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In my experience recruiting engineers, I have found brighter candidates outside the IIT system more often than not, who have invariably higher levels of extra c

by anuraj 13y ago

In my experience recruiting engineers, I have found brighter candidates outside the IIT system more often than not, who have invariably higher levels of extra curricular skills that translate well into excellence in jobs. I am afraid IITs are a mono culture that values academic achievement far more than they ought to.

eshvk 13y ago
I haven't; my interviewing of Indian origin candidates (with graduate degrees) in the U.S. has mostly found their ability to think through solutions to be uncorrelated with their undergrad institutions. I doubt if the IITs are so drastically different from other institutions as you describe them. First off "extra curricular skills" in the way they exist in the U.S. (where an Engineer can take an art class, learn to row or learn about constitutional law) don't necessarily exist in India. Secondly, the IITs (from what people who went there describe it) are not that hard academically on their students: It is fairly easy to do "relatively well". It gets much harder to get perfect grades; it is that percentage of people where you see the monoculture obsessively working all the time. It works out well though; that percentage typically goes to do a PhD in the U.S. where that obsession pays off well.
- anuraj 13y ago
  As you rightly said, you can't take different stream courses in India, but that is where ingenuity shows. People step out of their academics and achieve proficiency in one or more unrelated fields - and since it is not so easy - only the driven few do it - and what I meant is I see it happening more often among non-IIT candidates - and they invariably turn out good. IITians I believe get a (somewhat correct) sense of job security after course which probably makes them focus only on academics. I have worked with many interns from US (MIT and the like), India (IITs and non IITS) and have recruited many - but my best interns and recruits always came from less privileged backgrounds.

by anuraj 13y ago

eshvk 13y ago

I haven't; my interviewing of Indian origin candidates (with graduate degrees) in the U.S. has mostly found their ability to think through solutions to be uncorrelated with their undergrad institutions. I doubt if the IITs are so drastically different from other institutions as you describe them. First off "extra curricular skills" in the way they exist in the U.S. (where an Engineer can take an art class, learn to row or learn about constitutional law) don't necessarily exist in India. Secondly, the IITs (from what people who went there describe it) are not that hard academically on their students: It is fairly easy to do "relatively well". It gets much harder to get perfect grades; it is that percentage of people where you see the monoculture obsessively working all the time. It works out well though; that percentage typically goes to do a PhD in the U.S. where that obsession pays off well.

anuraj 13y ago
As you rightly said, you can't take different stream courses in India, but that is where ingenuity shows. People step out of their academics and achieve proficiency in one or more unrelated fields - and since it is not so easy - only the driven few do it - and what I meant is I see it happening more often among non-IIT candidates - and they invariably turn out good. IITians I believe get a (somewhat correct) sense of job security after course which probably makes them focus only on academics. I have worked with many interns from US (MIT and the like), India (IITs and non IITS) and have recruited many - but my best interns and recruits always came from less privileged backgrounds.