This is a quesiton that I face quite often, mostly because most people I know have PhD's in engineering, or are considering one.
Your work profile will be very similar to what you would expect in the US.
One one side, there are all the academic institutes: IIT's, IISc, TIFR, etc. If you didn't know education might well be one of the growing sectors in India. Case in point: Through all my growing up years, there were two branches of PSBB (the one in KK Nagar, and the "Main" branch), and one branch of the Delhi Public School (in Delhi, as you might expect.) Today, PSBB has opened up a few branches in Chennai, and even one in Coimbatore that I know of. And DPS, surprisingly, has three branches in Bangalore.
Back to University level education: At this point, we've opened up many more IIT's. The government has just introduced a bill allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India. Universities like Stanford, Harvard and Yale have expressed interest. BITS has opened up a few new campuses. Some of the big industrial houses have also expressed interest in setting up world class universities in India.
The Indian government itself has announced plans to establish 14 world class innovation universities in India.
You see all this, and you know that you will be well placed as an academic in India. From the research point of view, there is a lot of work that needs to be done here, and not enough people to work on it. So getting a grant from government labs will be easier that in the US.
There is a lot of private/industrial research that goes on too: GE, GM, Intel, IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Shell have very good research centers in India. There is a lot of good work that happens here, that is amply recorded by way of publications and patents.
And, of course, there is the question of India being one of the world's biggest markets right now. With a little creativity on your part, the potential is endless.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
About the Indian growth story!
Wow!
I moved back to India in January 2010. And what can I say? I've had an absolutely fantastic time so far.
My office is in the International Tech Park at Bangalore. Entry to this complex follows a fairly elaborate security procedure.
On my first day here, I spent close to 20 minutes getting through this (this has since come down to about 2 minutes, now that I have a park id, and stuff). After this, I was fairly annoyed. It was at this time that I met my manager for the first time. I told him this, and his answer was... "Well, if you think about it, this place is a very valuable asset. Just look at all the young and talented people around you."
That is true.
People here are much younger than people in the US. They are highly ambitous. And they have a lot more energy. They want a lot from life, and their careers. They run where they can walk, and walk when they don't have to.
And they are talented too!
If the US atmosphere is like a well greased and well calibrated machine, the Indian atmosphere is very close to an atomic reaction. If controlled, you are looking at enormous potential. Uncontrolled, you are looking at an explosion!
Things happen really really fast here. But if you run along, the potential is huge!
I moved back to India in January 2010. And what can I say? I've had an absolutely fantastic time so far.
My office is in the International Tech Park at Bangalore. Entry to this complex follows a fairly elaborate security procedure.
On my first day here, I spent close to 20 minutes getting through this (this has since come down to about 2 minutes, now that I have a park id, and stuff). After this, I was fairly annoyed. It was at this time that I met my manager for the first time. I told him this, and his answer was... "Well, if you think about it, this place is a very valuable asset. Just look at all the young and talented people around you."
That is true.
People here are much younger than people in the US. They are highly ambitous. And they have a lot more energy. They want a lot from life, and their careers. They run where they can walk, and walk when they don't have to.
And they are talented too!
If the US atmosphere is like a well greased and well calibrated machine, the Indian atmosphere is very close to an atomic reaction. If controlled, you are looking at enormous potential. Uncontrolled, you are looking at an explosion!
Things happen really really fast here. But if you run along, the potential is huge!
About this blog
There are many people who leave India to study and then work elsewhere. A sizeable percentage of them head towards the US.
Most of them believe that their trip outside will be a short one, and live planning their trips back home.
I moved back to India very recently. Consequently, I've found that I've become a go-to person for friends of mine who think that way.
Most people in this position worry about similar things: They want to know if they can have a good career in India. They care about the nature of work. They care, sometimes, about the life styles that they'll probably have to give up (or not?). They are curious to know what being back home feels like.
There are, obviously, no clear answers to many of these questions.
This is a blog compilation of posts based on what I went through, and what I think.
Most of them believe that their trip outside will be a short one, and live planning their trips back home.
I moved back to India very recently. Consequently, I've found that I've become a go-to person for friends of mine who think that way.
Most people in this position worry about similar things: They want to know if they can have a good career in India. They care about the nature of work. They care, sometimes, about the life styles that they'll probably have to give up (or not?). They are curious to know what being back home feels like.
There are, obviously, no clear answers to many of these questions.
This is a blog compilation of posts based on what I went through, and what I think.
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