May 17, 2007

Rush for Perl...??(not pearl)

Well,this is a matter I had noticed recently in my college.
Generally all of the Computer Science students of my college are reluctant to work any harder than to get pass marks in the university and internal exams(of course there are those who plan only 80+..leave them).

This is the sad but true condition of CS students of MEC,one of the top engineering colleges of Kerala.Amongst the very few guys and gals who are technically skilled and most importantly interested in working on technical projects,only a handful see futility of academics without technical exposure.I must say when exams are nearing,I too freak out and leave technical jobs.Thats because I need to be at least that much competent about my academics.

But there are lots of technically brilliant guys and yes some gals also,who do not take pains to get technical exposure.I am evidence to the argument that you need not know how to do something to actually work in a group for it.The team effort and the spirit is what counts and it is that experience which will help you for placements and in the companies also.

Last month,Yahoo! guys dropped by to give a speech on their selection procedures.Even though many of our tech guys loved Yahoo! ,it was amazing that no one turned up,including me(I had lab exams...though).The auditorium was nearly vacant.Seeing this the placement cell operatives and teachers were alarmed of loosing reputation,so they canvassed students to occupy maximum number of seats...

Many electronics students were present for the program,along with some CS students of B batch.They basically emphasized on learning Perl and other major scripting languages as a criteria for selection into Yahoo!.And they also described many qualities and qualifications and selection procedures and work conditions.

One week later,what I saw amazed me.Nearly every Electronics student was learning Perl and PHP earnestly even during study holidays....whereas I know of only 3-4 CS students who know any of these properly.

By the level of enthusiasm that I have seen in the EC students,I ask my classmates and fellow CS people to understand that we have competition and it is high time that we woke up and show case our skills....