The most common query among all engineering aspirants is about the
“best engineering branch". Although all engineering branches
are equally good. What matters is your interest and aptitude for that
branch.Both the courses are in demand and most importantly, girls fill up one-third of the seats.
Core branches in engineering such as civil and mechanical are believed
to be the oldest branches in engineering study and are considered to be
evergreen branches. Though in the mid 1980s the demand for civil
engineering students saw a slump, it has regained its importance and is
today considered to be one of the most sought after branches.
Civil engineering
As a
student you will study Fluid Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Design of
Structures, and Structural Mechanics and water recourse engineering.
And then as a civil engineer
you will be building roads, buildings bridges, dams, canals, sea
ports, power plants and airports! This sector is looking up these days
mainly due to the numerous infrastructure projects that are in the
pipeline for India. It is a challenging profile but immensely satisfying
as well. Also, with the reen way of living gaining popluarity across
the world, the role of a civil engineer often overlaps with that of an
environment enginner as he needs to plan his projects in an
environment-friendly manner.
In general, a fresh civil engineer
can make Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 a month. Someone with 15-20 years’
experience can earn Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month. In the government
sector, for example, the CPWD director general earns Rs 80,000 a month.You
would get to work in companies like Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Indian
Railways, Engineers India Ltd., DRDO, ISRO, SERC, PWD, DLF etc.
Best institutes (apart for the IITs(16) and NITs) include, DTU, BITS-Pilani, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. For B.Tech in Environmental Engineering, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad is a very good option.
The demand saw a slump because of the low investment in the
infrastructure sector, as the focus shifted towards the service sector,
especially IT and ITES. Now the investments are back and the demand for
civil engineers is expected to be on the rise till 2030.
“At present every fresh graduate has at least three offers from the core
sectors. A couple of years back when engineering colleges were
springing up at every nook and corner, the colleges were setting up shop
with only a few branches such as computer science, IT and EEE. Now most
of the colleges are trying to develop the civil engineering branch.
This trend proves that the branch is once again looking up,” says K.
Rambabu, professor at Andhra University College of Engineering.
The four-year B.Tech or BE course focuses on various topics such as land
survey, planning and design. When it comes to design, a student is
taught to design any civil structure such as dams, buildings and
bridges.
The newest addition to the course is the subject of rehabilitation and
renovation of old structures. “A majority of the civil structures be it a
dam or a bridge was either constructed during the British rule or
immediately after Independence, during the first or second five-year
plan period. They are old and they need to be rehabilitated and
renovated. This subject was incorporated to train the students to tackle
this issue,”.
In the fourth year there are many electives such as national disaster
management, coastal and harbour engineering or fluid mechanics and hydro
engineering, structural engineering, transportation, remote sensing and
GIS and environmental engineering,genetic engineering or public health engineering.
The job prospect civil engineers is varied and not restricted to any one
area. They can fit in any one of the government offices such as
irrigation, Road and Building and CPWD. They can find placements in both
private and PSUs and infrastructure and construction companies. “They
can also find placements in IT sector as civil engineers are basically
strong in logic,” says the professor from Andhra University.
Mechanical Engineering:
Another evergreen field, there
will always be opportunities here, despite varying market trends. It is
one of the oldest branches of engineering and therefore one of the
broadest. As a mechanical engineer you will get to design, analysis, manufacture and maintain anything that moves!
Entry-level
salaries range from about Rs 1.3 lakh to Rs 3.15 lakh per annum. Pay
hikes depend on your performance and any additional skills you acquire.
Recruiters
include ISRO, DRDO, Indian Railway, ABB, TATA Motors, General Motors,
Fiat, Reliance Industries, Reliance Power Ltd, Ashoka Leyland, Mahindra
& Mahindra etc.Best institutes (apart for the IITs and NITs) include ISM (Indian School of Mines) University, Dhanbad, Delhi Technological University (DTU), BITS Pilani.
Mechanical engineering graduates can find placements in almost every
sector, right from construction sector to steel industry and from
automobile to software. Earlier there was only one branch and
subsequently sub-branches such as marine engineering, industrial
engineering and metallurgical engineering were formulated to suit the
growth of knowledge and the industry demands.
“During the four years of study, the basic focus is on subjects such as
thermal engineering, machine design, industrial engineering and
production engineering,” says T. Subrahmanyam, former Head of the
Department of Mechanical Engineering in Andhra University College of
Engineering.
Mechanical engineering graduates can also find placements in IT sector
because of their strong hold over subjects such as mathematics and
physics. “Software is all about logic, and students who are strong in
mathematics and physics are considered to be good in logic. A few basic
programmes like C language are embedded in the curriculum, by doing few
programming courses such as Java and .Net they can easily fit in the
software sector,” says Professor Subrahmanyam.
Both the courses are in demand and most importantly, unlike in the
earlier days, girls fill up one-third of the seats. Both civil and
mechanical engineering are no longer considered to be a taboo area for
the girls.
source:The Hindu
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