VIJAYAWADA: Of late, most of the engineering graduates of all streams, who are unable to get jobs after their graduation, are flocking to the coaching institutions to acquire computer skills like C+, C++, Java, Dot Net, etc., which are necessary to grab job opportunities in the IT sector. However, only a few of them, who are good at soft skills, are able to get the coveted IT jobs and the remaining are forced to opt for other fields.
“I have applied for more than 20 IT companies so far, but have not received any reply from any of them. I completed my graduation in 2013 and also learned Java programming and Dot Net courses, but have not been able to land an IT job so far”, said P Rajesh, who is working as a sales representative in a private company in the city.
This same is the plight of about 50 per cent of the engineering graduates, mainly due to lack of soft skills. In the erroneous belief that undergoing intensive training in one of the many professional skill development institutions alone may fetch them jobs, they are flocking such institutions here, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
“Most of the students at our institute are engineering graduates of all streams, including Mechanical and Civil Engineering, and they have joined to make themselves employable in the IT sector. Most of these students don’t even have the basic knowledge of computer languages and we are teaching them from the beginning,” said Sreedhar’s College for Competitive Exams (SCCE) director-cum-faculty K Sreedhar.
Meanwhile, most of the students, who have not been able to get jobs in software companies, are now shifting their focus to bank jobs and others that are unconnected to their educational qualifications. “I completed my graduation in 2013 and did not get any job even after being trained in various courses. So, I decided to focus on bank jobs and joined a coaching centre a few months back,” said Sk Mastan from Vijayawada.
Experts opine that it is a myth that students can easily get jobs with intensive training in IT-related courses from private institutions. “These days, there is an increase in the number of engineering colleges and thousands are graduating every year. Only the students who have acquired enough soft skills and technical skills during their graduation have grabbed the jobs in campus recruitment and a few others on their own.
But 50 per cent of the students are joining the coaching institutions and only 10 per cent of them are getting jobs. Lack of professional training from the colleges is the main reason for this plight of the students,” said V Vijay Maruti Babu, Placement Cell in-charge at the VR Siddhartha Institute of Engineering and Technology.