Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no
problems handily available, they will create their own problems. - Scott Adams
I read this quote somewhere, and it made me
think, I guess it has a greater meaning to it than Scott Adams would have
known. I have always been close to engineers, in-fact some of my best friends
are engineers and some of my cousins are engineers too. My father is a civil
engineer and I have seen him working on tunnels, dams, railroads and
power-plants since my childhood. No wonder at a very early age I got so
fascinated to JCBs and CAT equipment. I
have seen him solve problems both at work and at home, he would fix households
appliances himself and also encourage me to do so (which sadly I could never
pick up). As I write this blog-post my dad is working in Manipur, braving out
the rains to get a few tunnels done in time for the railway tracks to reach
Manipur. This is what Engineering means to me and it makes the first part of
the quote very sensible and true.
Now as we move on to the second part of the
quote, I believe it has many layers to it. The first one is obvious that
Engineers like to create problems and then solve those for their own
joy/amusement. I wish it would just stop there… There, however, seems to be a
different scenario today...
Engineers today can’t solve problems, and to
put it more clearly they themselves are the biggest problem for India. Sounds
really stupid, isn’t it? Maybe even oxymoronic? Engineers are known to build,
to create value and off-course to solve problems. Well look around, how many
Engineers are doing it? Most of the engineers from IIT become so called
investment-bankers or business-analysts. Engineers in streams like
Pharmaceutical, Mining, Metallurgy and Textile hardly do what they study in
their engineering. In case a hand few of them ventured out in other areas
(where they are still mediocre) it would have been understandable, but when
everyone tries to do things which he isn’t equipped for … it becomes a problem.
How do we solve this problem, thought the
policy-makers and engineers? Well thanks to their short-sightedness and
mediocre abilities one of the only answer they got was IIMs. Indian Institute
of Management (IIM) is the 'holy-grail' of management education in India, what
it also does is bring engineers to a level playing field. It is like a huge
assembly line where these inconsistent and incompetent engineers get in and
after two years they come out as at least consistent – with everyone having the
same degree (and almost no ‘real’ knowledge). Getting into IIMs is not such big
deal for engineers, because the paper has been designed in a way that gives
them an edge over others. I wish the CAT was more robust and deep in selecting
the very few, thereby justifying their selection. Essays as a part of the
examination could possibly help achieve that.
Statistically, India produces around 4 Lakh
Engineers and 85% of IIM seats are taken by engineers. Now that is the huge
problem. It essentially means around 70% of people coming out from IIMs can’t
decipher a newspaper, 75% have no idea why is Indian GDP growing at less than
6%, 80% do not know why they went to IIM and around 85% do not know what it
takes to be a ‘leader’.
I have spent five years in corporate India,
and I have come across several IIM guys. They are 'supposed' to lead India’s
corporate landscape and sometimes they even do (thanks to their strong alumni
affinity). In the global business landscape however, they haven't made their mark and I know for sure that they never will.
High expectations with low performance often accompanies scope of developments.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true that 85% IIM seats are taken by engineers, but that 85% hardly caters 1% of engineers produced in a year i.e. 4 lakhs, so remaining ~ 3.96 lakhs engineers are still ‘problem solver’ and engineers those join IIM will become ‘Problem finder’ in next two years.
ReplyDeleteGreat Work Sir..........:)
ReplyDeleteI am hurt..........:P
@Castor : I dislike so much optimism :)
ReplyDelete@ Alkendra : You did the maths quite well here. The story however, is very different. Those who do not go to IIMs, sometimes land up at my father's construction site and their abilities and knowledge are a huge question mark. For more info : http://www.livemint.com/2012/05/25212351/Blame-it-on-the-system.html
@Nitesh : Does that mean I did a good job :-p
:-/ Don't know what to say... i think we will have to get a lil deeper into the skin of this problem...
ReplyDeleteI myself has been wondering this since I was in 12th grade. I chose engg. Why? I don't know. May be because its in the Indian Education system. Or perhaps because there are only 2 - 3 main stream lines highlighted every second (Engg., MBBS, MBA). Where are other courses?
ReplyDeleteIt's simple. If you don't want to end up in engg. related field, then why choose it. If you are to become an analyst then why study mechanical engg...
And am afraid am a victim of the same. And this is a very serious problem. Our policy makers and educators have to think about it. And we need to open our visions.