Aspiring engineers scared to opt for IT courses

The students who are aspiring for engineering career are opting for mechanical and civil engineering courses instead of IT courses. According to Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), around 60-70 percent of almost 1.2 lakh students who appeared for common entrance test (CET) this year are expected to opt for non-IT courses. Also many courses like computer engineering, medical and biotechnology which were in demand last year do not have many takers this year.

The change in career can be linked with big IT companies like Wipro, Infosys and TCS deciding to cut down the number of recruitment due to recession. Big companies are also seeking to cut down on existing staff to adapt to economic slowdown. In such situation students are not that ready to take risk by entering the IT field. "In times of recession, nobody is daring to opt for IT. There are more job opportunities in mechanical. Lot of students that I know prefer to go into electronics and communication and mechanical engineering," an aspiring engineering student Bhavish Kuttapa told Economic Times.

Many students are interested in opting for telecommunication engineering as there are more jobs available in that field. It is expected from students to opt for recession-proof careers. "Something very similar happened few years ago when IT was doing better than other sectors. With government spending big on infrastructure, energy and telecom, there are more jobs available for mechanical, civil and electronic engineers," said GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant at executive search firm Stanton Chase International to economic times.