Wisely select your Engineering Branch !!

You’re fresh out of junior college, and there are so many options available in engineering that it’s enough to make you crazy! But we have put together a ready resource that will take away the confusion and worry and allow you to make an informed decision, and rock your engineering life! Here is a step-by-step approach to select the best engineering branch for you.

There are approximately more than 1.5 lakh seats available in Maharashtra, according to our sources, with more than 29,000 seats in Mumbai alone, and 55,000 in Pune. In Mumbai, engineering streams such as Computer Science, EXTC and Mechanical have more than 15,000 seats available, which means that 50% of the seats are with these streams.

After these branches come IT, Civil and Electronics, with 3,000 seats each. The final few are niche streams such as Electrical, Instrumentation, Chemical, Biomedical, Automobile and Production. So don’t worry, admission “KIDHAR TOH MIL JAAYEGA”

There are many different types of colleges as well, like Govt./Govt. Aided Autonomous Colleges (VJTI, SP, COEP),  University Managed Colleges (like SNDT Mumbai), Un-aided (Private) Autonomous Minority Colleges (like K.J. Somaiya), Un-aided (Private) Non-Autonomous Minority Colleges (like TSEC), and Un-aided (Private) Non-Autonomous Non-Minority Colleges. Enough to boggle the mind. One can choose among these options available.

 Now comes the all-important question of selecting the college and branch of engineering. Questions that may come up in your mind are: what are all these branches and what are the parameters that I should consider for selection? And finally what does an engineer do after completion of his engineering? But don’t break your head over it, for the answers to these questions lie below. Keep reading!

Sr No	Branch	Relation	Industry
1	Civil Engineers	Construction	Designing of highways, bridges, dams, airports, housing complexes, etc.
2	Mechanical Engineers	Design, operate and maintain machines	Railway engineering, aerospace and automobile industry
3	Electrical Engineers	Generation and distribution of electric power.	Organizations dealing with generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of electrical energy
4	Chemical Engineers	Substances undergoing physical and chemical changes.	Substances undergoing physical and chemical changes.
5	Electronic Engineers	Integrated circuits and microprocessor.	Electronic equipment, research and development. Industries ranging from radio to aerospace industry.
6	Electronic  & Telecommunication Engineers	Communication systems.	Satellite, communications, Radar, navigational communication systems.
7	Computer Engineers	Computer Hardware & Software	Design, manufacture, and maintain computer hardware and computer based information and control systems
8	Information Technology Engineers	Computer Application	Integrated programming, system administrations, maintenance, etc.

Here’s some more information on Computer Science and IT, for your benefit.

•          IT is one of the sub-divisions of Computer Science, however there are certain things that are unique to IT like integrated programming, system administrations, maintenance, and so on.

•          The IT branch was established to design, manufacture, and maintain computer hardware and computer based information and control systems to compensate for the increase in demand for Computer Science.

•          Most of the IT branches offered across India were established after the year 2000 to cater this demand.

We have provided a comparison of the IT and Computer Science branches that may be useful.

Computers	Information Technology
It is a balanced approach between theory and application	IT focuses more on application oriented skills.
Computer Engineering offers you an opportunity to learn variety of topics related to computers.	IT offers you an opportunity to discover innovative uses of those fundamental concepts.
Math is key for a good Computers Engineer.	Math is limited to data analysis / processing / statistics, etc

The scenario in India has many facets. Some of them are listed below.

•          CS and IT have a more common course structure and syllabus in Indian universities than those outside India. Students studying either of these branches are offered a lot of common electives as well.

•          Students oftentimes tend to believe that IT is inferior to CS. It may have been so previously, but now you’ll only be limited by how much hard work you put in and your potential, not your branch.

There are many options for those who may want to further continue the torture. Just kidding!

Students who have completed their bachelor degree in Computer Science or in Information Technology can opt for higher specialization in the related study area. The degrees available are as follows.

•          Masters in Technology

•          Masters in Engineering

•          Masters in Science

•          Masters in Business Administrations

IT and Computer science have also been in the news recently. Here are some major stories making headlines.

•          IT job cuts: Up to 600,000 engineers likely to be laid off in next 3 years

•          IT job cuts: After Wipro, Infosys, now IBM lays off thousands in India

•          Infosys will hire both freshers and experienced professionals in America

•          After promising jobs to 10,000 Americans, Infosys to sack hundreds at home

Coming to the very vital part about placements, some major IT mass recruiters are:

•          TCS

•          Infosys

•          Wipro

•          HCL Tech

•          L&T Infotech

•          Oracle Financial services software

•          Tech Mahindra

•          MindTree

•          Mphasis

•          Hexaware Technologies

Some things to know about these companies is that the major strength is five Indian companies-TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCL. Put together, their workforce is nearly 10 lakh employees. Apart from these there are approximately more than one lakh small and big IT companies across India. And with more than 5000 new start-ups coming up every year, the demand for IT and Computer Science engineers will continue to boom.

 To select the best course, you should keep these selection criteria in mind.

•          Placements: The college and branch with good overall placement should be the most important selection criteria. Start with checking out colleges which have a 100% placement record, and work your way from there.

•          Branch: Your branch selection is the next important parameter. Think about which branch interests you the most and has a future demand. Is there any family background or business which needs you to join a specific branch? For example, if your parents hold a business of Chemicals or Electricals, your engineering degree in a related field can support and enhance this business. If your parents work as professionals in Civil or Mechanical industries, they can help you to get a job in that field.

•          College Grade: A college with a good reputation and standing can definitely help you in securing good placements or higher education opportunities.

•          Distance: You are going to spend four years in the college and travel can play a major role as many colleges can be at a distance of more than an hour from your residence. Consider additional impediments like rains, traffic jams and other factors which may take lots of your time in the day, which you can spend doing better things otherwise. Although this is not a major criteria it still needs to be considered.

•          Faculty & Infrastructure: Many colleges have good Infrastructure and faculty, but speaking to the students currently studying in the college can give you a good knowledge about the same. Visit the college, gather the information from past students and then make the appropriate selection.

If you are still confused and cannot seem to arrive at a decision, then simply select one of these trending branches below in a good college, and you will be sorted.

•          Computer Science

•          Mechanical

•          Information Technology

•          EXTC

We hope this post was helpful to you, and let us know in the comments below what you thought! Feel free to ask us questions too! What will you select as your engineering branch and college?

- Written by,
Kremar Mehta
TechTrainer, TalentHome
www.talenthome.in/training