Is Computer Science Course (2022 Beyond) an Opportunity or Obsession? Fad or Fortune? Vertical Skill or Horizontal Skill? Read this perspective

Dear Friends and Students

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) revived the American economy but it also created a significant negative impact. Indigenous societies were attacked, approximately 3 lakhs people migrated to California from the rest of the US and abroad, and gold worth tens of billions were recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, but for many a little. One large negative aspect of the Gold Rush was how it affected the environment around it, miners devastated the surrounding ecosystem and flooded the rivers with sediment, the sediment washed downstream and flooded farms, and ruined the crops.

What is the connection between Gold Rush and CSE Crush? Looks like both are creating a similar impact. As per statista.com, the Number of students enrolled in engineering at an undergraduate level across India in 2020, by discipline (CSE 9.35L, Mech 6.84L, ECE 6.11L, Civil 4.84L, EEE 3.7L). Furthermore, in the last 2 years, the number of seats in CSE has dramatically increased! A few colleges converted traditional core engineering seats to CSE. A few colleges increased intake in CSE. A few colleges added new branches of the CSE family (AI-ML, DS, IoT, Business Systems, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, etc.) E.g., the state of Tamil Nādu increased seats in these courses by over 50% this year (2021- 35K, 2022- 57K).  

Multiple Signals now point to Europe/ U.S. Recession. The link between the US slowdown and IT is always significant. Margin pressures are increasing for all IT companies. As A Result, there would be a slowdown in lateral hiring, campus hiring may happen but delayed onboarding, significant layoffs, the risk for professionals on the bench, expecting deep expertise from the freshers, and so on.
How does this situation impact aspirants wishing to join CSE only? Today out of 10 enquiries, 9 enquiries were for CSE, 1 for ECE, and the rest almost nil! This is not a good sign. This is a clear obsession!

Computer Science students are of 3 Types-
Type 1. Deep Algorithmic & High Reasoning/Problem-Solving ability (only 10% have this)
Type 2. Reasonable Coding Knowledge with average reasoning (>60%)
Type 3. Low computational thinking (30%). Type 3 students are unfit for the software industry.
Today  Type 2 students possess basic programming, a little bit of data structures knowledge, a peripheral view of databases, and a few software tools. They are called CSE graduates. These students suffer a lot during a recession. If a mechanical/EEE/Civil/Chemical student with basic programming, basic database & data structures orientation, can outperform Type 2 CSE students. They learn worldly knowledge through their core domain skills. With basic automation skills (Programming and IoT orientation), they can bring more business to organizations. They can also contribute to Engineering automation.

The Departments of CSE and ECE are no longer Vertical Skills!! It is a hard truth. Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, and Electrical are Vertical departments. CSE/ECE are horizontal departments. They provide support to Vertical departments in their automation pursuits. The core engineering domain industry needs people with good domain skills, programming skills, and engineering software usage skills. These students are more productive than Type 2 CSE students in the future. CSE AI-ML and Data science branches need students of CSE Type 1 level. They need a good understanding of Math, Statistics, Programming, and domain orientation. Type 2 CSE students merely use the algorithms developed by Type 1 CSE. Even Mechanical/Civil/Chem/EEE can use (not create) these ML algorithms and can be called Data scientists.

Institutions suffer if they keep on depending on CSE Glory. They have to quickly divide whole education into verticals and horizontals. Horizontal departments should offer skills/electives and make them compulsory for every vertical student. Horizontal departments students should groom towards the Type 1 level. Type 2 CSE/ECE students have less market sustainability.  Hence, they need to be moved upwards (Towards Type 1). For e.g., they need to be trained in competitive coding or VLSI design/IoT expertise, etc. If they cannot go upward, they should be trained in Management and Entrepreneurship. Type 3 students should be quickly identified and push them towards their passion. If this strategy is not implemented in the institutions, CSE crush becomes CSE crash!

Convert Obsession to Opportunity! A Fad to Fortune! Avoid Crush to Crash!

Are you Type 1 CSE/ECE or Type 2 CSE/ECE or Type 3 CSE/ECE? If you are Type 2 go upwards or change your hat quickly! If you are Type 3, wear a new dress altogether!

Ravi Saripalle
Note: Opinions expressed by authors are their own.