Only 3% engineer graduates get high-quality tech jobs in India: Report

Only three per cent of engineer graduates in India get high-quality tech jobs with salary packages of ₹ 8-10 lakh and above, according to a report released on Thursday.

The data provided by Scaler -- a platform by edtech start-up InterviewBit, showed that over 80 per cent of these graduates end up pursuing non-technical careers due to lack of available employment opportunities.

To address the gap between skills needed for high-quality technology jobs and work-readiness of graduates, the company has launched a college-companion programme called 'Scaler Edge' - to boost the employability of engineering students.

Additionally, to meet the growing demand for online skilling courses, the company plans to hire 500 more teaching assistants and mentors in this financial year.

"We strongly believe that this offering will provide future techies with a certain edge that will help them land relevant growth roles to further their careers and eventually become the job-creators of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' in software and technology," Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-Founder, InterviewBit & Scaler Academy said.

According to industry estimates, 15 lakh engineers graduate in India every year out of which only 2.5 lakh students land relevant jobs in technical domains. Out of those roughly 2.2 lakh openings are in software, within which a vast majority (1.8 lakh jobs) are in IT services garnering around only Rs 3-5 lakh per annum (LPA) in remuneration.

To address this discrepancy, a 2-year college-companion programme designed with input from top CTOs and engineers across tech companies, is being launched by Scaler to help students build industry-oriented skill-sets and pursue career tracks of the future.

Estimates further suggest that of the available engineering jobs, only approximately 40,000 jobs (for 3 per cent of 15 lakh engineers) provide an ideal mix of autonomy and learning potential with packages upwards of Rs 8-10 LPA for freshers.

Additionally, of the 3 per cent of graduates that land coveted high paying and high-quality jobs, the majority come from Tier 1 colleges -- implying the lack of good quality opportunities for students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 colleges.

The inequity in available employment opportunities across institutions leads to around 12.5 lakh engineers almost every year who have to reroute options and pursue non-technical opportunities to stay afloat, the company said.

The course also helps students work on functional projects that can be added to their resumes to highlight their capabilities to future employers. "Our offerings are built bearing in mind the need for a strong industry connect which most graduates might not have access to at their current level," said Anshuman Singh, Co-Founder, InterviewBit and Scaler Academy.