KOCHI: The pandemic, into its second year now, does not seem to have affected the prospects of young engineers graduating from premier institutions in the state.Students passing out of institutes like National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C), Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and others in the state have been offered lucrative packages.
What is also encouraging is that the placement season in 2022 too augurs well for then graduates. The only difference is unlike earlier, more software and analytics firms are hiring the budding engineers from the institutions.
While the highest CTC offered this year at NIT-C comes to Rs 43.31 lakh, offers, with CTC as high as Rs 67.6 lakh, are already on the table for four students who will pass out next year. Sajith V, head of NIT-C Centre for Training and Placement said the offer has been made by Traceable AI, a San Francisco-based company.
Moreover, big firms like Microsoft, DE Shaw, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, General Electric, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Exxon Mobil and some new players also haven’t hesitated from offering really good salary package to the right candidates. “I think several factors helped in ensuring more companies’ participation in the placement drive,” he said.
Improvement in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) standings was the major factor behind the increase in number of recruitments from 647 in the 2019-20 cycle to 714 in the 2020-21 season, Sajith said.
Dr Jacob Elias, Cusat chief placement officer, agreed. “The university was 62nd in the NIRF ranking among Indian varsities,” he said. A visible change, however, is the participation of more software and analytics firms this year. “While major infrastructure firms like L&T, Tata Steel, Tata-Hitachi Construction and others did recruit students, the numbers are lower compared to the software and analytics firms,” said Sajith.
Sajith said BTech (Computer Science and Engineering) graduates continue to be the most sought after by firms, with 100 per cent placement and an average annual salary of Rs 17 lakh. The trend was similar in Cusat.
“As many as 101 students from Computer Science, 70 from IT and 62 from Electronics and Communication stream got recruited,” said Jacob. Preference seems to be for students adept in coding and AI, he said.
Officials of the institutions agreed there had been a rise in the number of number of companies participating in the placement drive.“More companies are participating now,” said Dr Sunil Kumar, placement officer, College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.
He said 130 companies took part in the placement drive this year with Rs 22 lakh being the highest CTC, offered by Texas Instruments. MA College, Kothamangalam, too saw a significant increase in recruitment and CTC.
“The highest salary package offered here was Rs 33 lakh, from Virtusa International for their US office. Last year, the highest CTC was Rs 20 lakh. Recruitment is under way,” he said.