Today’s graduates are entering a world of increasingly rapid change, change in which technology plays a large role. Much of what you have learnt in your 4 years in college will not be of use during most of your 30-40 years career. How to cope? (1) Lifelong learning (2) Become an agent of change. Take up challenging problems of India and design innovative solutions to bring prosperity to all Indians. We consider reduction of traffic fatalities as an example.
Click for my Graduation Address [pdf, 88KB]
Up to the 20th Century, engineering as a career was predictable. An aspiring engineer studied for 4-5 years to become an expert in a chosen branch. You got a job that used your college learning, and did well for several decades. On the job, you picked up skills specific to your company, perhaps went back to college for a master’s.
The 21st Century has upset these certainties. With the rapid pace of change, much of what an engineer studies in college is likely to be obsolete even before s/he graduates. Robots and AI/ML are taking over whole classes of jobs that engineers used to do. Technologies have a life time of a few years.
In this context, we address a number of questions that a student in a technological institute would have. What is engineering? How do I become a good engineer? AI/ML is my passion, why should I study Chemistry? With robots and AI/ML taking over many engineering jobs, what is my future as an engineer? Which companies will hire me to do real engineering?
Slides of my talk [pdf, 3.2 MB]. See also my MBF blog: How do I become an Innovative Engineer?