Engineering yourself for a successful career

Tips to make your engineering degree count in the competitive world of campus placements

Engineering education requires a transformation to meet the needs of employers, the challenges facing the profession and the community as a consequence of the rapid development of technology, the demands of large and complex projects and the need for socially responsible multidisciplinary innovation. A bachelor’s degree in engineering opens the door to several professional careers and exciting higher study options. In today’s high-tech world, an engineering degree is a great foundation for careers in traditional engineering fields as well as careers in management, sales, government, medicine, research, law, teaching, and many more.

The technological problems faced by modern society are quite complex and it is the duty of the engineers to provide appropriate solutions. This solution providing makes engineering a fascinating field of study and will provide engineers with a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the society. To be successful, engineering students must become skilled in basic engineering principles and practices, be trained to think analytically, learn how to communicate effectively, and work in multidisciplinary teams.

Students often have misconceptions about a career in engineering. They often underestimate the amount of report writing involved; they underestimate the importance of communication and negotiation, they don’t realise the amount of responsibility that they are likely to have, and the extent to which they will have to use their own judgment, and make their own decisions, rather than just doing what they are told. Engineering involves imagination and innovation.

Engineering graduates have a very good chance of being employed compared to other professions. Though the job environment is highly competitive, there are real skill shortages in engineering.

To get placed during the campus placements, students should be well prepared beforehand by developing certain qualities as envisaged here.

Involvement in various projects: Participate in every experimental and hands on learning opportunity that is allowed in the schedule. This will enable you to show something to the prospective employer while others will be able to list down only the courses they have studied. Additionally, you will be employing the theories which you have studied and by doing practicals will retain that knowledge. Also, such activities will boost your communication and interpersonal skills.

Work as a team as much as you can rather than alone: Whether doing practicals or mini projects, participating in sports or arts, get involved with the team to produce great results. The experiences which you acquire during your college days will enable you to lead the teams when you graduate.

Understand the importance of networking: Attend as many lectures in the form of seminars, conferences and so on in your campus and outside. Try to get introduced to the speakers. Also try to contact with the alumni of your college and gather as much information as possible. You may contact by using the latest technologies, but at the same time remember that there is no substitute for face to face meeting.

Take leadership roles: Engineers are always leaders. Whether you are officially a leader of a team or not, but you can lead from any position by influencing people by way of your creative comments, and your attitude to towards the situation.

Find your flaws and fix them: Listen to the feedback about you from your friends, team members, teachers and so on on how people view you and improve your skills including communication and leadership. Also, you have to accept constructive criticism.

In addition one has to make the vacations productive by way of doing internship whether it is included in the syllabus or not which will give a feel of what an industry is. A positive attitude is the key to success. Though there is incompetence, but the attitude can change a lot. Accept right ideas and reject wrong ones no matter their source.

Essentially, it is important to understand that engineers don’t just work with machines, buildings, designs or circuit boards, and engineering doesn’t only require a good understanding of science and mathematics. Engineering needs to be understood in the context of its role in society, and your role as an engineer has to be understood in the context of your work within a company, and ultimately within society.

(The author is Principal, Cochin University College of Engineering, Kuttanad, Pulincunnu, Alappuzha)

Thanks to : The Hindu

Defeat negative marking in civil services exam

Attempting the civil services preliminary exam is a different ball game from tackling the main exam. In the preliminary exam there is negative marking, and the question paper is a booklet consisting of many pages. There are 100 questions in Paper I and 80 in Paper II, with four choices under each question. The time allotted is two hours for each of the papers. One may have to read 20 – 25 pages of the question booklet, and to mark the correct answer, one has to read the question and the four choices. Thus, it is not possible to read all the questions and the answers more than once, and also one has to attempt all the questions.

Therefore, you have to begin attempting the questions right from the start. As soon as you read the first question and are sure about the correct answer, attempt it immediately by blackening the correct circle in the answer sheet. Go on attempting all the questions to which you know the answers for sure. It is only when you are not sure about the one correct answer that you should leave that question to be re-read and re-thought later on. If you feel that there could be two possible correct answers among the four given choices, you should put a small mark with pencil in the two circles corresponding to these in the answer sheet.

Say, for question number 7, you think either B or C could be the correct choice and therefore you want to think over it again later on, but you also feel that B could be a better than C, then mark 1 with pencil against B and mark 2 in pencil against C in the answer sheet. The marking of 1 or 2 in the answer sheet should be done softly and with a blunt pencil, as later on these markings have to be erased. Thus, the circle marked 1 is the better choice. Now, out of 100 questions, there may be 15 – 25 questions about which you might be in two minds about the correct choice.

There might be 10 or 15 questions about which you have no idea, and, due to negative marking, there is no point in attempting such questions, so forget these. These 15 – 25 questions which you have narrowed down to the two answers must be attempted. In the end, if you are left with 15 – 20 minutes, then you should go back to the question booklet and again read the question and the two probable answers and try to think about which one is the better and blacken the circle with the better answer. But suppose you are left with only four or five minutes to attempt these 15 – 20 questions, instead of going back to the question booklet, you should straightaway blacken the circles marked 1.

You must attempt all such questions where you have narrowed down to the two answers, because the ratio of negative marking is 1:3. If you mark one correct answer you get two marks whereas you lose two marks if you mark three wrong answers. The theory of probability says that, out of 20 such questions, you will happen to mark ten correct answers, and, therefore, you will gain despite the negative marking.

To put it in another way, if you attempt four such questions out of which one is correct and three are wrong, there is still no loss as such. And in the end, don’t forget to erase the pencil markings from the answer sheet.

Thanks to : The Hindu

கல்வி உதவித்தொகைத் திட்டங்கள்

பேஸ்புக் நிறுவனத்தின் ஆய்வுப் படிப்புக்கான உதவித்தொகைத் திட்டம்.

கணினி அறிவியல், கணினி பொறியியல், எலக்ட்ரிக்கல்ஸ் பொறியியல் போன்ற பொறியியல் படிப்புகளில் டாக்டர் பட்டத்துக்கான ஆய்வுகளைச் செய்யும் மாணவர்களுக்குக் கிடைக்கும்.

தகுதி: டாக்டர் பட்டத்துக்காக முழுநேரமாக ஆய்வு செய்யும் மாணவர்கள்

ஆன்லைனில்தான் விண்ணப்பிக்க வேண்டும். ஒரு வருடத்துக்கு 37 ஆயிரம் டாலர்கள் உள்படப் பல உதவிகள் உண்டு.

மேலும் தகவல்களுக்கு: http://www.b4s.in/plus/FFP385

INTACH கல்வி உதவித்தொகைத் திட்டம்

இந்திய மரபுச் செல்வங்களை பாதுகாக்க விரும்புகிற எந்த ஒரு தனிப்பட்ட ஆய்வாளருக்கும் இன்டாக் நிறுவனம் உதவித்தொகைகளை வழங்குகிறது. தபால் மூலம் விண்ணப்பிக்கவேண்டும்

தொடர்புக்கு: http://www.b4s.in/plus/IS638

மோட்டோரோலாவின் ஆய்வாளர் உதவித் தொகைத் திட்டம்

பொறியியல் கல்லூரிகளில் படிக்கும் கிராமப்புற மாணவர்கள், கணினி அறிவியல், புதுப்பிக்கத்தக்க எரிசக்தி, ஆரோக்கியம், பெண்களின் உழைப்பைக் குறைக்கக் கூடிய தொழில்நுட்பங்கள் உள்ளிட்ட ஆய்வுத் திட்டங்களுக்கு இந்த உதவி கிடைக்கும்.

இளங்கலை பொறியியல் மற்றும் முதுகலை கணினி அறிவியல் படிக்கிற இறுதியாண்டு மாணவர்கள் விண்ணப்பிக்கலாம். இமெயில் மற்றும் தபால் மூலம் விண்ணப்பிக்கலாம்.

மேலும் தகவல்களுக்கு: http://bit.ly/1Muj5PF

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