These days Engineering has become a common professional degree with an ever-growing number of Engineering Colleges both in Government and Private Sectors in India. Lakhs of Students are pass out every year from Engineering Colleges, but not all of them are assured with a promising career. Students during the First year of Engineering Course work should mold themselves to be on an effective learning path to get a good foothold in engineering education.
1.Unique and Evergreen
Though Engineering has become a common professional degree, it is always a unique and evergreen course to pursue. While Pursuing an engineering degree, the students will undergo a total transformation not just academically but also personally. They develop an attitude to face problems situations comfortably and to arrive at intelligent and innovative solutions.
2.Not Except Similar.
Students enter into campus life after undergoing a lot of spoon-feeding types of education during schooling and college days. However, during the engineering, they should not except similar spoon-feeding types of education, otherwise, they will be disappointed. Lecturers may present an overview of any of the subjects with in-depth discussion in selected few topics whenever it is felt important. Rest of the things students will have to learn on their own.
Hence self-learning is a very important quality one should acquire without fail. Otherwise, they will lag behind others. Sometimes lecturers may seem to be boring. It may be either due to your disinterest in the subject or the teacher is not able to present the concept clearly. In either case, there is no point in blaming the subject or the teacher. It is better if the student develops an interest in the subject on his own by doing some homework on understanding the applications of such subjects in an engineering career.
3.Raise Your Hand
Students must be active in class and be good learners. In case, if any concept being dealt with the lecturer is not clear, raise your hand and ask humbly for clarity on the same. Students should be active learners by being more interactive in the class with faculty which will make them learn effectively. Do not sit dumb in the class as it would make you a passive learner.
4.First Year Include
First-year engineering generally includes subjects such as
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Chemistry with a focus on the application in engineering.
5.Special Attention
As there is little pressure on learning engineering core subjects during the first year, students should focus on their personality development. Spoken English has to be given special attention. Particularly students coming from rural areas need to overcome their weakness in spoken or written English during the first year.
Most of the colleges/ Institutions have exclusive English language lab where the students can polish their spoken English. Students must get used to the new methods of learning such as writing assignments, collecting study materials from the library or online resources, and doing a lot of self-study.
6.Focus on Acquiring Skills
The students should use any leisure time available to focus on acquiring other skills such as participating in Group discussions and Team events. Learning to build good vocabulary, word power, quantitative/analytical ability, and logical reasoning, should be done on a continuous basis as these things are cannot be acquired overnight.
Read reputed newspapers, especially editorials, to get an insight into the current issues from various dimensions. Watch English programs in foreign Tv channels to understand different accents of the English language. Converse with friends/ classmates and teachers in English only.
7.Important Components
Extra-Curricular activities can be taken up as they will also form important components of their resume when they start applying Jobs/Higher Studies. The students should aim to participate in various competitions in different colleges at the state level and at the national level. This gives them confidence and exposure to new things.
They will learn how to manage things while working in a team, improve their communication skills, time management, and a lot more. Exposure to practical things teaches many new things to the students. And one should also identify one's weakness and should find ways in overcoming them to build self-confidence.
8.Should Not Fail
Maintaining a steady percentage of marks during four years of BE course work is very important. It is not necessary to be topper in the class. It is fine if you are in the top 10% in the class as long as you are able to build on your overall personality. Students should not fail in any subject as it would jeopardize their first job opportunities.
Most of the companies hiring freshers are imposing a condition that candidates should not have any history of backlogs in engineering coursework. A balance between academics, extracurricular activities, and co-curricular activities is a must. It is very important to balance studies and college fun equally. A student should not totally concentrate on one and lose focus on other. Time management, Teamwork, and multitasking are very crucial skills acquired by Practice.
9.Organizing Skills
The students should also cultivate event management skills by organizing various tech fests in the college. If the target is to get a job in a Multinational Company, then learning one foreign language would be handy. Students targeting software jobs should be good at soft Skills and Programming. Attending mock Group discussions and mock interviews would do a lot of goof in their preparation for campus interviews.
10.Key Challenge
Selecting good friends during the first year is a key challenge. Do not get Carried away with friends who are not sincere in academics. They may try to distract you for other outside activities whose main interest in having fun. Avoid such friends who bunk classes and show a careless attitude.
11.Groom Yourself
Remember your parents have lots of dreams for you. Aim to live up to their dreams. Never forget that you have the responsibility in making the best of every rupee that is spent by your hard-earning parents. The parents do not expect you to give back after you start earning.
They wish that you conduct and behave well and groom yourself into all-round engineering who is also a good human being. And the seeds of such personality growth are sown in the first year of engineering. Be sincere, focused, and disciplined, Aim bigger, and try to reach greater heights.