Top Qualities of an Engineering Student

'Engineering' as a degree and profession has undergone a tremendous change over past few decades in India. It evolved from a stage when engineer would typically mean a civil engineer to a stage when every 3rd service class professional is an engineer. Increasing popularity of the course can be attributed to the diversity of career options offered by this degree. Nowadays Engineering degree acts as your passport to choose any career area. However, increasing popularity and easy availability of degree has also affected the exclusivity associated with this qualification. 

In this changing time, it becomes very important for a student to identify what qualities are expected from an engineer. These characteristics of an engineering graduate will define her success in the different spheres of professions. Lets discuss some of them:

1. Learnability: Employers expect the candidate to be 'Able to Learn', not just learned. Learning and re-learning are important as market place is highly dynamic and things change very fast. Candidate shall keep himself relevant by being updated, else his ability will become obsolete very fast.

2. Love for Floor-job: A true engineer is always found on the floor. People who expect to work on laptop sitting in an AC office are far from reality. First hand knowledge gained from the floor makes the foundation of any good professional. Start of the career should be spent learning basics of the business, and that only happens at the front.

3. Communication Abilities: Ability of convey message and ability to receive message are core communication abilities. Candidates shall be able to do this in a clear, concise and coherent manner. It might happen in any language, but more important is to have clear thought process, ability to articulate your views and words to put your point across.

4. Diversified Knowledge: These days, technologies are complex and highly interlinked. This makes it necessary to have knowledge of all the areas. A Computer engineer shall understand Electronics to predict performance of processor. Similarly, a mechanical engineer shall also understands programming to work with CNC machines. Now, engineering cannot be compartmentalized easily.

5. Practical Knowledge: Books are fine, but Engineer shall also know its application on the ground. Having hands-on experience and thorough practical knowledge is very important for being successful engineer.

These qualities add much more value to a professional. In the coming times, people will appreciate more about these characteristics, than just degrees.