During my college days in 1970s there were only a handful of institutions imparting education culminating in production of quality engineers , Guindy Engineering college (currently Anna University) being one amongst them. I am aware of the difficulties in getting admitted into them and it is no wonder that people graduated from such institutions are doing exceedingly well not only in life but also turning out to be qualitative professional engineers. Those were the days, when Engineers stuck to their profession with pride and will not budge even to the lure of the Administrative services, as is being done in the later years.
Later in the 1990s and around the turn of the century, this whole lot of professionals started assuming a different role in revolutionizing not only the profession but also the life style of the country. With the Y2K heralding the exodus, the mythical bubble soon burst only to stabilize and in my opinion, no other country would have used the computerization better than India.
While the customers and the users of the Airlines, Railways and the Banking sector were to derive the immediate benefit of computerization, the architects of this revolution viz., the Engineers were being delivered in herds from the mushrooming institutions across the length and breadth of the country. There were colleges which lacked the basic infra, at some places sufficiently skilled teachers and in some colleges even connectivity, an essential entity for effective Engineering education. But, these impediments never deterred our youth and they withstood the onslaught of political and monetary muzzle in not only getting into such institutions but also came out successfully graduating out of them !
The folks that came from the non-metropolis and more specifically the 'undeveloped and under developed' areas of the state were the hardest hit. Hampered by communication skills, awed by the challenges posed by the evolving industry and trampled by the dog-eating-dog competition but driven only by the burning desire to win and succeed, they held on. I have personally encountered many such candidates in interview boards and as part of my own team to realize that with a little push, encouragement and guidance, they turn out to be damn good professionals. Not sure how many outside realize their sweat and toil at the office but are viewed jealously more for the income they churn out. The jealous part has gone such a distance that of late, such unsung heroes are being portrayed as deserting the motherland and supporting the brain drain and the Engineers has become such a harassed lot even in the public eye !
Fortunately these are the guys who cling on with determination and the will to make it big, learn things the hard way, ignore undesirable elements and insults to climb their way through the professional ladder, with the only intention of uplifting their life. It is heartening to see many such guys occupying prestigious positions across the globe, earning a handful and more importantly pull their family back home in the villages out of poverty. Only few days back at an international airport, when I saw a group our guys from India roaming around, I was proudly thinking that , computers are the sole reason for such guys to spread out and be on a foreign soil. These are the guys who have embarked on the vehicle of 'Engineering' to speed drive out of their shackles, poverty and impediments to conquer the improbable and come out successfully. It is such engineers , who have made it and brought not only themselves but their kith and kin, out of the poverty and herald a new culture in their home town , that I would like to salute proudly, on this 'Engineers Day' .
Its only fair, that such 'unsung heroes' are recognized atleast once a year and what better way to wish them on the "Engineers Day'
Keep moving, folks. You not only herald a new revolution but also Engineer a new positive culture for your near and dear ones. You are the future and hope of this Nation and your family!!
- 15-Sep-2015
Later in the 1990s and around the turn of the century, this whole lot of professionals started assuming a different role in revolutionizing not only the profession but also the life style of the country. With the Y2K heralding the exodus, the mythical bubble soon burst only to stabilize and in my opinion, no other country would have used the computerization better than India.
While the customers and the users of the Airlines, Railways and the Banking sector were to derive the immediate benefit of computerization, the architects of this revolution viz., the Engineers were being delivered in herds from the mushrooming institutions across the length and breadth of the country. There were colleges which lacked the basic infra, at some places sufficiently skilled teachers and in some colleges even connectivity, an essential entity for effective Engineering education. But, these impediments never deterred our youth and they withstood the onslaught of political and monetary muzzle in not only getting into such institutions but also came out successfully graduating out of them !
The folks that came from the non-metropolis and more specifically the 'undeveloped and under developed' areas of the state were the hardest hit. Hampered by communication skills, awed by the challenges posed by the evolving industry and trampled by the dog-eating-dog competition but driven only by the burning desire to win and succeed, they held on. I have personally encountered many such candidates in interview boards and as part of my own team to realize that with a little push, encouragement and guidance, they turn out to be damn good professionals. Not sure how many outside realize their sweat and toil at the office but are viewed jealously more for the income they churn out. The jealous part has gone such a distance that of late, such unsung heroes are being portrayed as deserting the motherland and supporting the brain drain and the Engineers has become such a harassed lot even in the public eye !
Fortunately these are the guys who cling on with determination and the will to make it big, learn things the hard way, ignore undesirable elements and insults to climb their way through the professional ladder, with the only intention of uplifting their life. It is heartening to see many such guys occupying prestigious positions across the globe, earning a handful and more importantly pull their family back home in the villages out of poverty. Only few days back at an international airport, when I saw a group our guys from India roaming around, I was proudly thinking that , computers are the sole reason for such guys to spread out and be on a foreign soil. These are the guys who have embarked on the vehicle of 'Engineering' to speed drive out of their shackles, poverty and impediments to conquer the improbable and come out successfully. It is such engineers , who have made it and brought not only themselves but their kith and kin, out of the poverty and herald a new culture in their home town , that I would like to salute proudly, on this 'Engineers Day' .
Its only fair, that such 'unsung heroes' are recognized atleast once a year and what better way to wish them on the "Engineers Day'
Keep moving, folks. You not only herald a new revolution but also Engineer a new positive culture for your near and dear ones. You are the future and hope of this Nation and your family!!
- 15-Sep-2015
