People Who Pursued Engineering Share The Pressures

We constantly come across students dealing with mental health issues given the pressure in the classrooms. A number of student suicides were reported in the past few months at IITs – which is alarming. However, this is not the first time we’ve heard or witnessed this. Students who pursue engineering, or at least want to, end up dealing the pressures of preparing to get into the top institutes.

When they do make it to reputed colleges, they end up in a constant competition of scores, to get a place in major firms. Given that there are limited “good spots” everywhere, there’s a lot of pressure all the time.

These experiences are proof of it:

1. “At first, it’s about getting into an IIT, if not, it comes down to the next big college. They say it gets better after you have a college, but then you have to deal with the pressure of scoring well to get placed in a nice firm. Mostly, it’s some mass recruiter who hires multiple students, and doesn’t pay well.”

– Harshit Ailawadi

2. “It started out in school, where teachers used to tell us that we shouldn’t waste our time in things like sports. They also used to expect us to study during recess, because that’s what “aspirants” are supposed to do. It gets better at times, but not really easy, because there are constant expectations to be the best, but there are too many people in the field.”

– Rahul Manocha

3. “When you consider engineering, people automatically assume that you want to study in some IIT. This is pressure in itself, because not everyone can make it there. So, when you don’t get in, it’s as if you’re not good enough, and a lot of interest fades away at such times.”

– Riya Gill

4. “Industries keep experience over qualification, which is why it takes a lot to make it big. The pressure is real when it comes to practical implementation of anything one learns in engineering, and we need to be the best in the industry.”

– Anonymous

5. “Umm, so basically I think that there is a lot of pressure because these days, engineering is a common field in the country and there are so many engineers. Mass recruiters hire a lot of people, but that is not enough.

– Pihoo

6. “The students who have plans for higher studies in first year are brainwashed into thinking that they are wasting parents’ money if they don’t get placed in the 4th year. So everyone is running in a rat race to get a job which might or might not align with the skills that they have developed in these 4 years.”

– Jatin Arora

7. “During the placement there’s a constant competition among friends to get the highest package, to an extent that it creates a sense of jealousy if you don’t get the highest package or do better than the rest.”

– Anonymous

8. “I had started preparing for JEE entrance in class 6, because I liked science and wanted to pursue engineering. However, the way students are taught and made to work at these coaching centers is deeply toxic. We are hardly left with any time for ourselves, or to do something else. If after all this work, we don’t make it into an IIT, it’s disheartening and scary. And it happens often.”

– Shiv Makhija

9. “We are hardly taught engineering with the idea to enjoy it, all of it mostly comes down to scoring well for placements. Of course, that takes away the interest from the field, and eventually the job. It’s hard to like something when you’re told not to enjoy it.”

– Maanya Minocha

10. “There are a lot of cases, where parents end up forcing their children to consider fields like engineering. My case was different, and I made the choice myself. However, over time, I realized that the competition is toxic, and no matter how well you do at your job, it’s not enough. The growth can be limited, and that’s sad. So, I ended up doing MBA to change fields.”

– Diksha Singh