5 Tips To Engineer Your Career

5/7/15
5 Tips To Engineer Your Career

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146
5TIPSTOENGINEERYOURCAREER
Aguideforelectronicsengineeringstudentswhoarejuststartingouttheiracademicstudiesandalso
thosewhowanttosetthemselvesapartinacompetitivecareerenvironment
SUDESHNADAS
Last
month, the idea about this article

came to my mind just after watching the
movie 3 Idiots. By now, I guess you havent
been able to escape from being influenced
either. The moviea fairly serious take
essentially depicts how eager we are to
embrace mindlessness and how keen we
are to promote a culture where education is
purely examination-centric without real-life
application.
Its time that you get out of this aka idito
vagueness of just following the herd and
passing the exam. Here is your why and
how to guide.
Whyfocusonpractical
knowledge?
There is a gap between engineering course content and the requirements of the engineering services industry, says
Krishna Kant, senior programme manager, academic alliance programmeSouth Asia & Russia, EMC, from his vast
talent nurturing experience.
C.P. Ravikumar, director-university relation, Texas Instruments, adds, We perceive this gap during the process of
interviews for regular as well as internship positions. While our education system imparts knowledge on various
technical/non-technical areas, it often falls short of meeting the expectations of the real world. The biggest gap is the
practical application and knowledge of industry practices related to the requirements of a particular role, says Lokesh
Mehra, regional manager-corporate responsibility, Cisco South Asia.
One reason for this gap is a fundamental lacuna in the engineering education framework. This is the only profession
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One reason for this gap is a fundamental lacuna in the engineering education framework. This is the only profession
where an individual goes from an academic programme directly into a job, with no prior on-the-job training. All the
other fields of study require individuals to have a six-month to one-year long apprenticeship or internship before they
start doing the real job.
Getting fresh graduates ramped up quickly to productivity is a key concern across the industry ecosystem as new
graduates sometimes take six months to a year to become productive. Ideally, we should overhaul engineering
education and make its duration five years by including a mandatory six-months to one-year long apprenticeship,
opines Jaswinder Ahuja, corporate vice president and managing director, Cadence Design Systems.
Vinay Shetty, country head-component business, ASUS (India), explains, When fresh graduates enter the working
environment, they have lots of theoretical knowledge which is redundant, rather than the necessary practical
knowledge.
Neelam Kumar, executive director, Aplab, points out, Most of our institutions and universities lag behind the rest of
the world in research output.
Whatshouldyoudo?
HereItakeyouthroughfiveboostersforyourcareer.
Tip#1:Payattentiontobasics
It may not sound important, but most of the interviewers will start with active and passive components, building
blocks of electronics systems and nonetheless faultfinding techniques. A strong foundation of the basics of electronics
is must, says Raminder Singh Soin, managing director, Quad.
Strong fundamentals of electronics will help you to understand complex topics that you may get exposed to after
joining the industry.
An electronics engineer is expected to have an excellent knowledge of electronic devices and RF, analogue, digital and
especially CMOS design. This includes electrical fundamentals like signal integrity and power integrity. Specifically,
expertise in VLSI, VHDL, FPGA and ASIC design, signal processing, control systems, industrial manufacturing systems,
power transmission, simulation and verification techniques is required, says Neeraj Varma, country manager-sales,
Xilinx, India, Australia and New Zealand.
In terms of languages, one must be familiar with HDL (Verilog or VHDL), C and C++. Other skills that an electronics
engineer must seek to possess are domain knowledge of microprocessors, control systems, embedded systems, and
circuit and device testing.
Tip#2:Gettrainedtohaveanextraedge
If youve just entered the college, your course curriculum may not provide all the learning you need. Make an effort to
gain some extra skill, be it technical or interpersonal.
Each engineering institute or college should make use of the vast resource of experts and organi-sations readily
available in the country to do some technical training on specialised topics. This will enable the students for the
working world, suggests Shetty.
Electronics has many branches today, such as VLSI, DSP, communications, power electronics and embedded systems.
The industry may assume that the student has been exposed to at least one course in these branches. While the
industry may be willing to provide job-specific training, the student is expected to have the technical know-how
required to absorb the training. For example, for training in VLSI, the student is expected to know about MOS
transistor operation, CMOS circuits, logic gates and flip-flops, operational amplifiers, feedback amplifiers, poles and
zeroes, says Ravikumar.
Ravikumar also feels that system-level design using off-the-shelf ICs is a major gap-area today. In digital and
analogue design lab classes, students use simple ICs such as gates and op-amps. They may later do a lab on
microprocessor/microcontroller/DSP/C programming. Here learning could be improved in two ways:
1. The lab exercises in these classes are often canned there are ready-made kits with standard set of experiments
that the students carry out in a routine fashion. Also, due to large team sizes, all students may not get the required
exposure to equipment. However, with falling costs of electronics, students may be able to set up their own little lab
in their hostel room. Availability of public-domain software and low-cost computing platforms has helped the students
significantly.
2. There is no class where the learning from the courses in digital, analogue, processor and programming are brought
together. This may happen in a project for some students.
According to Ahuja, India produces a large number of electronics and computer science graduate engineers every
year. So while there is no dearth of manpower, the challenge is finding design-aware engineers who are trained
specifically in VLSI design and can ramp up quickly.
With the surge in high-tech design projects coming to India in areas such as telecom, automotive, aerospace and
industrial automation, the industry workforce has been exposed to very high levels of product design, development,
testing and validation phases over the last decade or so. With more and more such projects becoming a norm in
India, the industry requires talent with quality and specialised skill sets. The demand for electronics design engineers
having product, domain and software tools expertise is high, says Varma.
Kant suggests, Actively look out for science, engineering and maths competitions that organisations/educational
institutes conduct. Such initiatives are excellent opportunities to demonstrate creativity, secure mentoring
opportunities from industry experts and participate in exciting, competitive and recognised events. Try engaging
consistently with the institute/university faculty to understand sponsorship and scholarship opportunities offered by
companies/ universities.
He also feels that besides technical skills, students must possess excellent problem-solving and decision-making
abilities, English communication skills, and organisation and management skills for an all-round perspective.
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Mehra, in addition to these skills, emphasises on ethical behaviour as majority of the MNCs empower their staff and
would like them to showcase good ethics while dealing internally or externally with vendors or customers.
Tip#3:exploityourinternship
Even if it is not compulsory in your course curriculum to do an internship, do one anyway. In fact, try enrolling for
more than one if possible. Taking up a project or internship to build something is essential, as there is plenty of
learning for the student to imbibe, whether the project succeeds or not.
Colleges have included industry visits, seminars and projects for this purpose. Unfortunately, many students treat
these courses lightly. My advice would be to take the internship seriously, for the soft skills they impart will be
invaluable, advises Ravikumar.
According to Ahuja, industry academia-government partnership will provide students with valuable practical
experience while in college, by applying their theoretical knowledge to actual customer problems. The ecosystem
needs to work together to constantly update the curriculum of educational institutes for it to be in line with the latest
industry developments and encouraging internship programmes. This will impart hands-on technical, business and soft
skills to students in a professional environment and also give the company access to a potential workforce.
Keep in mind that interning is about more than just showing up at an office and earning a recommendation letter,
says Sanjay Mittal, managing director, Yogasa Systems. Grab every opportunity to chat with everyone from senior
members to fresh recruits. Youll learn a lot about the industry, job and their expectations. It may help to join the
same company after completing your course. In fact, interning is just like auditioningyou try the company to check
whether it suits you.
Tip#4:Knowtheindustrytrend
TechDrive
YouTube
2K
A fresh electronics engineer needs to be conversant with global trends and pioneering research done worldwide. To
acquaint himself with the challenges that will face him in the future, the engineering student should re-examine and
realign his goals with the current scenario that prevails. He should also keep himself abreast of recent trends in
business and technology, if he is serious about making a transformational change, says Kumar.
Shetty feels that there is no alternative to on-the-job research. Students need to have some insights by either
working or doing some research on how the industry segment of their choice actually operates.
The electronics industry is very large today. There are multiple sub-disciplines. Even some software disciplines
require a sound knowledge of electronics along with a strong grip on programming, e.g., electronic design
automation. I would advise the engineering aspirants to become strong in fundamentals and take elective courses that
give them the exposure to recent advances, says Ravi Kumar.
According to him, Becoming a member of a professional society and taking active part in seminars and workshops
will also help in understanding where the electronics industry is headed.
Kant adds, Subscribe to important and insightful trade media journals and newsletters to keep track of trends and
latest developments in electronics engineering.
Keeping abreast of the industry and economy may even help you to find an extremely satisfying career outside the
mainstream.
Tip#5:understandyouraptitude
Last, but the most important of all, dont follow the herd. Since majority of the technical skills are quite well-founded
within students, they need to match real-life practical applications, especially from a problem-solving perspective.
Students should have the ability to assess the situation, identify key issues that need to be addressed, break down
complex problems into simpler manageable problems and resolve the problem to develop workable solutions.
Companies are looking for people who can fix problems with minimal direction. They dont want to have to tell people
to react when fires are burning, says Mehra. So once youve understood your aptitude and carefully evaluated the job
market, you can make your leap.
Further, Mehra advises that in their third or fourth year of engineering, the students should begin to think of what
industry they wish to join and start digging into the relevant literature. If you are fortunate enough, you may get to do
an internship in the industry of your choice.
In fact, there has been a spurt in various application fields of electronics engineeringdefence, infrastructure
(railways, aerospace, metro and telecom), biomedical, consumer appliances, industrial power, instrumentation
engineering, automotive, etc. So once you figure out what is of your interest, work towards developing skills required
for that vertical.
Finally, your future is in your hands. So dont hesitate to spend enough time exploring all the possible ways before
final settlement.
Theauthorisaconsultanteditorial,industry&academiainterfaceatEFY
146
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Post Comment|23Comments
AkashBadhe 1194
48
14
days ago
Thisisanexcellentarticle.IthinkthiswillhelpmetothinkonwhatIwilltodoaftercompletingmyengineering.
Reply 3 Replies
pratyusha 1181
days ago
icanseedatitscostisRs.175inkitsnspareswebsytbtamntsureabtit..
Reply
pratyusha 1181
days ago
amsorryitsRs.250
Reply
Yurany 809
days ago
Sonofagunthisissohpeflul
Reply
Yugandhar 1104
days ago
Thesetipsareusefulltoeveryengineer.thismakesthemtothink......
Reply 1 Reply
Zeus 1062
days ago
yeahuarerightits250
Reply
KavyaSudheshna 1064
days ago
Mam...inalltipsyouhavegivenusayintershipisimportant....ihavecompletedmy2ndyrofB.techinECE.....canuplzztell
methewayhowshouldiapproachtothecompanies......???everyoneisaskingforprojectbutiwannagainthepractical
knowledgeandthenifeelicanexploreanyproject...amiright...??plzzzdosuggestmetheprocedure.....
Reply 2 Replies
Pooja 981
days ago
Kavyaihavethesamequstiondidugettheanswertoit???ifyes.....dohelpmeoutaswell
Reply 1 Reply
Vadim 809
days ago
Waytogoonthisessayhepledaton.
Reply
vinod.vinnygmail.com 416
days ago
Kavya..uhavetoconcentrateonyourproject....thinksomethingnewprojectbywhichulearnmore
Reply
student 998
days ago
caniknowwhereallicanapplyforinternshipsandwhatistheeligibityforit.currentlyiminthesecondyear.
Reply
vishaljoshi 978
days ago
Greatsuggestionsandextraordinarystatements.ObviouslymusthelpfultothefresherandECE
Reply
Raghav 788
days ago
verywellwritten....thankyou...
Reply
akshay 592
days ago
4/6
5/7/15

akshay 592
days ago
thisisveryimpressiveartical.Iwanttobecamearesercher?howcanwegetsponcershiptolernworkfurtheronpersnal
orcolabratedreserch?Ismymncgivemesomesponcershiponfewcondition?
Reply
ankurkumar 589
days ago
thisarticletotallybasedonpracticalaspectssoithinkfromthisarticleyoucanlearnhowindustriesarework
Reply
amitkumar 579
days ago
imstudyingin2ndyearece..plzzztellmehowtoapplyforintrnshpsinindustries..bcozzidonthvanysourceotherthn
online..iamcompletelyrelyingonu..ifsmeonehvsmeideaPLzzshare..
Reply
Hari 514
days ago
Mamivecompletedmyb.techecein2011andnowimworkingasaprojectengineerinfireprotectionservices.Willyou
pleasegivemesuggestiontojoininelectronicsside.
Reply
rekha 430
days ago
Icompletedmyengineeringin2011.Iamworkingforasoftwarecompany.iwantstartmycarrerinelectronics.Please
suggestmethebestwaystostart.
Reply
Sumithra 327
days ago
Pleasehelpmehowtocontactcompaniestogetinternshipwhataretheprocedurestofollowtogetinternshipin
companies
Reply
baskar 326
days ago
Itisanicearticlebutitdoesnottalksaboutreality.Idontthinkmuchcareeroptionsavailabletotheelectronicsengineer.
TheabovesuggestionwillhelpyouifuarefromIITsNITsBitsandtopinstitutes.Bewarethatifuareafresherand
studyinginavgcollegedontevenexpecttoworkintoptierelectronicscompaniesbecausetheywanttohireoruwillnotup
tothemark.Mysimplesuggestionstarturcareerinstartupcompanieslearntheskilsafter2yearsyourresumewill
automaticallymarketsu.Allthebest..
Reply
NischalRai 326
days ago
HiIwaspassoutin2012.IwasdoingmyfamilybusinesssoIhavenotworkedanywhere.IwanttoworkinanElectronics
Organization.AfterhavingtwoyearsofgapcanigetajobElectronicsfield??NeedSuggestionThankyou
Reply
AnkushChavan 309
days ago
Thankyousirforyouvaluableguidance.ThankstoEFY.
Reply
Manoranjanpillai 255
days ago
Worthfullinformation.
Reply
satyapranav 244
days ago
superbbsir
Reply
Kipskiruinick 84
days ago
Indeedtheauthorofthisarticlehasdoneenoughresearch...goodarticleitshelpfulespeciallytome
Reply
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