IITs Force You into Mediocrity!

Being an IITian is one of the most overhyped qualifications in India.

Kids dream of getting into IITs. Parents are proud of their sons and daughters who make it to the IITs and IITians are often seen as ideal son-in-laws by many. And this recognition comes, not from IITians being world-class innovators, but from them being ideal candidates for various ‘plush’ jobs in different industries.

Isn’t that sad? With a few exceptions every year, 80% of IITians, who cracked one of the most competitive entrance exams to get the seat in the coveted college, are gobbled up by run-of-the-mill jobs.

The dreams of growing up to be someone like CV Raman or Narayana Krishnamurthy take a backseat as students step into the corporate race. Working on the tips by a successful senior or two, these IIT students start adding ‘star achievements’ to their CV by participating in an Inter IIT competition even for things they don’t like…just to prove that they are dynamic and all-rounder. Another ‘jewel’ in the CV of an IITian is being the Core Team Head (CTH) or even a Core Team Member (CTM) of IIT fests.

Interestingly, the three-day long IIT fest keeps an IITian away from classes for more than a month! As CTM slogs for 6 hours a day for months and hardly sleeps in the month of fest to make it successful, one wonders what they are actually aiming for!

There is an answer to it and it is not pleasant enough. Most of these fest CTHs or CTMs end up being a member of the Placement Committee (known as Placecomms). Placecomms are infamous for manipulating CVs, interview shortlists and GD procedures of IIT campus placements to net good jobs for themselves and their friends. As they choose to shut their eyes to their own potential, they write out doom tickets for careers of many other deserving candidates by playing the unfair game in the placement process.

Besides, the attractive packages offered by finance and software firms also see many IITians force themselves into Coding and Finance jobs, irrespective of their interest areas or departments they belong to. This again dents the prospects of individuals who would do much better – if they stick to their original love of Science & Technology.

What do you think about Engineers who enter into different career streams unrelated to their qualifications?
This post was contributed by Monika Rai,