(1) Inadvertence to real life scenarios(2) A sheep’s attitude of following other sheep
While I cannot speak for all Indian ECE students, I can at least tell the story of AP ECE students. After completing intermediate (+12), I was about to attend EAMCET counselling, where we can choose an engineering college or branch. I had absolutely no idea what engineering branches were and what the future opportunities are.
Statements made by “advisors”, who once again learned about engineering through statements from other people, are:
“ECE is the best branch. (no, not according to my knowledge). They knew it 100%. All toppers chose ECE and will choose ECE only. “Join your son in this branch.”
CSE is not required. It is possible to take computer training classes and learn more about CSE. It is something that even B. Sc. (Computers), students can read about. What will you specialize in?
“If you study CSE you can only enter Software. However, if you study ECE you can either enter software or hardware (God only knows what hardware means). ECE offers more choices.
“What? What did your son do in Civil Engineering? Ha ha ha.. my son got ECE. He will settle quicker.”
“You want to join your daughter in EEE/Mechanical?” You don’t need to think about it. These heavy equipments and environments are too much for her. Participate in ECE
After hearing these things, you will feel that ECE is the best engineering degree one can earn. Many students prefer ECE at private engineering colleges to Civil Engineering in universities.
This is not the only reason we will feel false pride. We know more about transistors, digital ICs, etc. than you do. Why should I be interested in graphs, trees, algorithms? I am an electronics engineer and I am supposed to design analog logics, which we don’t know anything about.
What happens next? The majority of ECE students find jobs in software, writing SQL queries, maintaining database, and learning Javascript.
All ECE students, please listen.. Core job is an overrated term. Real ‘Core jobs’ companies will only hire people with a solid academic record (both at the institution and in your grades). If you’re not a great student and are keenly interested in “real electronic”, you shouldn’t expect to get a job that involves MOS modeling, fabrication or designing digital ICs or analog ICs.