Speakers at the Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu emphasised the presence of a large market looking to recruit skilled engineers.
At a free seminar called ‘Tholainokku 2019’ on Directorate of Technical Education’s (DoTE) online counselling, hundreds of students from classes 11 and 12 were present to understand how to choose courses and career opportunities, here on Tuesday.
CEO of K7 Computing, K. Purushothaman, said that most students wanted to be engineers because they could go abroad. Parents too wanted their children to be settled in well-paying jobs and hence, made them pick engineering, he said. “Now, we have thousands of engineers catering to major deals with respect to outsourcing in the country. The very fact that countries like the United States of America turn to us is because we have a large population with engineering background and that we have innovative thinking abilities. This sets us apart,” he said.
In his address, he said that startup communities, large-scale IT companies and own businesses are thriving and can recruit many engineers from Madurai.
Citing his own story of being a villager and charting his way to creating a business, Founder of LMES Academy, Premanand Sethurajan’s speech received a thunderous applause from the audience.
“Everything will soon be automated and all spheres of life require engineering knowledge. Students should have a futuristic mindset and then take a call regarding the future and not blindly follow the herd,” he said.
Mr. Sethurajan said that he became fluent in English only after speaking with several others and working at developing skills in order to survive.
“Both engineering students and others from arts colleges will be employed only if students develop technical knowledge and have the skill necessary for the job,” he said.
Centre Head, HCL Technologies, Subbaraman Balasubramanyan, said that people are now working towards the ‘Lazy and Dumb’ approach towards problem solving.
“Since many people want solutions at their fingertips, there is a solid demand for good engineering students. However, in the current scenario, students have degrees but barely are equipped to deal with the qualifications necessary for jobs,” he said.
President of the consortium R.S. Munirathinam said that there are several engineering colleges in the southern districts that are producing graduates.
“We hope the seminar provides a direction to students,” he said.