Saturday, June 2, 2012

When problem solvers become 'the problem'


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. 



6 comments:

  1. High expectations with low performance often accompanies scope of developments.

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  2. It’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.

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  3. Great Work Sir..........:)
    I am hurt..........:P

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  4. @Castor : I dislike so much optimism :)

    @ 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

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  5. :-/ Don't know what to say... i think we will have to get a lil deeper into the skin of this problem...

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  6. I 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?
    It'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.

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