Core engineering jobs rule IIT-B placements this year

Posted by: iitblibrary on: July 30, 2011

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By Times of India

Mumbai: Just five years ago, a fat cheque from an IT company was never turned down. Information technology was the buzzword, the new economy and no matter what you studied at tech school, a software firm was where you landed.

Placement 2010 at IIT-Bombay has shown that jobs in core engineering firms were this year’s flavour. “Earlier, a larger proportion of students joined the IT sector, no matter what their primary area of specialisation was. This year, there was synchronisation between what they studied and the industry they joined,” said IIT-B placement head Ravi Sinha.

Management consulting was the third best option, followed by finance, both of which come with the big bucks. While the number of offers in the finance sector went up from 70 to 91 over an academic year, around 95 offers were made by the consulting sector to IIT-B students. Sixty nine students took offers from the research and development (R&D) firms, up from last year’s54.

“More organisations are now hiring fresh graduates in the R&D sector and offering extremely specialised job profiles. The compensation is not very high, but that has not deterred students. With the economy striving for high-end products and services, several companies are now trying to develop products that are at the forefront of technology,” added Sinha.

Around 250 organisations participated and over 950 jobs have been offered through on campus and pre-placement offers. Fewer jobs were taken up at public sector units—from 85 in 2009-10 to 46 in 2010-11. Similarly, 37 students, including several with doctoral degrees, opted for jobs in educational institutions, down from last year’s50.

Annual remuneration went up marginally. While the IIT-B does not disclose the exact compensation given, the final placement report indicates there were more students who walked home with a fatter cheque. In 2008-09,239 students received over Rs 7.5 lakh a year; that number went up to 336 in 2009.This year, IIT-B had 286 students who were offered compensation of over Rs 8.5 lakh per annum; another 135 graduates were offered jobs that paid between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 8.5lakh.