Degrees of (in)competency

2004-09-11T03:05:00.000-07:00

Returning to college (unnamed for personal safety, but it should suffice to know that it is accredited to the University of Pune) after a hiatus brought into sharper relief the inadequacy of the educational system as far as computer engineering is concerned. Be warned, these are the words of a man who has failed repeatedly here, so you may want to read ahead with a little scepticism.
Apart from an improvement in the quality of the teaching staff, the college remains the institution it was two years ago, churning out incompetent but qualified graduates who must be trained by their employers all over again in order to be of any use to the company.
Consider the syllabus. In the first year, common to all branches, computer fudamentals is the only computer related subject we study - C programming without the pointers, how to build a fibonnaci series, even how to use Microsoft Office. Of these, the last is merely a part of the syllabus and is thankfully not taught. The second year is an improvement - we have two computer related subjects. One is Numerical Computation, and is learnt, if at all, by rote. The only reason you may enjoy this year comes from the second subject, Data structures and files. A computer enthusiast loses at least two years waiting to learn real computer engineering.
The teachers' ignorance ensures that we use a Novell Netware network for our second year practical sessions, whereas the syllabus clearly states that all students should program atop a Unix/Linux platform. All machines that run WindowsXP (all pirated copies too) are internet-enabled and also virus-ridden thanks to the lack of an anti-virus program. We write our programs in C/C++ using the TurboC++ 3.0 compiler (also pirated) and are forced to get our graphics outputs printed in laboratories with older machines or from elsewhere.
Not one student gains an insight into software engineering even then. He is expected to complete a mini project along with four other students in the three months of the second semester of his second year using COBOL. This is followed by a mini project in the second semester of his third year using a database backend and a frontend language of his choice. The only database engine he will be taught about here is Oracle, and thanks to time constraints, he will almost certainly code in an ugly tongue called Visual Basic. The final year is the one time he actually has an entire year to devote to his project, which he can work on with a team of four, him excluded.
No substantial experience at all, considering that most company projects are handled by twenty man teams and that most high quality open-source projects have thousands of (non-technical degreed) people across the globe.
Students are not allowed to take a look at their examination answer sheets to see where they've gone wrong. Professors at best can only guess as to how the answer sheets are corrected, and by whom. When students are marked down they are not told what they were expected to deliver. Any chance at self improvement is lost in a maze of opacity.
Professors are not given an incentive to innovate. Our college refused to sponsor a certain professor 's trip abroad for an international conference on computer science. When he chose to pay his way, the college administration refused to grant him leave, demanding that he take time from his allocated sick leave instead. And he was told in no uncertain terms, that any prize or certificate he won would have to be handed over to the college for their business promotions. The professor chose not to go.
When I finished high school, I dreamt of entering a world where the intellectuals ruled. Where creativity was paramount. Where questioning the status quo was not only appreciated but demanded. Where success came by questioning, experimentation and a dedication to scientific pursuit.
Instead I found myself in a factory that manufactured engineers. A factory whose success did not depend upon what the students accomplished while they studied there, but by the number of students who were placed on-campus. A factory where how much the student wrote mattered more than the quality of what he wrote. A factory where the mind was chained and the machine set free.
It would seem the sun has set upon the Oxford of the East.

Hello World!

2004-08-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings.

I am Kapil Kaisare, studying Computer Engineering in Pune.

The Looking Glass

Degrees of (in)competency

Hello World!