I have KTs, will I get a job?

Yes, but you need to put in extra efforts to nullify the apparent negative effect a KT has on your profile.

We have had numerous interactions with industry managers on this topic. There is an understandable reason behind not allowing KTs. The idea is “if a student is hard working, persistent and disciplined, he should be able to clear all exams”.  However, companies realise that exam results correlate to only one skill they are looking for, i.e. result orientation. For lack of this skill, you can make up in other areas.

Do relevant projects: Pick up areas of your interest and make projects through which you can display your skills. With maker movement gathering steam, there is no dearth of resources or expertise.

Participate in competitions: If you are a coder, participate in Codechef, Topcoder or Google code jam. Participate in state or national-level competitions organised by IEEE or SAE (automotive) or ISHRAE (mechanical). Companies choose their top talent from such competitions.

Get industry exposure: Do internships. Don’t mind the size of the organisation; be flexible with working hours, travel etc. Working with people from the industry is much better than doing nothing during the vacations.

All of this is possible without any conflict with your academics. The next big hurdle is to convince companies to allow you to participate in campus interviews. There are ways you can make this happen.

Make a CV that stands out, in presentation and content. Share it with your placement head and ask them to push for your case. If you have done good work, no placement co-ordinator will refuse to make that extra effort. One more student placed is a better result for them.

If you know this idea does not work, start researching for jobs and apply before the placement process starts. Some companies may not be interested, but some will definitely give you a chance to interview if you have relevant skills. Research, research and research! There are numerous tools available to find jobs and approach companies.

Tap into your alumni network and find out companies that are willing to give a chance for an interview. Ask for help, but be worthy of it!

Final year project – diversify and gain new skills

Part 2 of an ongoing series about final year projects..

Have you already selected a project ? If yes, what are you waiting for? Start NOW. 

If you are still figuring out what project to pick, I have one more IDEA.

1. Pick up a problem from an industry you have no expertise in and

2. Solve the problem using your expertise

Imagine the amount of learning . . . HUMONGOUS

Imagine a mechanical engineer making a project for the medical industry.

A student we know of set out to build an upgraded trocar compared to the traditional ones used at that time. He was inspired by an incident narrated by a doctor. The doctor needed a modified trocar for laproscopic surgeries to make them less painful. The student started working on this as a hobby project but later made it into his final year project. After numerous 3D printed prototypes and trials at the hospital, his project was awarded the best project of the year. He went on to file for a patent and sell it to a medical instruments manufacturing company in Germany!

There are numerous such examples and you may find seniors who have done projects completely out of their expertise. The biggest incentive of doing such projects is the interactions and learning while working with people from diverse fields.

Let us know in the comments section if you would like us to cover a specific topic related to final year projects.

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Graduate Hiring - Why good marks are not the only thing that matters?

Almost all organizations recruiting engineering graduates require minimum aggregate of 60% or more throughout the student’s academic years. Are marks a holistic criterion to judge a student’s caliber? I seriously doubt.

• I am not discounting the capabilities of a high scorer. Marks do reflect one important quality that every organization values – being result oriented.  But, organizations also need employees to possess analytical and critical thinking skills, communication and teamwork skills, and understanding of engineering and business practice.

• Organizations do not expect their employees’ to rote-learn their manuals and give a discourse. They need them to get down, get their hands dirty, think creatively and solve problems for their customers. That is where the MONEY is! Time and again, I have worked with students who have had backlogs or repeated a year but are brilliant when you give them a problem and a basket of tools.  How can organizations afford to miss such gems?

• Organizations have different profiles which demand different skill sets.  A sales engineer requires strong people skills while an R&D engineer must have critical problem solving skills. So, why should we evaluate them using a standard yardstick?

Go beyond marks. Conduct a project interview. Huddle 50 students in a class, make groups of three, give them a real world engineering problem and ask them to solve. The real test would be how the candidates rise up to the challenge and brainstorm multiple solutions, build models and communicate solutions persuasively.

Wouldn’t it be effective if we assess them on what they do instead of how well they rote! More on experiential evaluation in the next post . . .

Final year project - choose wisely...

Part 1 of an ongoing series about final year projects..

In addition to all the conventional wisdom that makes you cautious and calculative, I would like to propose an eccentric take on selecting projects for your final year!

Imagine that you have your dream job. Picture yourself working on the most exciting project. Let’s assume you are an electronics engineer and you would like to work for BMW. 

BMW makes cars; cars have electronics buzzing around in them. Find out what is the simplest possible thing that you can make and is used in a car. Explore any new cutting edge technology that BMW is working on. Read, research and plan a project around it. Can you make a smaller and cheaper mock-up of complex tech that goes into BMW cars?

Get your hands dirty, pursue people who own a BMW or visit a dealership and see the car up close and personal, get inspired and never stop chasing that dream! Follow this process and you won’t run out of passion in those testing times. Persevere and make an awesome project, savour the experience of learning. Imagine how your CV will stand out from others when you apply for jobs! This project could be your ticket to a dream job!

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Marks or Projects..What do I focus on?

Today, I am not going to give you pointers or advice on this topic. Instead, I will narrate two stories and you are free to choose the one you like!

All characters appearing in this work are real. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is absolutely intentional.

Neha was good in academics. She excelled in engineering exams with an average of +75% in all her semesters. She was one of the first to get placed when a battery of IT firms lined up at her campus. Three month down, she knew she did not enjoy the job. She was clueless on how to meaningfully contribute. Day after day, she wrote codes monotonously.  But one fateful morning, she decided to stop compromising. She sat down and identified the gaps  which held her from being good at her job. She picked up couple of hobby projects relevant to her work, read up on internet and enrolled for courses. In six months time, she had done 3 hobby projects and gained deeper understanding of the programming thought process!

At work, she probed her clients on user experience when her colleagues didn't go beyond required specifications. She got to the point where she understood what problem was she addressing and for whom was she solving it. With a holistic understanding, she suggested a number of design changes to enhance user experience. The client got mighty impressed and recommended her to be part of the design team. More success followed and the trend continues till today!

Our second protagonist, Rohit was an excellent engineering student too. He never bothered to top the class, but, always managed to be in top 30 percentile. Automotives and electronics were his favorite subjects. He would get to the depth of the subjects he loved. Reference books, videos, projects…he would leave no stone unturned to satisfy his appetite for learning. But, for the subjects he didn't like, he just scraped through! By the end of four years, he had a healthy number of projects and above average academics. IT companies came in, and he got placed on the very first day. But, life had other plans.

Two months before campus placements, his friend had casually asked for his CV and forwarded to his neighbour who worked for a reputed core engineering company. As  luck would have it, this company called him for an interview on the very next day of his campus placement. A written test, three rounds of technical interview and he bagged the job! The senior manager who took his final interview categorically said that they were impressed by his projects and subject knowledge. After, three years of outstanding experience, Rohit moved on to pursue his post graduation in USA and landed up with a lucrative job in his favorite automotive company. And, he hasn't looked back since then!

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5 reasons why you should choose to be a Traveling Engineer

Post his engineering in Electronics; Deepak Gupta joined the Engineering and Commissioning Department at Siemens, India. His work required him to be at the client location 9 out of 12 months. He loved every moment of the 3 years at Siemens. Let us find out why!  We asked Deepak – Can you give us 5 reasons why you should pick a job that combines your passion for engineering and travel.

1. Variety

The primary appeal of commissioning for me was the variety of work  and the degree to which it engaged my creativity. One day I would be tuning the machine that packs your Lays chips, the very next day, I would be analyzing a cotton-spinning machine. If you love uncertainty, look no further!

2. Early responsibility 

I was surprised by how much responsibility I was encouraged to take on as early as possible. In my first year in Siemens, I was entrusted to work on relatively complex and innovative machine orders from Turkey. Travelling to client locations, working with international clients very soon into your career is a great learning experience.

3. Top-notch workmates

The people that I worked with were the most interesting and diverse individuals I have ever met. From the hardworking engineers in Coimbatore to the creative ones in Nainital, from the frugal engineer-cum- entrepreneurs of Nadiad (a tiny town in Gujarat) to experts in Turkey, I have learnt the most from my peers.

4. An impressive skills set

Through these experiences, I acquired the ability to think on my feet, as well as follow standard processes. Such profiles could open up interesting options in other career areas further down the line.

Above all, on completion of a successful project, there is immense satisfaction when I see that it has made a real difference and benefited a client.

5. Lastly, travelling is ESSENTIAL

Travelling to new places has shown me life in its truest, barest form. And, it has educated me like no book or degree. I strongly recommend travel at the start of your career because there will never be a better time. You are young. You are eager. And life’s diktat hasn’t been able to bog you down.

How do I build my FIRST project?

Kudos! You are on RIGHT track! You cannot become a good engineer without building projects. Before you make your first project, visit to the Lamington Road is a must! Pull out few hundred from your pocket money and head towards Sandhurst (central /harbor line) or Grant Road station (western line).

But, what do I buy?

Engineering students, 10 years ago, started out by building circuits for blinking LEDs, used the 8051, 8085 processors, fiddled with A to D converters In-system programmers and compatible power supplies. With the arrival of open source developer boards, things have got simpler.  I suggest – Buy a developer board.

Which one to buy?

There are numerous boards available in the market varying from Raspberry Pi, Arduino, BeagleBone, Netduino and the likes. Considering cost, complexity and ease of use, Arduino Uno is a good start. The original board (made in Italy) will cost you ~1400 bucks while the exact same Indianized version called Freeduino will cost you ~800 bucks. I love OPEN source :D

 

What project do I start with?

Click this post for resources on DIY projects OR check Arduino Projects. Start from lesson One.

 

So, here is your ‘shopping list’ for your FIRST project:

1. Breadboard (~ 80 Rs.)
2. Multimeter (~ 220 Rs. Get a basic one that measures voltage, current, resistance, gain, continuity.) 
3. Wire stripper (~ 80 Rs.)
4. Wire ( Single strand for breadboard ~ 4 Rs. per metre)
5. Developer Board (Arduino Uno/ Freeduino ) 
6. Components – Resistors, Capacitors, Transistors, LEDs etc. as per project requirement (~ 1 to 5 Rs.per piece)

I have intentionally not included soldering iron! It is essential but not for a prototype.

ED tip:

• Although Visha, Gala electronics, Vega Kits selling robotic kits are popular, try avoiding KITS! Explore the bylanes and talk to the shopkeepers…they are often full of insights!
• There is a Chinese version of Arduino Uno, which looks exactly like the original one for first time users. How to identify an original Arduino from a fake

Build your first project, click a picture and post on Education Debunked’s  facebook Page. It is time we refuse to become mediocre engineers, it is time to ignite the spark of engineering revolution!