ENGINEERING: DIFFERENT BRANCHES FOR STUDENTS TO CHOOSE FROM 

Engineering is undoubtedly among the most popular courses in India. However, not many are aware that there is a lot more branches hinder engineering and students can choose a course based on their interests and capabilities 

In Karnataka, engineering is the most sought-after option for science graduates. It is easier to get admission into an engineering college even if you have just 60% than to get into good Arts and Science college. While being an engineer assures you of a reasonably good job with a handsome starting salary, not all engineers are happy with the jobs they have. This is mainly due to the fact that most students and parents tend you overlooking the fact that engineering is a broad discipline and encompasses various specialisations each requiring different skills sets and aptitudes. There are nearly 30 branches of engineering, but they all emanate from the core branches - mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, computer science and the newly added biotechnology fields. A brief view of some of them are given below. 

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 

Mechanical engineers primarily deals with machines and tools and so all manufacturing industries employ them whether be it power, steel, railways, automobile, paper, sugar manufacturing etc. They are always in demand, that is why it is called the evergreen branch of engineering. There are other related branches - like automobile, aeronautical and mechatronics which prepares you for that machines/processes related to that specific industry or function. It is generally advisable to do mechanical engineering and then do Masters degree related do that specific industry.

□MECHATRONICS: 

Nowadays most manufacturing industries are automated. The automation of machines is dealt by a specialised branch of engineering called Mechatronics. Electronic components and computer chips automate the mechanical parts. That is why it is called Mechatronics. There is a good demand for experienced Mechatronics engineers.

□AUTOMOBILE:

Because of the increasing automobile industries coming up in India there is a demand for technical people in the automobile industry. But the real picture is that the demand for diploma students who have practical experience of the shop floor requirements is more as compared to the BE/B.TECH engineers.

□MARINE ENGINEERS:

Marine engineers are in charge of the machines which keep the ship running. Salary is very high and range from 60000 to 3 lakhs per month. 

□AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERS:

As the name suggests it has a lot to do with aircrafts. Aeronautical engineers also specialise in aerospace and satellite building. India does not have a major aircraft manufacturing industry so the job opportunities are very limited inside the country. Young boys who aspire to enter this field need to check on the current job opportunities in the market before choosing the field. 

□ALTERNATIVES TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING:

One can also opt for production engineering, manufacturing engineering or industrial engineering if you do not get mechanical engineering in your college of your choice. The subjects are more or less same for these branches and companies also recognise the same.

CIVIL ENGINEERS/ ARCHITECTS

Take care of the construction process of physical structures like roads, ports, dams, buildings, bridges, etc. The Architect designs the structure while the Civil engineer constructs the same. After lot of man management skills are required from a civil engineer. The demand for civil engineer is high in any economy and more so in a developing economy like ours. Civil engineers can specialise in niche areas related to construction like construction management, structural/earthquake/soil/ocean engineering to name a few. Civil engineers can start their own construction business or work in government departments like PWD, highways dept or private or public sector companies.

□TRANSPORT ENGINEERING:

Primarily involves planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of transportation facilities like air, highway, railroad, pipeline, water, and even space transportation.

ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS (EEE/EC/E&I)

Machineries cannot run without electricity and electronic circuits. So engineering students of this field also fit into any industry. That is probably why most students and parents blindly opt for EC or EEE. Areas of application include electrical and electronic circuit design, instrumentation, control systems, power generation and transmission. It is a tough course to study as it requires a lot of abstract thinking. Job opportunities are good, but getting jobs in a core engineering or electronic company is tough unless you are a topper and studying in the top tier colleges as this is where the core companies go for campus recruitment.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 

Students interested in organic and inorganic chemistry can opt for this as they will learn a lot about chemical processes.  Job opportunities are wide and varied and include - paint, cement, petroleum, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, textile, coal, fertiliser companies. Related branches which involve chemical sciences are petroleum engineering, environmental engineering, metallurgy, material science engineering, food technology, printing technology, textile technology, plastic technology, polymer technology, pharmaceutical engineering, leather technology. Most branches in this group lead to a specific industry and there is a continuing demand for these engineers as the seats for these branches are limited.

COMPUTER SCIENCES

Campus placements, attractive salaries and plush offices continues to attract young minds to this industry. But keep in mind that there is a lot of hard work involved as in this industry the machine which churns out the program is the human mind. Most people tend to only look at computer programming careers in this field. There are different specialisations one can plan for including networking, testing, hardware, web development, e-commerce, cloud computing, database administrator, system architecture. And one need not work in IT companies alone. All big companies/PSUs including manufacturing companies have IT departments where they employ IT professionals, though here experienced candidates are preferred. Recession may reduce the demand for IT professionals in the market, but IT as an industry is here to stay and so candidates who have adequate practical knowledge and experience will quite easily and employment always. 

BIO-RELATED ENGINEERING COURSES

Biotechnology, biomedical engineering, medical electronics, industrial biotechnology, genetic, bioinformatics. Most jobs in the industry are research based so one need to keep this in mind as you need to study up to PG or research level to get well-paying job. Salaries are attractive for the experiences research scholars.

AGRICULTURAL AND IRRIGATION ENGINEERING 

With the advent of large scale farming set to replace the small land holding farmers, Agricultural engineers are going to be in great demand in the coming years.

OTHER BRANCHES

There a lot more branches of engineering other than those listed here. Students can explore other interesting options including mining, geoinformatics, naval architecture, fashion technology, ceramic engineering, fire and safety engineering, dairy technology, avionics, aircraft maintenance engineering, renewable energy.

DIPLOMA/LATERAL ENTRY

Experts say India kabir facing a crunch odd technicians. Here it is diploma and ITI students who fill this gap. There are quite a few companies who advertise for technical personnel and clearly indicate that they do not want engineers to apply.