Edited by: Aditi Devnath
Note: T5E’s Exit Survey 2022 was conducted in June to study graduating students’ perspectives of life at IIT Madras. The survey had 341 responses across the entire graduating class of 2022, nearly 60% of the survey respondents being UG students (B.Tech + DD+ MA) while the rest were PG students (MSc + MTech + MBA + PhD + MS).
The survey explored various aspects of the essence of a student at insti, such as Lifestyle, Personal Life, Career, Decision Making, Academics, Extracurriculars and Opinion.
This article focuses specifically on the Career prospects, opportunities, and goals that a typical student in IITM has and also the decision-making trends of the insti junta:
Placements:
Around 64% of the respondents sat for the 2021-22 Placement season.
Career Path Ahead:
Nearly 40% of the respondents chose a job in the non-core sector, which is slightly higher than the previous year’s statistics (33% opted for a job in the non-core sector as seen in the 2021 exit survey), while 30% chose for a job in the core sector, followed by 20% respondents choosing higher studies in the core sector which include MS, MBA, Ph.D., Postdoc, etc.
The percentage of people taking a break has also decreased from the year before, possibly due to the pandemic slowly receding.
Career fundaes vs. Career path
When asked about their primary source of career fundaes and their career path, the responses indicate that friends and seniors largely guided them to a job in non-core, and a majority of those who took advice from faculty decided to pursue Higher Studies, or a job, in core as their next step.
This trend could be due to the personal experiences and choices of the advisors.
Job satisfaction:
30% of the respondents weren’t satisfied with the job they got in the placements and thought they could have achieved better.
Around 60% of the respondents are pursuing or plan to pursue Ph.D.
Approximately 70% of the B.Tech students, 75% of Dual Degree and M.Tech Students, said they were satisfied with their final job offers during placements. In contrast, MA and MSc both had a majority of 66% students left feeling that they could have achieved better.
Decision making
When we asked how aware the general public was of the various paths available to them when they joined insti, The mean rating was 2 out of 5, implying nearly 50% of people were unaware or minimally aware of all the possibilities available when joining insti. This could be due to a lack of proper outreach by the various teams of insti or just students, in general, deciding to put off career planning for the penultimate and/or final year.
Clarity on the options
Around 40% of the respondents felt clear about their choices in their penultimate year, and 20% got clarity right before placements. The sophomore year also seems to be a common period for students to ponder their options.
The decision about the career
Around 50% of the respondents decided on the career they wanted to pursue in the penultimate and final year. However, 22% of respondents still have no idea about their path.
Sticking to the plans
60% of respondents want to stick to their career path for at least 2 years, but 35% are still unsure if they want to continue for 2 years and want to see how things will go on their chosen path.
Around 50% of the respondents who got a job in Non-core weren’t sure about the career path in the future, whereas the number dropped to 30% for core aspirants who got a job in the core but are not sure about sticking to their path for 2 years, just wanting to see how things will go. This might mean that people with core jobs either had that in mind as their end goal or eventually warmed up to that idea during their time at insti. But people who have chosen to pursue higher studies, whether in core or non core seem to be the most confident in their choices.
Insti’s opportunities
40% of respondents feel that they haven’t used the opportunities that insti gave to explore the career field they wanted. There is an increase in the percentage of people who felt insti gave them enough time to explore their careers before graduation. This shows either an increase in awareness among students or, possibly, the result of getting used to the circumstances of the pandemic.
Pandemic and its impact
When compared to previous year’s survey results, where around 50% feel that the pandemic has chopped up many of their secondary options and 20% shifted to another option as their primary career choice got disrupted, this year’s results are quite a relief; 60% of respondents feel that the pandemic has not had much of an effect on their career. Unfortunately, 30% of respondents still got many of their secondary options chopped up.
Influence of the branch on career
When asked to rate on scale from 1 to 5 how much their branch helped them do what they are currently pursuing after graduating from IITM, most of the CS students felt their branch was most helpful (average of 4.56 out of 5) for their career, and most of the AM students felt their branch didn’t help them that much for their career path (1 out of 5), indicating that either CS students tend to gravitate towards core jobs or the skills taught in CS courses are helpful for non core jobs as well.
Hackathons and external competitions
85% of respondents who have participated in 4 or more hackathons, or external competitions, are satisfied with the job they got in the placements.
Conclusion:
The final report of T5E’s exit survey produced some interesting insights on the career maps, goals, and ambitions of the graduating batch of 2022. Here’s a quick summary of the data the team collected and analyzed-
- Around 63% sat for the placements, slightly less than the previous year’s percentage (70%).
- For most students, a job in non-core is their main career goal but when it comes to higher studies, the core sector is their primary option.
- 30% of respondents are unsatisfied with the job they got in the placements.
- For most Students, friends and seniors are a significant source of career fundaes.
- The faculty’s advice was considered more important by a core aspirant than a non-core aspirant.
- Most respondents clarified their career path in the penultimate year and/or before placements.
In conclusion, one can rarely make important decisions about their career plan in their freshman and sophomore years. They take various fundaes from multiple sources and decide their path, and most succeed, satisfied with the job they got in the placements. Many students opted for career paths other than jobs in core and non-core. Many want to continue their studies in Core/Non-core, prepare for civil services and government sector jobs, or start their own business. So reduce the time spent worrying about your plans and start enjoying every minute that you spend in insti because it’s not going to come back!
That’s all from the career aspect. We wish the graduating students the best in their careers ahead!
