Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Junk technocrats

As ironical it might sound, there would be some if not many IITians who might fall into this category. I am a bit embarrassed to be one of those. The term "Junk technocrat" here is coined by my stupid brain by combining junk bonds and technology. Its common sense to expect IITians as technology graduates to have a better sense and awareness of newer technologies and their intricacies. Or atleast not to be clumsy and outdated in the area. But yet they are. There is no direct correlation between the quality of an IITian and the technical expertise the person possesses. From IIT, you would expect that won't you.

To share a few personal feelings on the subject, it gets a bit embarrassing and sometimes irritating when people expect that I am the one that can get them the next app, website and what not made with ease. I think its the perception that the word technology creates. The reason here is two fold. Firstly, IIT never tests you as a technocrat before letting you in. Neither your ability nor your interest. Whether its possible or not its a different matter. True, people good in PCM can be expected to be fit in engineering but in a age of computers and when almost every new breakthrough innovation in technology is through computers, these three clearly are not good enough. Also in hindsight, alignment of interests of student and an institute's vision should match. Interviews could be very helpful in that regard. Secondly, as I've explained in blogs before the quality of education is still far away from it should be. The professors are not innovative and inspiring enough to embed the importance of technology in students and fail to get them motivated to gain knowledge. They have to learn to connect to students in a much better fashion. Students can be blamed to an extent only.

After joining the industry, working in technology and now in finance studying global trends I definitely see a lack of innovative spirit in our students. Its because of our education not fostering that culture and also due to the financial condition of our people. But as a country we have to realize be it US, be it Germany, be it Japan all leading nations have to depend on technology to maintain a lead in international markets. As the best institutes in technology and with the kind of recognition that IITs already get they have to do better.

To conclude, the purpose of this blog is to show the mismatch between what should we be achieving and what are we achieving through an IITian. Either we should start labelling them as universities where our top brain study from or else as a technology institutes they should welcome students only with a "techie" mindset. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

its so since everyone runs a blind rat-race of getting into iit..only some aspirants really love engineering..others don't press the pause button of their lives to discover their purpose or what they love and therefore we get technocrats who are not that innovative .

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