Which Stream to Choose In IIT After Clearing JEE Exam?

Thousands of students appear for JEE exams and only a few of them are able to crack it and get a seat in IIT (the most prestigious engineering college) in India. Most of the students till the 12th standard aim to crack JEE, but have no idea about what to do once they have qualified. 

The next big thing you should be prepared for is selecting your stream. JEE itself is a very tough exam, students are generally so occupied with studies that they forget the mere fact about choosing the stream. This is the part where the majority of students get confused and select a branch based on random factors like – nearest location or where their peers are enrolling. But choosing streams should solely be dependent on your personal interests. 

Engineering Streams

The engineering sector has numerous fields and you will definitely find the one that deems fit as per your needs. Some of the most popular fields for engineering are  Chemical engineering, Electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Biotechnology, Aerospace engineering, Marine engineering, Nuclear engineering, etc. By graduating in these fields you can get a placement in both the private and government sectors. Here’s a brief of all the  engineering branches offered by IIT: 

Civil Engineering

Civil Engineers are responsible for building structures for the country. The two foundation principles for this branch are science and engineering. This branch roots out to other micro branches such as transportation, construction, and environmental engineering. Civil engineers get equal opportunities in both the private and public sectors, the pay is usually very high. They also fall in the most demanded professionals in developing countries like Canada and Australia.

Computer Science & Engineering

It is one of the most desired branches of engineering. It advances along with technology and current trends in Computer Science Engineering are Robotics, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things and Big Data. The Tech area grows rapidly not just in India but globally. From coding, developing, designing, data analytics, and testing, engineering students have a wide range of options to choose from. Moreover, many IITians get placed in IT Giants like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and many more. 

Chemical Engineering

This branch of engineering solely revolves around science and has huge demand in both the manufacturing and service industries. This involves various job roles ranging from food, chemicals, fibers, and production. They get good opportunities in both the private and public sectors, can work for the defense, atomic plants and the pharma sector. 

Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering is all about power and electricity with enormous scope and exposure. The public sector has ample opportunities for this particular branch. Electricity boards like NTPC, NHPC and other state electricity boards need electrical engineers for smooth functioning. They are also hired by IT and ERP solution organizations. In the public sector electrical engineering students can look out for jobs in PSU, defence forces and railway. They will surely get a decent salary package. 

Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering is the dream of many students who want to fly and are curious about space and the universe. Being the most lucrative engineering branch, aerospace engineering includes the study of aircrafts, spacecrafts – their construction, design, testing, operation, and maintenance. This branch roots out two other sub branches i.e. Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering. 

Again Aerospace engineers can work in both public and private sectors. There are a list of opportunities in Aviation, Air Force, CSIR, DRDO, NASA and many organizations that manufacture aircrafts. This branch has one of the highest salary packages. 

Mechanical Engineering

As the name suggests Mechanical Engineering is all about machines and this branch includes manufacturing design and physics. There are plenty of career options for mechanical engineers in India, the field is very diverse and students get to learn a lot of practical things. A mechanical engineer handles every sort of work like Research and Development, Product Design, Manufacturing, Design of Machines and Manages System. Hundreds of Mechanical engineers get placed every year in both public and private sectors especially in aviation, automobile and manufacturing industries. Apart from this they can also find a good job role in Biotech, Power Plants and Oil Refineries. Mechanical engineers can also work in Military, IT and teaching sectors as they also offer attractive salary packages. 

Placements offered in different IITs:

Placements in IITs across India take place from December to May. The starting salary packages of top IIT students usually ranges from 10 -20 lakhs whereas for normal IITs it’s between 5 – 10 lakhs per annum. Meanwhile the highest salary packages are somewhere between 90 lakhs to 1 crore in top IITs and 20-30 lakhs in a regular IIT college. 

 The highest packages are usually from international organizations and biggest domestic companies including Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Walmart, Flipkart, Amazon, Apple, Deloitte, Cisco, TATA, Accenture, JP Morgan, Caterpillar, Qualcomm, IBM and more. The recruitment drive takes place in IIT campuses and a lot of times students get the chance to participate in workshops and internships before getting placed. 

IIT Placements: Domestic Salary Packages

Here we have listed all the CTC’s offered by different organizations on a domestic level. The data has been taken from the final placement reports 2019

IIT Placement: Highest International Packages

The below table shows the highest CTC’s that were offered by few national/international organizations to the students from top IIT’s.  The data has been taken from the year 2019 final placement report. 

The Placement Procedure of IITs

The placement procedure followed is same in every IIT and here we have mentioned the step by step process: 

Step 1 – There are separate Training & Placement Cells in all IITs, they are assisted by student representatives. They send invites to both domestic and international companies along with required information and docs along with Job Announcement Form (JAF), Placement Brochures etc. 

Step 2 – Organizations also show keen interest in recruiting students when they have openings. Companies contact the T&P Cell by sending an email with the required information. 

Step 3– Once the T&P cell receives JAF along with the details, T& P Cell gets back to the company via email and then the campus interview dates are allotted as per the JAF (Job Announcement Form). 

Step 4- Then the T&P Cell and companies have a discussion for the Pre Placement Talk(PPT), once both parties are headed in the same direction, they confirm the dates and T&P Cell notifies students about the same. 

Step 5 – The organizations send their concerned teams to conduct PPT (Pre-Placement Talk). 

Step 6 – Sometimes companies also choose pre-final year students for summer internships during their visit for placement drives. 

Step 7 – Interested students create their resumes and register with the same on the company’s website to get shortlisted. So, that their resume is accessible to the organization.

Step 8 – Companies go through all the resumes and send the list of shortlisted students to T&P Cell before visiting the campus for the final round of interview. 

Step 9 – The companies then visit the campus for Pre-Placement Talks on allocated dates. Then they conduct Group Discussions/Technical Test/Aptitude Tests/Personal Interviews etc. 

Step 10 – The interviews take place and the companies make a final list of selected candidates. Sometimes they’re selected on the same day and sometimes they take a few days to make the final decision. 

Lastly, we would like to conclude that you should do your own research. Most of the tools and apps become obsolete over time. As technology keeps evolving, you have to think and choose something that will have more to offer in the future. As everything is already becoming automated, the world will be taken over by Machine Learning and  Artificial Intelligence in the near future. A lot of manual jobs will be automated and will get replaced by machines. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Tesla have already started applying these technologies in their organizations. So, we suggest you choose something which will grow along with the future advancements.