Computer careers hot enough to be considered “cool”
Generation Next still upbeat about computer education

19-year old Anuj Agarwal is particularly upbeat about his plans for the future. Having enrolled for a two-year, long term, IT course alongside his B.Com (Hons) program, he is convinced he will stand a good chance in the job market in the years ahead. “I am supplementing my formal education with NIIT’s career-oriented GNIIT course as I believe it will help me get ahead professionally. The most compelling aspect of the program is its innovative concept of 
‘Professsional Practice’ which will give me an edge over my peers. I am sure I will get a preference over others by hiring companies,” says Anuj.

Parents too are tending to agree. Sunita Bhatia, manager at Motorola’s CGISS, and mother of 18-year old Monika, supported her daughter’s decision to join NIIT’s CareerEdge program in addition to the regular, biotechnology degree program she had enrolled for at college. “Computer education programs enhance the logical and analytical capacity of young minds. Most jobs today have an element that is hi-tech and Web-enabled and it is very important for students to be prepared for this new environment. Knowing computers helps reduce the cycle time for creating ‘industry ready’ professionals. The analytical bent of mind helps students get ahead in any career, be it sales, marketing or anything creative,” Bhatia remarks.

Anuj and teenagers like Monika are not alone in their belief that computer education is a must—more so now than ever before. Hundreds of students today are giving a rethink to computer education, picking up the threads from where they left off one or two years ago. Can one then safely say IT education is back with a bang? Is it once again “in” with Generation Next, hot enough to be considered “cool.”

According to the MTV crowd, apparently, computer careers were never really out, and continued to remain “cool.” “Disturbing reports in the newspapers about IT no longer being a good career choice might have had an effect on students enrolling for computer courses in the short term. However, nobody really believed that the computer industry would die. Besides, computer knowledge is no longer just relevant to the IT industry. Every field today demands computer skills,” comments Amit Kukreja, young co-owner and part time manager of a well-known speciality restaurant in New Delhi. All of 20, Kukreja is juggling three assignments simultaneously—his formal college course, his managerial work at the restaurant and a short duration computer awareness program. “Computer skills help me to keep the accounts at the restaurant up-to-date and to plan the daily inventory of raw materials. The computer course I am going through is helping me both in my business and my college studies. Clearly, there’s no escaping computer knowledge today,” he adds.

The case of young Vikul Chander is even more interesting. Despite a high 79 percent in his Class XII board examinations, Chander found the branded colleges in the capital beyond his reach. He opted then for a degree course in IT, and now plans to extend this skill base with an additional career-focused computer course from NIIT. “This will add to what I am currently learning, serve as a guide and give me tips about what industry employers are looking for when they go for hiring,” states Chander.

Computer courses are also gaining popularity among students who find themselves out of the reckoning in the race for the highly coveted engineering colleges across the country. According to 19-year old Angad who is doing his computers from a leading institute in Gurgaon,  “Computers continue to be a good career choice, though I do believe people have to remain abreast of the developments on a constant basis. Technology is advancing at high speed—faster than a normal person cope with. Only those people who can cope with the changes taking place within the industry can make it. With computers you have to be on a continuous learning curve. Computer careers are cool and money making until the time you are in tune with what’s the latest and you’re in the picture,” he adds. 

At the end of the day it appears that computer education still rules the roost among India’s young people. Even if they don’t want to make a career in IT today, they consider it exceedingly important to know the ropes of computers and relevance of gaining career empowering IT skills. Last year’s hype about the down in the dumps computer jobs market may have been disconcerting and the news about “IT is out” jarring, but it hasn’t taken too long for Generation Next to draw its own conclusions about the real picture. While dwindling enrolments for computer courses haven’t yet been replaced by the mad rush of the late 1990s, things are certainly looking up. Surprisingly, and despite conflicting and often confusing media reports, India’s young guns have come out strongly in favour of computer education and the role it is likely to play in their future professional lives.

ENDS