Friday, June 26, 2015

CSE: The Kohinoor among the engineering branches??

From last few years we are seeing that everyone wants to do their B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering only. The other streams are only the compromises they are forced to make. Is it justified?
I asked the same question to Prof. Sanghi and I got a very apt response from him. Below is the verbatim transcript of that

Question:Sir just your own thought regarding the future prospects of CSE. In last two three years we are seeing a mad rush for CSE and it has clearly become the first choice miles ahead of any other stream. Don't you sometimes feel that one anything gets so much hyped its usually at its peak and a slide could be very near. Don't know whether its appropriate to say that its the peak yet.

Prof. Sanghi Response: @Siddharth, there has been a mad rush for more than a decade. And this is primarily because people indulge in wishful thinking. The total number of graduates in CS/IT/MCA, etc. is about 10 lakhs a year while the IT industry is recruiting around 1.5 lakhs. Let us be generous with the estimates of non-IT industry recruiting CS/IT persons and assume another 0.5 lakhs. This still means 80% unemployment. This is perhaps the highest amount of unemployment amongst all engineering discipline. And yet people prefer CS/IT over other engineering disciplines. And I am not talking about IITs and NITs. The graduates of good colleges would anyway be in the top 1.5 to 2.0 lakh graduates of the country. But smaller college. Why. Because the media talks about high packages, high number of jobs created, and never talks about unemployment. It does once in a while mentions unemployability, which means that the training is so poor that they can't get jobs even if there were jobs. So everyone assumes that they will study hard, and they will be in the top 1.5 lakhs, after all 1.5 lakh is a very large number and to assume that you won't be in that number is difficult for an individual. And when everyone in the country is doing that, it is difficult for an individual to say that most parents and students are being stupid. There is safety in following the herd, till it hits you after 4 years that you don't have a job.

The same thing is happening at IITs. Follow the herd. We shall choose disciplines based on last year's closing ranks. After all, not everyone last year could be stupid. 

You are going to have a career over 50 years. It is very unlikely that you will have a single career. You would probably change your career 3 times, and you are likely to make more money in later careers than the first career, that is why you will change. Does it then make sense to worry about current placement data. Does it not make sense to think of what will enable you to change careers, what will enable you to keep doing well in a career which is not in the area of your under-graduate studies. Is there any statistics that point to that people who did CS 10-15-20 years ago are richer than their non-CS counterparts. (Actually, I have examples to the contrary.) But in the era of instant gratification and with a strong sense of entitlement, one can not look beyond last year's closing ranks and placements.

I get a lot of emails telling me how useful this blog has been for them. A lot of sites link to this blog. However, what is the impact. So one year, I got the data from JEE about the program that all the candidates got finally. I looked at the data from the following angle: How many students got the program which was the best s/he could have got based on last year's closing rank and the next two programs in order of closing ranks, or the best option (again in order of closing rank) within the zone of that candidate. (It was little bit more complex.) More than 98% candidates had such a program allotted to them. Just think about it. We would like to believe that these 10,000 are absolutely the best that this country's school system has produced. And almost all of them go with the herd. Even the toppers amongst a billion people do not have the confidence of thinking independently. This blog has no impact what so ever.

So, CSE will remain the best option for many years to come.

38 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:02 PM

    I do totally agree with you Sir, however one important angle is being missed here. About 2 % are those, who knows very well what to choose. But 98 % really do not know which branch they liked or have interest in so eventually they follow the herd. I tried my best to ascertain that my Son gets the branch whichever he likes, but he could not pin point it, I showed him thousands of web pages regarding faculty, course structure, location, placement record, quora pages, a lot of youtube videos regarding field work and not the least Dr. Sanghi's blog (I have all blog pages converted to pdf files for anytime readings). I am upto it for past two years. You can call this as my failure. There are few days left for choice filling and still I am clueless of his choice, so eventually I have to follow the herd, at least I have nothing to loose there and get a branch whichever is best for him, or is there any other way around.
    Regards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree fully with you. This system of choosing up branch at the stage when you actually don't know anything about it is not appropriate.

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  2. Anonymous6:04 PM

    sir, can you please predict whether I will get a rank in top 20K with following scores & data
    JEE MAIN 2015:180
    CBSE 2014:94.6%
    CATEGORY:GENERAL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:47 PM

    Sir please help me,
    I am very confused between nirma institute of tech. And svnit surat (in civil branch)
    Jee main 133
    Guj board percentile 99.27

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SVNIT is better than NIRMA. But comparison will depend on what stream you are getting and what you want

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    2. Sir what are the chances to get svnit civil branch based on my data.

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  4. sir,, which is better iit roorkee ece or iit guwahati mnc

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both are good. For placements prospect MnC can be termed slightly better as in ECE to get quality jobs M.S is surely needed in most cases

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:20 AM

    What is the placement prospects ofExploration Geophysics At IIT KHARAGPUR?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are good. Schlum sort of companies visit regularly

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  6. Anonymous7:18 PM

    Sir, lets say that in case I don't get any seat in any IIT in the first round, is it possible for me to get any seat in 2nd round (as my rank is about 6700 and as I have observed, the last alloted seat in first round was about 6600, and that too in Pharmaceutics at BHU, which I dont want to apply for.) If its possible to apply for the second round then kindly tell me the procedure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will automatically be considered

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  7. Anonymous7:43 AM

    Sir 51k rank in jee mains 10910 in jee advanced and getting lnmiit jaipur cse what to do should i go for lnmiit cse is it worth.... plzzzz guide sir....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can or if given with XII try one more time

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  8. Anonymous12:39 AM

    Sir which is better option between ism dhanbad and new iit's for core branches in terms of faculty,campus and placements??

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:32 PM

    Siddarth Sir, please help, very much confused between choosing cs in guwahati, roorkee or varanasi.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its tough to pick the one. My personal choice will be Guwahati

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  10. Anonymous7:27 PM

    Sir I got air 6668 in jee main .. General category.. Will I get ECE at mnit Jaipur?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully yes but I won't advice ECE

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  11. Anonymous10:44 AM

    (Air 6668). .if ECE at mnit is not a good option.. Plzz give me your advice sir.. What should I do..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I won't take that and let me tell you I am an ECE graduate from MNIT Jaipur

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  12. Anonymous6:43 PM

    Sir, how is cse in newer iits placement wise?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Better look at quality of faculty and facilities there first.

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  13. Anonymous10:45 AM

    Which is better option between ism electrical v/s kanpur MnC? Is MnC tough??

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:32 PM

    Sir, i got mechanical dual@IIT-BHU in first round ...can i get electrical dual there till the 3rd round? The last year closing rank for mech dual was 3049 while fr elec dual it was 2882.........sir please also tell how are these dual degrees placement wise......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These programs are also good. Don't worry about placements

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    2. Anonymous6:00 PM

      Sir, can i get elec dual till the third round.....other details ive given above.....

      Delete
  15. Anonymous1:10 PM

    Sir, should i prefer mining branch in mbm jodhpur or i should go for any private college such as jecrc, skit, poornima etc and take cse or ece which the larger section of crowd is doing at the moment.
    I am ready to learn whatever comes my way as i at this point of tym though aware and have information of what a eng. branch is related with have no great knowledge and depth of a particular eng. branch.
    So, should i go for mining which i have heard that its among the core branches of mbm jodhpur and also considered as best among the country.
    And what are its placements like, average packages.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous9:53 AM

    Sir,I have got 138 marks in jee main & due to reservation for female, I can get mbm. But due to 81.8% in 12 I don't think that I can get any good nit. So,my Ques. is that I should drop for nit/IIT or take mbm . reply soon plzz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you believe that you can surely make into NIT/IITs take a chance but if you have already done preparation for two or more years I doubt that ability.

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  17. is narsee monjee mumbai is good college

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sir I got 195 in jee mains but I take addmisson in cusat so is cusat better than thapar or lnmiit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you have taken the admission already there is no point in discussing. Concentrate on your studies there. All the best

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  19. Anonymous9:18 PM

    I am getting 114 in jee mains. Can I get admission in mbm jodhpur

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most likely but not on the low fee seats only SFS

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