Engineering Career- Choosing the right branch

A career is chosen keeping in mind the long term vision, interests and personal aptitude. The long term vision helps an individual work on his/her aptitudes in order to realize the vision. The basic engineering degree is B.E/BTech. There are many engineering fields available today. While the subjects Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics forms the base for engineering at the school level, a B.E/B.Tech degree forms the base to build a specialist career in this field. The following chart gives the career opportunities for engineers:


M.B.A
  • Industrial/Manufacturing
  • Start Ups
  • Marketing and Finance
PhD
  • Teaching and Research
  • Defense and Space Science
Services
  • Teaching and Research
  • Defense and Space Science

After completing the basic engineering, three different avenues are available for career growth. This requires careful selection of the specialization at the basic engineering level. This will help to keep the options open at the end of the course, in order make a decision on what next to do after completing the basic engineering degree.

There are several branches at the basic engineering level. (Annexure 1 – List of engineering fields) However, not all branches are good for career building. For example: a bio medical engineering graduate or computer engineering graduate are specialist engineers and their career path pursues the same line of specialization. On the other hand, an Electronics and communication engineering graduate, has all the options listed above, available to him, at the end of completing the basic course. Eg: He can also pursue Post graduate studies in computer engineering! He can take any of the above avenues shown based on his interest.

There are also a few inter-disciplinary courses offered by institutions such as Robotic engineering which is a combination of mechanical, electrical and electronic and communication engineering.

It is therefore essential to have a thorough knowledge of anything we study at the basic level, in order to develop ourselves and prepare for higher education, in other fields, as the occasion arises. As the market conditions vary with time, there will be growth or decay in any of the above avenues. One must consider what is likely to dominate the market when one completes the basic degree of engineering. On the basis of above reasoning, the following engineering fields are recommended based on the present scenario.

Electronics and communication engineering: 100% FDI in defense is likely to improve employability in defense organizations and telecommunication companies.

Mechanical engineering: There is a Government push to make in India and this is likely to increase job opportunities in all manufacturing areas.

Electrical and Electronic engineering: Infra projects are on the move for growth. This engineering plays the middle role of ME and ECE.

While the above three branches of engineering are general for all avenues of career building, other branches of engineering such as aero space engineering. Chemical engineering etc are specialized fields and not recommended at basic engineering level of study. Aero space engineering can be replaced by civil engineering, electrical engineering and electronic and communication engineering specialist.

Published on : 28 Feb 2020

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