a Rs 4-lakh package, non-core sector companies are offering a minimum of Rs. 5.5 lakh,” an NIT-Patna student said.
Teachers, however, are not happy. “Institutions spend so much money and time preparing these engineers. It is really sad that very few of them are opting for the core sector where their knowledge is applied and they also add quality to the research and development projects. Non-core sectors use skills without giving them a chance to do something original,” said an NIT teacher.
While the core sector would have opened up a world of research and development for the graduates in the non-core sector tech graduates try and provide software solutions or analyse Sensex’s rise and fall among others.
