Is Engineering Really A Waste Of Time?

Being a very vocal person, I have always talked of how doing B.Tech. was a waste of time for me. But was it really? Or has this been a loose remark made on what I think about B.Tech. in India?

Why am I writing this today? Because I have seen a growing trend amongst people who keep cribbing about how they wasted four years of their life just because someone forced them to do engineering. They start blaming other people in their life for their unpleasant situation. Then they start blaming the education system. And the trend continues.

I do agree that education system in this country is flawed. Out of hundreds or maybe thousands of engineering colleges, there are only tens of them that actually deserve to impart education to children. Rest are just making money by ruining our futures. But amongst all this, I dare to say that engineering wasn’t a waste of time. Not for me, not for you; not for anybody.

Think about what all you can learn from these four years. I sat back and recalled everything engineering taught me.

1. Excellent presentation and writing skills

In the first year of my college, it was pretty clear to me that I had landed up in a university where my knowledge didn’t matter. Only thing that could fetch me marks were presentation and writing skills.

Thanks to a number of great seniors I met who found it their responsibility to share this ‘gyan’, I knew this at right time. So, even when I didn’t know how to solve any of the questions in my mathematics 1 exam, I focused on my presentation and wrote the paper in a way that made it seem like I knew a lot of it.

Boom! I passed the exams with good marks. With my beliefs on the subject strengthened after semester 1, I focused on sharpening these skills to get even better marks. Had I not done that, I wouldn’t have been writing this blog.

Now, don’t think that I am a blogger and this skill is useful only for me. This skill is useful for anybody who works in corporate or even in government sector. You have to write mails, do presentations and what not! It all helps you make a great impression on the people that matter for your career.

2. Good enough people skills

No matter where you go, you have to deal with people. Sometimes you’ll be the boss and sometimes you’ll be the employee. But you need to interact and get your way out.

What a lot of us forget that your education isn’t limited just to the classroom teaching. What you learn on the campus and with your college friends is also the part of your education.

I learnt how to deal with hypocrites. I learnt how to deal with liars and show-offs. I learnt how to keep the good people in my life and kick out the mean ones. I learnt so many different things.

Of course, in the end, I said that I learnt nothing from engineering just like you. But it’s important to note all these things. Isn’t it?

3. Preparing for job interviews

The last year of your B.Tech. degree is often most hectic. If you’re lucky enough to be in a college where lots of companies visit for campus placements (I was), you’ll be going through a rigorous process of training to get placed in these companies.

The effectiveness of this training usually depends on you. Because we all know that at this stage, neither our teachers are interested to teach us nor are we interested to listen to them. By the time I reached at this stage, I had lost all my trust in the teachers who were to train my batch for this placement process. It’s a long story but roughly it’s because I lost the job in the only company I had wanted to work in because I followed the advice of the ‘placement expert’ employed in my college.

Even if you’re not lucky enough to have companies for campus placements, you must be surrounded by a crowd that’s trying to get placed. Being in that atmosphere and working towards that goal is an excellent personality development process. It teaches you a lot.

And the list goes on and on. These are the three major things I could mention. Every year was full of learning and new things.

I know you may have an argument that it’s not the case with you. You see! That’s the problem. A lot of engineers didn’t learn anything from the ‘four worst years of their lives’ because they weren’t trying to learn.

Were you a part of co-curricular activities? Were you actively looking for opportunities to help you grow? Were you actively preparing for your career after this course? Were you actively trying to find your passion? Were you even trying new things? Were you doing anything except for hanging out with friends, oogling at girls/guys (yeah! both genders do that), drinking booze and sleeping till late?

If not, it’s unfair to blame engineering for what you’re facing now. It’s your own fault. I don’t want you to shift the focus of your hatred from your degree & college to yourself. What I have learnt in my life is that you need to embrace the real problem. Once you do that, you’ll easily slide towards the solution. Until then, you’ll just roam around meaninglessly.

So, think about it and tell me. Was it engineering that wasted the four years of your life or was it YOU?