The Hindu Business Line : Engg grads: The rules of the hiring game

LAST year's salary data from the top engineering colleges, including some IITs, show that if you have specific computer skills, rather than generic analytical skills, there is a greater likelihood of the likes of Microsoft taking you at distinctly higher entry-level salaries.

On the other hand, software services companies value analytical skills that any engineering degree typically offers. Mr Anip Sharma, Student-Placement in-charge at IIT Bombay, said: "An Infosys or a TCS hire IITians from, say, civil engineering even if they don't have adequate programming skills, and then train them in programming."

The rules of the hiring game start to change as you go up the salary spectrum and programming skills become more crucial.

"In addition to regular analytical tests, companies such as Microsoft and Triology test students for core computer languages such as Java and C++," said Mr Sharma.

At IIT Bombay, for instance, salaries offered by Microsoft and Triology - both high-paying MNCs - were Rs 7.2 lakh and Rs 6.75 lakh per annum respectively.

IIT Madras saw students being taken for Rs 8.15 lakh per annum by online retailer, Amazon.

And more often than not, computer science students of the IITs land the plum jobs. They are a special minority within IIT since they are invariably top-rankers at JEE, the entrance exam of IIT. As Mr Sharma put it, "Let's face it. These guys are very smart."

The companies seem to know that too. This year might see salaries go up even further.

A closer look at the salaries offered by MNCs and Indian IT majors reveals an interesting pattern. Companies such as Satyam and Infosys that offer salaries in the Rs 2-2.5 lakh range are essentially looking for good analytical skills, which most engineers from good colleges have. So, these companies tend to hire students across all branches.

A company like Intel, on the other hand, which offers salary in the Rs 4.5-5 lakh range, looks for specific skill-sets and may hire electrical or electronics engineers.

The hiring policies of MNCs and Indian companies are also different: MNCs are choosy about the students they hire from campuses while the latter tend to take them on in large numbers. The number of students hired also tells an interesting story: TCS took close to 100 students from VJTI alone, one of Mumbai's leading engineering colleges. Morgan Stanley, in contrast, selected just one!

Bulk hiring by TCS, Infosys and Wipro is especially true in good colleges that are just below the IITs in the engineering hierarchy.

In the next two months, companies hungry for a slice of the famed Indian engineering brain will get ready for this year's hunting in elite engineering schools across the country.

The hunted have never had it so good.

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