The Hindu Business Line : Tech professionals turn to teaching

Engineering colleges have begun to see greater interest from IT workers keen to take up the profession, thought to be a safe bet as the education sector is considered recession-proof.

Tech employees are facing job uncertainties due to the meltdown that has impacted the fortunes of Indian IT companies.

Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) has seen almost a ten-fold increase in applications for faculty positions. “If it was one or two applications earlier, this year we have received about 10-20 for computer science, information science, and electronics and communication,” said Mr M.U. Ashwath, Placement and Training Officer at BIT.

“We used to advertise to fill up the vacant positions, but there is no need to do that now,” Mr Ashwath said, adding that the college has even received two applications from doctorate degree holders, which was rare earlier. BIT has also received applications from HR and Finance professionals for its Management Studies department.

Stop-gap option

Bangalore-based R.V. College of Engineering has interviewed some candidates and some have already joined as faculty. “I think many people have planned this as a stop-gap career option,” said Mr K.N. Subramany, Director of the college.

“Though we are seeing substantial interest from technology professionals to take up teaching, it is too early to call it a trend,” said Mr K. Rajanikanth, Principal, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT). “If the economic revival does not happen early, we may see more interest,” Mr Rajanikanth said, adding that about four professionals have approached the college in search of teaching slots.

Though practical experience of such technology professionals would augur well for the academia, MSRIT has always preferred faculty with a mix of research and academic background, Mr Rajanikanth said.

Do they fit?

Infosys Technologies, which has a huge internal training division — Education and Research department — has not seen any extra interest amongst employees to shift to education and research. “That professionals wanting to take up teaching as a career is not important. What is important is whether they fit the profile. Being an IT professional does not make you a good teacher,” said Mr Mohandas Pai, Member of Board and Head of E&R, Infosys.

“The challenge in the teaching profession is very different and it should not be seen as the last option,” Mr Pai added.