Tell someone in India that you’re an engineer and it’s assumed that you’re from IIT. Tell someone in India that you’re not from IIT and it’s assumed that you’re not an engineer.
So let’s face it, it’s a tough life being an engineer in India without a degree from IIT. From nagging parents to undermining stares of uncles and aunties, it’s an unfair existence. Here are 15 things you will relate to if you are an engineer but not from IIT!
1. You are constantly compared to the ones who went to IIT.
“Mehtaji ke bete ka JEE ho gaya, kuch seekho usse!” Sound familiar?
2. So much so that you start introducing yourself with “Yes, I am an engineer. No, not from IIT.”
3. You’ll never understand why you are devalued despite studying the same syllabus.
4. People assume you’re not as smart as your degree because you did not go to IIT.
5. Your parents must have asked you to re-apply to IIT a million times.
Or even drop a year to prepare for the same.
6. And if you did not re-apply, they just assumed you’re not serious about your career.
7. You cannot brag about your engineering college because it’s not IIT.
And if you do, be prepared for the “did-you-just-say-that?” look!
8. Getting placed after college is not easy either.
9. You want to go to the next big college in India or abroad for your career and people say “Oh! Achha hai, varna career kaise banega?”
Life is just not fair. You want IIM, you end up in IIPM. And if you want something else, you apparently have no career!
10. You have to work 10 times harder than your IITian colleague at work just to get a “good job!” from your boss.
The IITian, on the other hand, can happily work from home and still gets a raise.
11. Your salaries differ massively from the ones who went to IIT.
Salaries over 10 lakhs per annum is just a dream. At least, initially.
12. Your marriage prospects also take a hit.
Just because you did not go to IIT!
13. Even if you love engineering, people wonder if you were forced into it.
Because for them, love for engineering means going to IIT.
14. You were extremely glad to find out that Satya Nadella did not go to IIT.
And you often use this to support your stand whether in arguments or just for self-motivation.
15. You hope someday people will understand you for the profession you chose and not for the college you went to.
You chose what you love. The end.
By the time you turn 40, nobody cares about which college you went to so why put someone through such hell until then?