Always choose course over college: Udaysai Muthyala

Khammam Iinstitute of Ttechnology and Sciences

It was in class X that my interest in semiconductors started to develop. In Physics, we had a chapter devoted to semi-conductors. I found all the topics in that chapter very interesting, but I didn’t know at that time that I would be choosing Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) as my career option.

Being good at Mathematics and Physics, I choose MPC (Maths, Physics, and Chemistry) in my Intermediate (class XI and class XII). My interest in Electronics grew even more in class XII, as the topics (in semi-conductors) were in depth and interesting. This made me choose ECE in my graduation.

I’ve heard there are only a few chances for one to become an electronics engineer in India.  And I’ve seen only a few settle in their core (ECE) field, and the rest choose software. But all these things didn’t deviate me from my interest in Electronics. As the usage of electronic gadgets has increased, the demand for electronics engineer has increased as well. With all these pros, my decision to pursue Electronics and Communication became even stronger. All of these made me pursue EC in my graduation.

My admission journey

For admissions to universities, autonomous colleges or any other reputed colleges, one needs to have a sheer determination and prepare well for around 10 hours a day to get good marks and further get admission in a good college. I appeared in AP EAMCET, to get admission to a reputed engineering college. AP EAMCET exam has no negative marking, so one can attempt all the questions he/she is sure of and then take chances with the left ones. I took a one-month coaching for AP EAMCET.

JEE Main and JEE Advanced are national level engineering entrance exams. One can only write JEE Advanced if he/she has qualified JEE Mains, or else, he/she isn’t eligible for JEE Advanced. Both of these exams have negative marks for wrong answers, unlike AP EAMCET. So one needs to be careful while choosing the answer in these exams.

One suggestion that I could to give is to attempt as many mock tests as possible, which will help you know the type of questions, enhance your time management skill etc. Mock tests also help you realize topics you are good at, topics you need more practice on, and the ones you are bad at. And you could also calculate the time you’ve taken to attempt each question. All these will surely help you excel in your exam.

With a good rank (above 5000), one will get admission into good universities. You will get to know which colleges you are eligible for, in counselling. There will be cases where you will be getting a branch different from the one you chose, but in a good college. I suggest the students should choose stream over college. Your passion for the stream of your choice shouldn’t die just because of a reputed college.

Always go for the stream you are interesting in even if the college isn’t as good as expected, because no matter which college you study in, it is one’s interest which will make all the difference.

At the time of admission, I felt that a student with good academics can manage in any college, no matter if it is a good one or not. I joined a college in our locality. The admission process was very simple. I just went to the college, loved the atmosphere out there, took a quick look at the labs, talked about the college fee, bargained it to the maximum amount and then joined the college.

 Learnings and insights:

Khammam Institute of Technology and Sciences (KITS) is the college from where I completed my graduation. Located in  Khammam, it is built on a 40-acre land, with a vast ground. There are many trees in the college and is surrounded with paddy crops. All these create a good, peaceful atmosphere. With so many trees in the college, the temperature in the college is 2 degrees less compared to the surrounding temperature. The college campus is a nice place to study. I remember, in my second semester of the second year, during the semester exams of April-May, the exams were conducted on alternate days. I, along with a few of my friends would go to the college to prepare, since our college is always the best place to study with a peaceful and cool atmosphere. One more thing I would like to say is that our college hosts a lot of social work events. I participated in many activities related to social work such as helping the orphanages and old age homes, donating blood, planting trees, etc. and whenever I look back, I feel proud of participating in such activities. I always like to talk to my juniors, help them, and ensuring that they don't commit the mistakes which I did.

Placements in our college are not up to the students’ expectations. And, of course, many of the students are also not up to the expectations of many good companies. Few companies, which require customer support executives, visited our college. We were quite satisfied with them, since students from a few colleges in our locality didn’t even get a chance to face an interview. What benefited us in attending interviews for these companies is that we got to know how HR executives recruit. A few of them suggested areas of improvement in order to get recruited. With placements, we learnt how a resume must be prepared, how to face an interviewer, the areas of improvement, etc. which would definitely be helpful in our future interviews.   

I would definitely say I choose the right career. My interest in Electronics made me choose with Electronics in graduation. I never regretted choosing Electronics as my career option. I, of course, find very few opportunities in Electronics now, but with passion and hard work, I feel everything can be achieved. 

I was very enthusiastic in the beginning of my graduation. I came to know what all things are required for one to be an embedded engineer. C is the most important language for anyone to become a good embedded engineer. With that in mind, I did very well in the first year’s C language subject. And then, as the days passed by, with very bad teaching and labs, I lost all interest in learning core subjects. I, however, cleared all the subjects. I found Linux to be very important. I used to attend workshops on Linux, Arduino, etc. which gave me hope that I could definitely be an embedded engineer.

I used to think any college is the same if the student is good at academics but at the end of my graduation I found that it is wrong. The reason behind this is that the labs and the way of teaching of a few faculty members never developed any interest in me for learning things. The benefit of choosing a good college is you will have good labs and infrastructure, which will make you get into practical learning, which is definitely necessary for any student to learn things as they are. We never did practicals with controllers in our college, which is the worst thing one could experience being an Electronics student. My knowledge in Electronics grew with workshops and I feel everyone should attend workshops in the college as they give you practical knowledge. Few students wonder if it is worth going to workshops by paying a high amount of money for very few hours or days of workshop. Yes, it is definitely worth going to workshops as there you will get exposure of to technologies which you will not get in college. And once you get to know the technologies, you can explore them by yourself thereafter.

As already mentioned, deciding the career option is a crucial part for any student. Always go for the stream which you are interested in. First and foremost, get to know all the branches that are there for you to study, try to know a little about all the branches, decide which will suit you, and then go for it.

Hope this article is useful to you in choosing the right career option as well as college.

About the author:

My name is Udaysai Muthyala. I completed my graduation from Khammam Institute of Technology and Sciences, Khammam. I completed my schooling from Mucherla Global School, and my Intermediate from Krishnaveni Junior College. My hobbies are listening to music, gardening, and playing chess.