I am an engineer…yet never worked a day in engineering…
How many here are like me? What do you think of it?
The adage goes that in India(especially the South), you are either a doctor, or an engineer.
A lot of us have gone through the engineering degree, but went on to MBAs, and further into unrelated careers.
And so a lot of people wonder (and ask me) – why did you learn engineering? Wasn’t it a waste?
Don’t know about others, but my two bits – I may not have become an engineer in the true sense of the word – but engineering taught me a lot.
Going through 65 different subjects in 8 semesters of 6 months each, is no mean achievement.
If you can do that, you can learn anything.
And that is what engineering taught me – the patience and diligence to sit down and learn, however unrelated the subject, however difficult the subject.
I may have not become a telecommunications whizz, but engineering taught me to look at any business model with an open mind – to figure out how it works, to take it apart and put it together…
Today, as we in India celebrate Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s birthday as Engineer’s Day, I congratulate all fellow engineers..may our tribe increase!
