India has a staggering number of engineering graduates – 4,64,743! A number, though impressive, has an astounding impact on the overall GDP of our country. The last year, being particularly tough, it had been an eye opener for most of the parents who wanted their son and daughters to don the cap of an engineering graduate. Although, the economy crisis was one of the worst since the Depression, it had brought out some of the truths which we were not ready to acknowledge.
Firstly, an engineering degree is NOT a fool proof against the laggards of markets, and never should it be taken for granted that the Markets will always favor the “elite” degree holders. The fault lies with the education system here, where theory is not grounded in practicality – what we are taught in classes seldom apply in the practical field. It has bred a generation of money-mongers who think of making it big without trying out new avenues. Since when did WORK become a “guaranteed” thing – it is something for which one should continuously strive for – recession or no recession. It is something that one draws his satisfaction from doing it good or bad. Unfortunately, the recession has put many things in the right perspective – If you don’t work up to your limits, you are fired. The objective of “striving for the better” is achieved here, albeit at the cost of much negative publicity of the companies implementing this “policy” out of the blue for the poor “lazy” employee.
Secondly, a graduate in any discipline, irrespective of the background, holds equal chances against anyone better equipped than him, if he has got the true willingness to work. Egalitarian as it may sound, but people reap great harvests just by implementing the simple truths of life. The simple truths of life if correctly implemented go a long way in building the foundation stones of big successes. Initially, there is struggle because to learn a new trade it takes time, courage and lots of failures. It boils down to the attitude one has towards the work he is doing or is supposed to do. If one is well honed in his trade, come what may, his worth is always maintained by his employer. The last recession gave us many ex-employees airing their grievances in public forums about how their company has treated them. These were the same people who exactly a year before would always crib about the monotonicity of their work, how they hate working late shifts, blah blah. And we are talking of a generation just following our fathers, who were so proud of the work they did! There has been some serious lapse on their side passing on those genes to the next generation.
Thirdly, a huge boon of the recession was the tremendous number of entrepreneurs churned out by India. All of a sudden, everyone Tom, Dick and Harry was coming up with a way to deal the cruel blow of recession – some were afraid of losing their jobs, while some were afraid the customer base would dwindle. But, never mind the reasons; the outcome was colorful with a significant percentage of India’s growth being directly attributed to the new age entrepreneurs. Not only did they take care of the growing number of people going out of their jobs, but they generated revenue for the country as a whole. Investments, though small, were coming up from unexpected quarters of society – with expectations of a little profit! I salute the unwavering spirit of the masses that made it all possible.
But, unfortunately, what the recession could not weed away from our nature was our attitude towards work. You will still find disgruntled people complaining about their jobs – throwing moronic glances at the Team leads and the stuff. The industry we work in is a knowledge industry – where there are no limits to learning new trades – and it’s a surprise you will find people here saying that their work is clichéd. I do not want any patriotic fervor to remotely touch this essay, but I cannot help but say that most of us loathe the work they do. We compare ourselves to countries like China and Armorica, and dream of achieving the milestones they have achieved – yet that dream remains un-cherished, unfulfilled….unpublished.
