To hell with this lab work.....

As I wrote in the last post, the Campus recruitment drive broke loose all hell in our college. Right from the next day we had to work night outs to get all our assignments and records completed. And finally we did it.

But all the while I worked on my record, I couldn't help wondering what purpose, completing the record serves. That we didn't exactly follow the experiment is one thing and that we didn't even take down the right observations is another. But both these things rendered every thing useless. What's more? Even writing down the theory of the experiment is useless because we didn't write it by our self. We were first given all the material related to the exp. and were asked to copy it down twice- once in observation book and once in Lab record. Does this copying down serve any purpose?

The importance of lab work i.e., experimentation can't be over emphasized, especially for us in technical education. Thankfully not all labs are like that. I mean, at least some of the lab work
is done properly. But saying so can we afford to be so, even if its related to only a few subjects? I don't think so.

In India, especially at this conjecture, when cream of the students community from every branch is being sucked into IT & ITES, we need to get things like labs right. Lab work is supposed to rekindle the students' interest in relatively dry and boring theory subjects. But as long as the labs are as they are now, I don't think this objective is going to be realised.

And no, growth of Computers is not a bane. Indeed they granted us a boon in the form of Simulation Software related to various subjects like CAD, CAM, SPICE, HDL etc. All these need to be incorporated if we are to produce better Engineers.

And same as ever all I can do is only write about this....and hope some one who can do some thing reads this....

The season has begun......

It has been very long since I posted last. Any how I'm back. And this time I have some thing interesting. Well, interesting to me n my fellow Engineering students in India, anyhow.

Yes, the season has begun. But this time it has begun a bit early. No idea what I am talking about? Well, its the season when even big MNCs come hunting for young talent even in the interior regions of India that are other wise never given much thought about. Yes its the season of Campus Recruitment.

What's surprising is the eagerness of the companies to out-do each other in attracting fresh and young talent. But this time around some companies have actually come here to recruit students even before the end of our 3rd year, 2nd semester. Strange. Last year the companies began coming at some time around June or July. But now, we are not even half way through March.

Well, its all pleasing to be offered a job a in reputed company with a fat pay check. Its a great feeling to have a job offer in hand without even having our degrees (B.E. in my case). But still the timing of this recruitment drive has caused a little trouble with our academics. This is especially because of the imminent semester exams preceded by our mid sem exams. More over his is the time we will be busy getting our lab work records finished.

But it looks like there are some others who are not so pleased about the prospect of recruitment in 3rd year. Well, they have their own fears and those fears are not totally unfounded. And they are our Professors. They are thinking that we may take every thing else easy once we secure a job. And this has been proved to be true in case of our seniors. Last year, our college enjoyed a huge success regarding placements. And this, in turn has shown some effect on our seniors' studies and seriousness. Everyone, who were preparing for CAT or GATE or GRE suddenly relaxed and lowered their level of preparation. It was as if they never thought of appearing for such exams. There is nothing wrong in getting job while in college but getting one in our 3rd year tself is, I think, a bit too early. More so because most of us don't have a clear idea of what we want to do in our future, even in 3rd year of our graduation. One more aspect is that, in Engineering, having a backlog during the course is so common. And most of the companies put a restriction that those aspiring for a job should not have a backlog. While that is understandable, what needs to be understood is that many of us still don't take our studies as seriously as we are supposed to be. The reason for this is that we don't find our courses and colleges as interesting as we expect them to be regarding facilities like laboratories and libraries after bieng emanicipated from the drudgery of our Intermediate studies. So for the first 3 years, or so, of our Enginnering course, we dont take anything quite seriously. So naturally the talented among us have some backlogs. Anyhow by the time we enter our final year, we do take every thing quite seriously and clear up all the backlogs. So I think final year 2nd semester is the ideal time for Campus recriutment.

Well, this is what I think. And I invite your comments and suggestions regarding this matter. Just post in your comments below.