
India's engineers struggle for work as jobs crisis worsens - pseudolus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-election-jobs-insight/ctrl-alt-stall-indias-engineers-struggle-for-work-as-jobs-crisis-worsens-idUSKBN1QT0GS
======
ggm
I think its likely that surges in demand for all kinds of STEM are going to
continue for years. Its not like we haven't seen this before: Too many
Lawyers, too many Ship builders, to many coal miners, too many cooks
(literally, not figuratively)

Civil Engineering in Australia soaked a lot of very good, skilled graduates
from Persia, India, China. But then the boom in gas/oil/coal/iron-ore turned
to slump, and they got laid off, and their conditional residency ends, and ..

------
strikelaserclaw
What India really needs to change is a culture of conformity, and to encourage
entrepreneurship. I mean, not everyone is constitutionally capable of becoming
a great engineer, but their parents push their kids through the same engineer
+ mba pipeline, all to get a job and generally it's the same type of
engineering job (i.e whatever pays the highest at the moment, if it's
software, you see like millions of people graduate as "software engineers").
Instead of always having a mindset of "what pays the most?", if the parents
can encourage their kids to learn deeply and develop in what they find passion
in, i think you'll see a a lot of India's problems being solved, and India
developing self sufficiency in economic terms. The brain power is most
definitely there but a culture of preferring safety over everything else needs
to change.

~~~
darkcha0s
Why is software engineers in quotes?

~~~
strikelaserclaw
Because there are a lot of lower tier colleges which have no standards when it
comes to graduating "software engineers." Basically like paying for a piece of
paper and the right to call yourself an "engineer."

------
doorbellguy
Interesting article. (Full of anecdotes though) On one hand it blames the
government for not bringing jobs, on the other hand it cites youth's
'unemployability' as the driving factor for their joblessness. So which one is
it? Their lack of English skills, substandard education in mid tier colleges
or absence of jobs?

~~~
PhoenixReborn
English skills aren't the best but I don't think that's the issue. Substandard
education drives the unemployability and poor infrastructure drives the lack
of jobs outside the bigger tech metros (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai IMO).

~~~
devxpy
The real reason of substandard education is the lack of better lawmakers IMO.
And it's an especially hard problem to solve in India.

Its a vicious cycle where uneducated citizens select equally uneducated
lawmakers (because susceptible to propaganda/lies easily). The uneducated
lawmakers don't have much incentive to improve education, because that will
affect their election results, next time around.

And turning to private institutions is of no use. They have neither the good
will nor the cash flow to actually do something about this problem...

~~~
freshm087
There's no factual reason to believe that college education reduces
susceptibility to political manipulation.

~~~
devxpy
I think the current state of affairs in this country don't really need proof.
I mean do you really think a person who has studied science will elect this
guy as the Chief Minister?
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Adityanath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Adityanath))

~~~
doorbellguy
Yes, yes they will. Studying something in college in no way correlates to your
political affiliations and choice of leaders. I'd say stop pushing agendas and
quit being smug about it but that would have zero effect on you.

~~~
devxpy
So you believe that education is just about technical skill?

~~~
doorbellguy
'Studying science'? Absolutely.

------
crowdpleaser
Is there a way to help? The brain power going to waste is awful.

