Life after B. Tech.

In this post I would like to search the answer to the question that stresses most of the third year students pursuing B. Tech. or equivalent degree.

Before proceeding, I would like to thank my students whom I had taught physics for a brief period of 4 months in Agra, India. This was after my graduation from IIT Kanpur and prior to joining Stanford University. I was seriously short on money at that time. I consider those 4 months to be one of the best times of my life. Now its been almost 3 years and most of those students have entered third year. And it is from their emails that I find the motivation to write this post. Of course, even if you were not my student, this post might help you in general.

B. Tech: Bachelor of technology. Over three hundred thousand students take the IIT JEE test every year. Plus there are uncountable number of other government private universities which churn out bachelors of technology at a much higher rate than the job market could actually absorb. The very first (slightly irrelevant) question is that why do so many students choose engineering?

The answer is not hard. India is a poor country. Jobs and means of livelihood are hard to come by. After the end of License Raj in 1990's, a lot of private companies opened up their back offices in India. That was also the time when the internet was being explored. (Read: Dot com bubble) The software industry was rising and with companies such as Infosys and Satyam, engineers were suddenly somehow more in demand. So getting a bachelors degree had suddenly become a sure ticket to a job. A stable job, a stable marriage, a stable life. Those were, for instance, precisely my reasons when I sat for IIT.

Indian society has certainly romanticize the exam to some extent. I remember the day I scored a good rank in state exam, they printed my photo in the newspaper. As much as I enjoyed the publicity, I did not know what specifically I had achieved. Plus in my society, atleast where I grew up, everyone has an opinion about your career. The Mishras and the Sharmas would gladly pay the 10 rupee bill to see your exam result at the cyber cafe.

Plus a child at such a young age will most probably not know what he or she is best for her career. The things a youth fancies strongly such as dancing, sports, or arts, the society discourages them the most.

Some of them, indeed, are genuinely interested in the courses and enjoy math or physics or chemistry. Some however have no clue and are there just to be there. Some are motivated by the poverty of their parents, the others due to lack of options.

Nevertheless, once a student joins college, he loves it. He enjoys the freedom, the company of new friends, internet, porn, and video games. The first two years are probably the best years of their adult life. They experience love. They make girl friends and boy friends, some of them over the internet in some other country.

But the past, it seems, comes back to haunt them once the third year is about to finish. The same society which led you to the gates of college asks for returns on the investments it has made on you. You become a cheque which should be cashed in less than a year.

And thus begins the search for options.

I list down below the options that you can pursue at the end of your bachelors. I will then further rant upon each of these, the main focus being on higher education. This is by no means a comprehensive list. In fact the harsh truth is if you choose any of these path, unless you really like it, chances are very bleak that you will become famous. So the best thing to do is to find what you really like and do it. Yet, probably, it is more rational not to do so.

Anyways, click on the individual links to get further information.

a) Job
b) MS, MTech
c) Public Sector Exam
d) IAS
e) MBA
f) Back to family business

g) Meditation.

h) If none of the above suits you well, find what you like and do it.

It is my hope that this post will answer some of the common questions that I have received in the past. The information is plenty on the internet and if you are willing to help yourself, you will be able to help yourself. I just want to make my contribution.

And to my students: Remember what we discussed in my last lecture: "This world certainly needs good engineers, good scientists and good teachers, but what it needs more is a good human being. A good friend, a good son, and a good partner."

Good Luck!

Comments are welcome. Any further information or any other links that you think the readers might find helpful are most appreciated.