Insights into widely chosen post- graduation options after engineering

Part 1 of ‘Career after engineering!’

I have just compiled the information available with me, Prasanna, Omkar, Akshay and on the internet.  Widely chosen post-graduation examinations:

CAT

Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for their admissions screening for the MBA course once a year. The score is accepted in premium Indian MBA colleges excluding few. CAT is an objective test which has the following two sections:

1. Quantitative Ability (QA) and Data Interpretation (DI)
2. Verbal Ability (VA) and Logical Reasoning (LR)

Generally the QA and VA will have 20/21 questions while DI and LR will have 10/9 questions each. Each section will have 70 minutes and 30 questions to attempt. The marking scheme is not disclosed by IIM's but it is a generic thumb rule that approximately each wrong answer will cost you 33 percent marks of one correct answer. Those who have already appeared for CAT 2013 will have their results on 14th January, 2014.

The MBA course fees ranges from appr. 2 lakhs to appr. 20 lakhs. The other exams conducted by top colleges are XAT,NMAT, IIFT and SNAP.

GMAT

The students who want to get into business schools (generally MBA) in USA prefer to take the GMAT exam (Graduate Management Admission Test). The GMAT is a computer adaptive test which assesses the aspirant's analytical, writing, quantitative, verbal, and reading skills in standard written English in preparation for being admitted into a graduate management program, such as an MBA.

The total GMAT score ranges from 200 to 800 and measures performance on the quantitative and verbal sections together (performance on the AWA and IR sections do not count toward the total score, those sections are scored separately). Business schools use the test as a criterion for admission into a wide range of graduate management programs, including MBA, Master of Accountancy, and Master of Finance programs.

The GMAT generally follows the following format:

1. Analytical Writing assessment (30min, Number of questions NA)
2.  Integrated reasoning (30min, 12 questions)
3. Quantitative Aptitude (75min, 37 questions)
4. Verbal (75min, 41 questions)

Candidates can register and appear for the GMAT round the year.  The registration fee for the GMAT exam is $250 (Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 17,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate). The course fee depends on the country, university and the stream chosen, and ranges from Rs. 10, 00,000 to Rs. 50, 00,000.  Only two colleges in India accept the GMAT scores for admission in management courses (ISB, Hyderabad and Great Lakes, Chennai).

CMAT

Students who want to do their MBA Course from India have to write the CMAT entrance test (Common Management Admission Test) conducted by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). This exam is conducted twice a year and is an objective test with the following sections:

1. Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
2. Logical Reasoning (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
3. Language Comprehension (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
4. General Awareness (25 questions, Max 100 marks)

The exam duration is of 180 minutes and there shall be negative marking with 1 mark deduction for each wrong answer.

Students who have appeared for the first test can appear for the second test as well, and better of two scores will be used for admissions. For the second test, the registration window is from 1^st Nov 2013 to 2^nd Jan 2014. The exam is on 20^th Feb 20142 and results on 14^th Mar 2014.

Registration fee for the exam is between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 and the fee for the MBA course is from Rs. 1, 00,000 to Rs. 20,00,000 (depending upon the college and university chosen)

GRE

(According to me, this is the smartest admissions test - Lets you skip questions, change your answers and have control to tackle the questions you want to answer first)

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and in other English-speaking countries as well. The exam is created and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). Each university has an independent admission committee and process and hence, it is difficult to generalize most topics for this exam in this post. Topics that can be generalized are mentioned.

General structure of the GMAT:

1. Verbal Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 30 mins)
2. Quantitative Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 35 mins)
3. Analytical writing section, consists of two essays - (a)  Issue task (30min). Candidate is expected to write an essay on a selected topic (b)Argument task (30min). Candidate is expected to address the logical flaws of the argument
4. The experimental section (can be either a verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing task). Contains new questions ETS is considering for future use. The performance of a candidate in this section is not counted towards the total score. This section appears identical to the scored sections and the candidate in no way can to validate whether a section is experimental or not. Precisely for this reason, the experimental section is highly debated.

The registration fee for the GRE is $150 (Rs. 9000 to Rs. 12,000 depending on the dollar spot rate) and the course ranges from Rs. 10,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000 depending upon the country and university chosen.

TOEFL

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is an examination used for screening candidates wishing to enroll for courses in U.S. universities.

The TOEFL is a 120 marks, four-hour long test consisting the following four sections:

1. Reading – consists of four to five passages and then questions about the passages (60-100 minutes)
2. Listening- consists of six passages, 3-5 minutes in length and questions about the passages (60-90 minutes)
3. Speaking- six tasks, two independent and four integrated. In the independent tasks, the candidate answers opinion question on familiar topics. In the integrated tasks, the candidate read a short passage, listen to a lecture or conversation and by combining appropriate information based on the two, answer questions. (20 minutes)
4. Writing- two task, one independent and one integrated (50 minutes)

This again is a smart test, with each section measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills) and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment.

The TOEFL registration fee is $165 (Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 12,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate.

GATE

The GATE relative scores are used for admissions into various post graduate programmes (M.E., M. Tech., Direct Ph. D.) in most Indian Educational Institutes. The scores are also important to get financial assistance from government agencies and for various public sector recruitment screenings. The GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is an all-India examination that primarily tests the comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science. Otherwise, many private colleges have their independent entrance test for post graduate courses.

The examination is of 3 hours duration that contains 65 questions carrying a maximum of 100 marks. The questions consist of both multiple choice questions (MCQs) and numerical answer type questions. All the papers will contain few questions that test the General Aptitude (Language and Analytical Skills), apart from the core subject of the paper. The candidate is expected to appear in a paper appropriate to the discipline of his/her qualifying degree.

The registrations for GATE 2014 are closed and the test window for GATE 2014 is from 2^nd

Feb 2014 to 2^nd Mar 2014 with the results on 28^th Mar 2014.

The registration fees is appr Rs. 1,500 and the fees for post graduate courses range from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 4,00,000.

Please leave your doubts in the comments so that they can be addressed. I welcome new information/data (pertaining to the topic).

Career after engineering!

After spending more than a year here , many students keep asking me regarding the career options after engineering. To simplify things, I thought of writing the following posts so that they can be referred to and circulated as and when needed.

1. Insights into widely chosen post- graduation options after engineering- expect information regarding widely opted exams like CAT, CMAT, GATE, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL with the exam patterns, registration and test dates, fees
2. Insights into no so widely chosen post-graduation options after engineering- expect information regarding options like hotel management, modeling, technical consulting, teaching and training, etc. along with the type of exams, fees.
3. General guide on choosing a career option after engineering- Expect a detailed post giving the pros and cons of the post graduate/career options along with general guidelines to opt one.

South Kanara (Karnataka)- a week

Last week, I spent a week in and around Ujire, Karkal, in South Kanara. Visited places, spent time with people, attended family functions. I have mentioned some of my noticeable observations below.

Functions in Karnataka are no bragger, especially as compared to functions in Maharashtra, where the people hosting and attending the function act like exhibitionist. The venue is generally a temple and the cooking is done by the family members/local people. The host provides the constituents/raw material for cooking as per the menu. The male members of the family/families come together and chop all the required vegetable the previous day. Temple premises are generally used for cooking and again family members/local people serve food. Overall, the functions ask for more involvement of the family members/local people at the operational level which enrich relations.

One well-intentioned way of starting the actual function is by introducing all the family members to each other. One person from each family addresses the crowd and introduces the family members. Seems like this is a good practice especially in functions like engagement, marriage where two families come together.

Some notes on the food now. Tiffin generally includes easy-to-serve items like Idli, Chutney, Sheera, etc. followed by Tea/Coffee/Malt/Badam Milk. Tiffin = breakfast! 

Regarding the meals, the way of serving and consuming is interesting. Meals are usually served in a particular order and required to be consumed in a particular order as well. These meals are served on banana/plantain leaves. First accompaniments are served which includes variety of Palya, Kosambari, sweet-savory gojju, hot spicy chutney Pickles, bajji, bonda, vade, Papads along with lots of rice. The first course is generally where a very small quantity of each item is served. This democratic way of serving gives freedom to the people to have their own choice of item out of all the available items (which are generally many). Obviously, this also reduces wastage of food drastically. The second course is generally where all the items served in small quantities previously, are repeated. It is a set of curries to be consumed with rice. It generally starts with Tovve, a mild lentil dish laced with ghee, Majjige Huli, vegetables simmered in a mild yogurt sauce, followed by Huli, lentils and vegetables spiced and tempered with ghee, mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. This is followed by tili Saaru which is a thin lentil stock spiced and laced with ghee and curry leaves.  Above mentioned items in the course vary, from function to function, and depend upon factors like the type of function, caste, etc. However, the order of serving is followed. The final course of the meal is rice and curd with pickles. Buttermilk is also served to be consumed at the end of the meal.

More rice is used, especially among certain Brahmin communities.

More interestingly, salt is served at the end of the first course (In Maharashtra, it is generally the first item that is served).

One more remarkable practice is a ‘NO-NO’ to crackers before/after the function.

P.S.:  Some references taken from the internet to make the above passage on meals so comprehensive.

Check on your teeth before touching electrical wires!

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to refresh myself by conducting interviews. Why? Getting some really bizarre answers to the interview questions is like, whoa!

To share an example, I asked an electrical engineer, ‘How come birds don't get electrocuted when they perch on electrical wires?’ The candidate thought for a minute (seemed like he tried to remember something) and then said, ‘Since my childhood days, I was very curious about such things and had asked the same question to my father. My father told that crows do not have teeth and hence, do not get electrocuted when perching on electrical wires!’ I curiously said, ‘You shared your father’s views. What are your views on my question?’ He said, ‘Of course, I also think that he is right. Crows do not have teeth and hence they do not get electrocuted!’

For a minute, I was shocked. Interestingly, I wanted to take this conversation further. I asked, ‘Good answer. Now, tell me, if I remove my teeth and perch on electrical wires, will I get electrocuted?’ And now, he was somewhat trapped. He said, ‘You have teeth from your birth. Crows are toothless right from birth and hence do not get electrocuted’.

Now, I took it further, ‘So, wires understand whether our teeth are right from birth or not?’ He exclaimed,’ Yes, it is god’s super natural power!’

I was really excited to take this further, a lot more, but professionally and personally, I didn’t. But, I couldn’t resist asking one final question to him, ‘What is your aggregate percentage in engineering?’ He said, ‘72%!’

I exclaimed,’ that is great! It was really nice meeting you and would be obliged to meet your father once!’ and he left the room…

I wish he gets a noble!

Note: Check on your teeth before touching electrical wires!

#NaMO and BJP- chicken first and then the hen!

While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher describes him as being an average student but a keen debater.

The hashtag #ModiHangout became the most trending term in India on Twitter on the day of the hangout session recently, whereas #VoteOutModi, used by Modi's opponents, became the third most trending term in the country.

This is what we call evolution, and I respect NaMo for this!  Narendra Modi is going to hog a lot of bandwidth on internet!

Mr. Modi isn’t particularly known for his love for democratic opposition. His heavy handed ways of working combined with the Congress’ historical spinelessness vis-à-vis communal politics has resulted in a situation where there is no visible democratic/parliamentary opposition or alternative to Modi and his brand of politics in Gujarat. Looks he adores the advantage of being the most favorable candidate for the post of Prime Minister.

Nitin Gadkari lost his post of BJP national president due to his opposition to Modi’s PM candidature. L K Advani, the Hindutva heavyweight with laurel like Rath Yatra, heading Babri demolition and coining the term pseudo-secular, is now reduced to nobody for being Modi’s contender. In the recent Goa conclave, many senior-most BJP leaders cited health reasons for not attending. Soon after he was declared the head of election campaign committee, there was a breakup between two historical lovers, BJP and JDU. Or it was just an attraction until now, as it happens in case of most loving couples?

The recent speeches being delivered by Narendra Modi are more like India is his baby and he cares for it a lot. To prove it, he speaks how he took care of his first baby Gujrat and it is now growing elder, developing. I ask, is Gujrat the only baby cared and brought up by BJP? Perhaps not in all fields, but I am sure that other BJP ruled states have something worth to share with the country, India. Why is the election campaign committee chief not promoting Bharatiya Janata Party- party as a whole? Why is the Gujrat model of Governance and/or NaMo as a leader being endorsed like anything?

I see it as- One, Narendra Modi is the only product which the BJP depends on for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, though this product launch is not principally approved by many senior party members. Two, there are high chances that NaMO as a product threatens the line of other products which are/can be produced. Three, BJP as a party was unsuccessful in building couple of products, at least, in parallel, to promote the party as a team. Four, mis-governance by the congress gives a chance to BJP to come to power, after about a decade. BJP does not want to miss this chance and NaMO is the only product that can be launched, advertised and sold!

Case in point justifies that NaMO is taming the BJP, which should seldom be the case for a historical and big parties like BJP. NaMO stands a fair chance, BJP stands a good chance, and this is the sequence. Seems like chicken first and then the hen! 

Engineers, are you listening?

HSC/MT-CET results are not so encouraging this year. MT CET results were announced on June 5. Reports suggest that students who have scored in the range of 140 to 160 are comparatively lesser than previous year (2012-13) and the trend continues till the score of 100. If reports are to be believed, chances are high that the cutoffs might take a dip by around 5 to 8 marks as compared to last year.

The state is already having nearly 1.50 lakh engineering seats in 364 colleges. Of these, a whopping 40,000 seats had remained vacant last year. Last year too, the apex body had approved 11 new engineering colleges in Maharashtra. With an increase in numbers, this year also a large number of seats are expected to remain vacant. AICTE had received about 180 applications from all over India for opening of new engineering colleges. Though over 2.80 lakh candidates had appeared for MT-CET for engineering admissions; not even half of them are believed to be actually taking admissions to engineering courses in the state. Presently, in Maharashtra colleges have 1, 48,084 Engineering seats!

Recently, AICTE has granted additional 10,000 degree and 8,000 diploma seats to various engineering colleges in Maharashtra for academic session commencing in June-July.

I really wonder what job the apex body is performing, with the demand-supply ratio so shaky. Why doesn’t if focus on improving the quality of education and bridge the gap between campus and industry?

Recently, a circular was issued by DTE as below. The excerpt:

"Candidate should be an Indian National and should have passed the HSC (Std XII) examination of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education or its equivalent with Physics and Mathematics as compulsory subjects along with one of the Chemistry/ Bio Technology/Biology/Technical Vocational Subject and secured minimum 45% (40% in case of candidates of Backward class categories and Persons with Disability belonging only in Maharashtra State) marks in the above subjects taken together."

There are two perspectives for the above circular.

One, considering marks of technical vocational subjects for engineering admission is a fair decision.  Isn’t majority of engineering all about electronics and computer science?

But, the second perspective is quite surprising! Why on earth are the marks for biology being considered for engineering admission? I have no clue why such decision has been taken except for to fill the massive vacant seats. Perhaps, it also defeats the decision of including technical vocational subjects like electronics and computer science for the betterment of engineering education.

Having said that, it is clear that the apex bodies have lost focus and the quality of engineering education is deteriorating!  

The reasons for such a scenario are many. But the prime reason is the absurd stipulation that the universities and the authorities have made with regard to the minimum qualifications for teaching. For a professor's post in engineering they stipulate a minimum PG or PhD level education in engineering regardless of the experience. Whereas it is common knowledge that most of the working engineers in the industry at any level have only a degree in engineering, generally. They have gained years of actual practical knowledge in engineering whether it is in research, design, project implementation, operation, maintenance, technical management, etc after their degree level education. For the experienced engineers, a later day college education to get a PG or PhD does not add much value, unless it is for some specific purpose to gain more theoretical knowledge!

Good technocrats and engineering managers who have only a degree in engineering, but years of practical experience have better pay and facilities that they normally should not bother to switch their career to teaching side. But even those who have an inclination and liking to teaching and those who have gained years of working experience, who think of sharing their industrial knowledge to the younger generations, are restrained to do so due to such illogical rules and stipulations.

Oops, I came too long. Is anybody listening? Engineers?

Sex at 16, Child at 17, Marriage at 18!

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 lowers the age of consent for sex from 18 to 16 years and makes 'rape' as a gender-specific offence under which men only can be charged for it. Bullet points here:

1. Stalking, voyeurism have been defined as criminal offences in the bill. Sustained stalking will be a non-bailable offence.
2. The bill uses the term 'rape' which will be gender-specific, in contrast to the gender-neutral 'sexual assault' as proposed in the ordinance.
3. The measure, on the lines of the ordinance, has not touched on the issue of making marital rape a separate offence.
4. The bill also lowers the age of consent for sex from 18 to 16 years. In the ordinance, it was 18 years.

I do not have much to say on the first three bullets except that there should be sufficient safeguards, including harsh penalty for lodging false cases. Only this way, we can avoid the misuse of this law. If this is not put in place early, this will lead to a huge divide between societies, families to be specific.

On the fourth point, I can only restate the title of this post, ‘Sex at 16, Child at 17, Marriage at 18’!

By clearing the bill, the eGoM stated that the legal age for sex is 16 and that of marriage at 18. I just filled in the blanks. I do agree with Ms. Tirath, with a different perspective, who said that lowering the juvenile age would put the immature children under the risk of being treated as grown-up criminals.

They are busy deciding the age for sex and are forgetting of the major issues like corruption and inflation.Seems UPA is spending 'sleepless nights'. With this ending note, I have a busy day ahead and yes, a sleepy night then!

Romancing!

The truth of the matter is that entrepreneurship is hard. It’s really hard. Venturing out on your own. No steady stream of income. No way to know that your idea will be the one that works, not the one that fails. No stability. No demarcation between life and work. People constantly questioning your progress. You get the picture. It’s hard.

Despite this, entrepreneurship, and particularly social entrepreneurship, is in vogue. They are cool. Everyone wants a piece of the action. What is cooler than chasing your dreams and having a social impact? No one is ever going to accuse you of selling out to the machine, of being a slave to the man.

Instead, you are going to sit and shape one’s career. In our case, the ones are increasing, day by day! ;)

Yet it is increasingly becoming clear to me that the western conception of entrepreneurship is having a powerful influence on minds. You need to have an air conditioned office and that too at a nice location, a brand laptop, and what not. Lot of people ask me, “Where is your office?” I respond saying ‘Mmmm, Office cum hall at Jilebi Chowk, Miraj!” They exclaim, “Miraj?? Why don’t you go to Pune/Mumbai??”

Office location, interiors, the laptop you use, the mobile you use, etc make a difference. I do not disagree. But many young minds are having these ‘material’ as their first priority, which according to me is very risky. This way you lose your focus on the ‘idea’ that you set out to implement at the first place. I see people romancing all these ‘stuff’ and when they do not make it ‘big’, they think that the ‘idea’ itself was not class.

Valentine day is nearing. Our business, with a social impact, slowly is gaining pace. I am happy that I am romancing the ‘morals’ rather the ‘materials’ of being an entrepreneur. The holy grail of individuality, of being your own person, of choosing your own path is my muscle power.

Those who wish to experience this ‘moral satisfaction’ do visit our office/hall at Jilebi Chowk, Miraj. You need to call me to reach here; you won’t get this address on Google maps!   ;)

Happy Valentine day! Happy Romancing!

I Have A Great Idea and Need An Investor: NO YOU DON'T!

Although, I have not made it ‘big’ yet, I am taking the liberty to write few lines on something called ‘Finding an investor for a business’!

Recently a business plan was emailed to me, and I told this person that although the business concept was good, they shouldn't pursue this idea because it required that they find an outside investor. You should only look for an outside investor if you have already successfully started your business and need additional capital to grow, if you have experience launching at least one but preferably more businesses on your own (the more complex the better), or if you have accumulated enough experience in your industry to truly be considered an expert.  Otherwise, don't look for an investor, and find a business that you can fund on your own!

First of all the chances of you finding an investor are almost slim to none, unless you can get your family or friends to invest.  Personally I would never take money from family or friends, because statistically the chances of failing are great, and what are you going to say to your friends or family when you lose their money (I might make an exception for someone that truly understands business)?  If you can't get investment from family or friends, then you will have to find an outside investor.  You've never started a business before, and you aren't an expert in your field, so why would any intelligent person (intelligent people are usually the ones with money  J ) invest in your idea?

Even if you were able to find an investor I wouldn't recommend it.  An investor means you have just been bought and instead of having the freedom of being an entrepreneur, you now have a new boss.  Nobody is going to give you money without putting extreme pressure on you to earn a profit on their investment. They invest to earn and not to learn!

Right now I'm having fun launching 'O₂; Breathing Brain, Respiring Career!  and learning about business.  If I had an investor, I certainly wouldn't have the luxury of launching the business at the more modest pace that I have launched O₂. When you acquire an investor there are future goals that are set that will allow the investor to profit off of their investment.  Then the investment capital is used to hire staff, pay for research, launch products, introduce new services etc, depending on what kind of business you are in..., all towards the objective of meeting the goals agreed upon with the investor.

The problem is that it’s a start-up and many of your guesses are just assumptions.  You received money to reach your goals, so you are obviously going to invest in recruiting new staff, infrastructure etc. Once you launch your product/service you will realize that at least some of your assumptions were incorrect.  Unfortunately you have already hired staff, setup your office and invested money in resources aimed at targeting an incorrect assumption.  It won't be that easy to just fire staff that you spent months recruiting and/or training or just to change your office location.  It also won't be easy to explain to your investor that you just wasted her or his money on an incorrect assumption.  Best case scenario is you fire the staff you didn't need; just change the office location just because things were not going good and you annoy your investor by admitting that you wasted their money.  Worst case scenario you get so trapped in the world of your poor allocation of resources that you continue down the incorrect path.

With O₂, I am using my own money and along with my partner.

When I realized something wasn't working, the worse thing that I had to deal with was the disappointment of my partner or staff that they had been wasting time down the wrong path. Same is the case with my partner. However, that’s a much easier problem to manage than having an investor that doesn't completely understand what’s going on, and you have to go to them and explain that you have been wasting thousands or lacs pursuing the wrong path.

I don't care how frugal you are, but I can bet you are going to spend one lack given to you by an investor differently than you are going to spend one lack of your own money!

If you are not an expert or don't have entrepreneurial experience, I don't think having an investor increases your likelihood of success.  It's a far better idea to start a business in which you have the financial means to fund on your own.  You will learn a lot more, you will have more fun, and if your idea is successful then you will have a lot more equity.

Starting a business with your own savings is like creating true art for the love of it.  It’s truly a beautiful endeavour, you and your team against the world, fighting and scraping to figure out how to make your venture a success.  Not just for the money but for the love and the passion of what you are doing.  Introducing an investor in the beginning makes it all about the money from day one, and you have corrupted the process from the beginning.

Cheers, I don’t need an investor! And I’ll make it big, very big!