I woke up at 5:30 am in the morning, a day after my last semester exam got over. There was a sense of calm as I had completed my graduation. I was feeling very light and restful but still, I could feel a gloomy uncertainty slowly beginning to take hold.
It was the calm before the storm. I spent the next few moments tossing and turning in the bed, possibly in anxiety.
There was no escape from the big question – what happens after B.Tech?
This was a question that perhaps most engineering graduates ask themselves – especially those who don’t get on-campus placements. But this question should have been thought about before opting for B.Tech. We couldn’t do that due to the mad rush to become an engineer and get a safe job.
In a society where getting a job after a professional degree decides the measure of the success of an individual, being unemployed after B.Tech is a bane.
It’s not that if you get a job, life will be easy and enjoyable. I am sure the majority of the engineers who do get placed will be frustrated in the jobs they are doing simply because it’s not something that they wanted to do or had a liking for in the first place. It was something they chose because socially, they were oriented that way.
In retrospect, looking back on my four years of engineering, I realise I was never really a potential IT engineer. I liked doing things theoretically on paper than practically in labs. But engineering is all about practicality.
Maybe I was never meant to be an engineer, though I was surely very passionate about science in high school. But then again, many before me had opted for engineering possibly pressurised or influenced by their parents, teachers, friends, peers and society in general.
They said engineering has a great scope. Surely it does. But only if you have a certain aptitude and interest in it. They said you can always switch from a science stream to a commerce or arts stream whenever you want.
I don’t understand that if you want to pursue commerce or arts in the first place, then why should you opt for science/engineering?
Having seen all the turmoil and stress an average engineering student goes through, it is safe to say that following a career in which you have an interest is the best bet in the long run.
I would suggest all future aspiring engineering graduates to assess themselves carefully before moving into this field. In my opinion, only a few people have a natural aptitude for engineering.