Episode 1: The Beginning

I used to find myself staring at an empty screen, wondering how to start my blog posts. Have you ever sat down to write and felt the same?

I’ve been putting this on hold for a long time and I believe now is the time I started writing. Throughout my posts, I’m going to write about things that I’ve gone through, things that have made me the person that I am today and also about how i feel being “Another Indian Software Engineer”.

I came across a line that goes something like this – There is a marked difference between a ‘Software Engineer’ and an ‘Indian Software Engineer’.  Since I’ve just started out my career as a Software Engineer, I’ll wait for some time before writing about that marked difference. For now, I’m going to write about how it is for an average person(read not-so-intelligent and not-so-Richie rich) to graduate out of college as an engineer and the reality that they have to face after that.

Having studied for more than 15 years under the Indian education system, I’ve learnt one thing. Studying under the Indian education system is like gambling. You’re happy only when you’re making money. Only money in this case is a certain Integer called ‘Marks’. You don’t have good numbers? Then you’re pretty sure to miss out on a good school/college/job and also your life. That’s all it teaches. Unless, of course, if you had a room full cash. Then you could do what ever you wanted to.

I come from a place which is dubbed as the Silicon Valley of India. Maybe because of the number of IT companies that have cropped up here over time. Although Wikipedia says -“Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its position as the nation’s leading IT exporter.” Adding to the woes are the hundreds of engineering colleges that offer you seats as if to supply prospective employees to these IT companies.

Let me tell you, there are more than 3000 Engineering Colleges in India and more than 200 Colleges in Karnataka. And the number keeps on increasing every year! On an average 30,000 engineers graduate every year from Karnataka alone. Now, its only fair to assume that not everybody will end up as they had planned/doing what they actually wanted to do after getting out of college. Keeping aside all those who go for further studies and what not, majority of the graduates would look out for a job. Although I’ve seen 1 out of at least a 1000 getting married. That apart, not all of them get lucky landing a job. Only a couple of hundreds among the thousand graduates end up getting a job offer well before their course completion or at least by the time they finish college. Others are not so blessed to land a job while in college. In some cases though, students get the job but they’re not asked to join until 6 months or even an  year later! Seems more like a bird in the bush and none in hand situation. I’ve been lucky enough to get a job within a short time after getting out of college. But trust me, the reality out there is cruel. When you graduate out of college and don’t get to do what you’ve been planning, that’s when you start losing your sanity. That is where it all begins.

I’m going to write about how all those things that you’ve learned in college are never going to be of any help  (at least to me), and how it feels to survive the onslaught of the ever pestering relatives and many more in my next post.
Keep watching this space. 🙂

My blog:  https://anjanbaradwaj.wordpress.com

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