The job market struggles of young engineers

I was very optimistic about my future when I first started my degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE). I enjoyed science and its applications, and the prospect of being able to understand and create with my own hands the appliances and systems that make my life easier was rather appealing. I must also admit that I had high hopes about the salaries engineers earn, which served as motivation for me as well as many of my classmates in freshman year, many of whom seemed convinced that a high-paying job awaited them at the end of their degrees.

We collectively became more and more disillusioned as the degree progressed. The arduous coursework and academic pressure, combined with the warnings from seniors and alumni about the state of the job market for engineers, eventually made the idea of graduating a daunting one. The closer we got to graduating, the grimmer reality seemed, and jokes about our impending unemployment went up in frequency.

So, is the job market really that bleak for engineers?

Limited job openings and why graduates often look for work in other fields

As a recent graduate, there are many issues visible to the naked eye without much of a deep dive, the first and foremost being the lack of job openings specific to the EEE field. Scrolling through LinkedIn, I sometimes see openings for students from Computer Science (CS) or Software Engineering (SWE) backgrounds, but rarely ever any that require a degree in EEE. This causes a lot of graduates to drift to fields unrelated to their majors, because monetary necessities often precede the desire to work in their own sectors.

Raiyan Ibne Hossain, an EEE graduate from Islamic University of Technology (IUT), currently a management trainee of supply chain at Unilever, expands on the chain of events that led him to pursue a job that isn't directly related to his field.

"During my undergrad, I was worried about how long it would take me to land a job after graduation. As many jobs have a minimum CGPA requirement, I was afraid that I wouldn't make the cut in some of them," says Raiyan. "Not to mention, it's difficult to tell whether I have the skillsets to get selected, and we had some setbacks with our graduation timeline, which would have made entering the workforce difficult. All things considered, my ideal plan after graduation was to find a rewarding and fulfilling management trainee job at a multinational corporation (MNC). I was lucky enough to be a finalist for Unilever's business competition – Bizmaestros X UFLP 2024 – and land a job in their supply chain function through their internship opportunities."

When asked whether he has any plans to pursue a career in the engineering field, Raiyan mentions that he has no rigid plans, but he is open to the idea of it. "I am highly content with the company that I am working for right now," says Raiyan. "Having said that, I am open to the thought of pursuing jobs which require more technical knowledge and skills as long as those jobs align with my career goals and ambitions."

The need to excel in everything

During my undergraduate journey, I have seen my batchmates work towards earning accolades while simultaneously maintaining their grades. From business to robotics competitions, they left no stone unturned. While passion did play a part in motivating them, I noticed that many would stretch themselves thin doing as much as possible because an idea was instilled into them: if you're not excelling academically, your CV must be enriched with extracurricular activities (ECAs).

In reality, while ECAs may help you build up a network, skills, and confidence, they're not a sure-shot way to land your coveted job. Raiyan, who has been very active in the realm of ECAs during his undergrad, opines that they played a minor role in landing the job. If anything, it helped him build a CV and figure out his strengths.

A competitive yet limited path in academia

Graduates with an interest in academia and teaching naturally seek faculty positions, which are already scarce in number. Most of the top private universities in Bangladesh require a master's degree at the minimum for a lecturer position, and public universities have similar, if not higher requirements.

Junaid Jalal, a graduate of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), who is currently a lecturer in the department of EEE at BRAC University (BRACU), shares his perspective.

"Most students with high CGPAs apply for faculty jobs as a fresh graduate," says Junaid. "Students who excel academically often wish to pursue higher studies abroad, and faculty jobs give you a good advantage in this case. As a result, this is a very competitive position, and I didn't expect to land a job so quickly myself. I wasn't interested in the power generation or distribution industries in Bangladesh and wanted to pursue higher studies and academia instead, so I had started looking for circulars before my graduation and came across this opportunity thanks to Allah."

Junaid shares that soft skills played a rather large part in his success, and so did perseverance. "For faculty jobs, recruiters will look for a good academic record and a strong CGPA," he says. "It's also important to have traits like public speaking, explaining critical topics, and tackling unexpected or unknown questions. For my first interview, I made a rather silly mistake while delivering a demo lecture as I was nervous. This later helped me evaluate myself to find out what I needed going forward, which led me to my job at BRACU."

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CS graduates face even tougher competition

Contrary to common belief, CS or SWE students don't exactly have it good when it comes to the job market either. The reality of the matter is that computer science is a saturated field, which means fresh graduates often have difficulty entering the workforce. Not to mention, the job market is very competitive and skill-based, which makes it unwelcome for fresh graduates.

Syeda Muhesena Nasiha, a recent graduate of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) from University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), voices that her struggles began even before graduation. "The problem with landing CSE jobs starts while we are still in university because we don't know what skills we should have, given so many options like data science, networking, DevOps, and software development exist," says Nasiha. "Thus, students feel lost on what to learn or which path to select within CSE."

Nasiha opines that investing time and resources into developing skills doesn't always pay off either. "Companies that are lenient with their requirement of experience ask for graduates with heavy skillsets," she says. "As students, we end up running after skills that are in demand, and end up realising the futility of it once we realise that those skills don't necessarily ensure a job. For example, in AI engineering, many employers have requirements that you would ideally learn on the job, as an average graduate wouldn't even know the basics of such work. Plus, the number of skills you need seems virtually endless."

This sentiment is echoed by Sarin Rahman Zavin, a CSE graduate from BRACU. "The increasing number of engineers versus the job opportunities is above the equilibrium, causing thousands of candidates to fight for two to three openings," says Sarin. "Then comes the lack of skills a fresh graduate has, who's not industry-ready, and most Bangladeshi companies wouldn't pay for training them."

Sarin also mentions an often-overlooked aspect, which is the reluctance on the employers' part to hire students with above-average academic performance. "There are skilled graduates who have been working on projects or in competitive programming during their undergrad," says Sarin. "The one with the most skills generally gets hired, but companies may avoid candidates with high CGPAs or those likely to leave soon for higher studies. Overall, I would say that there are great opportunities for SWE or CSE grads in Bangladesh. However, the market is very competitive as it is saturated with engineers, and the one whose traits align the best with the employers ends up getting hired."

Illustration: Abir Hossain

Shrinking opportunities for mechanical and civil engineers

The job scarcity issue is heavily present in engineering fields like Civil Engineering (CE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) as well. According to Hamedur Rahman, an ME graduate from IUT, very few roles exist in Bangladesh that are truly field-relevant and involve design or R&D.

"Most job opportunities for ME fall within two categories: maintenance work and corporate roles that simply require an ME degree for eligibility," says Hamedur. "Local companies generally offer lower salaries, and those that offer higher remuneration and incentives have a harsh work culture. MNCs offer high packages, but demand intense work with long hours, oftentimes in remote locations. The government sector is another option for decent-paying jobs like the power sector. But the competition there is very high. Apart from all of these, the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exams for the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) or other technical and non-technical cadres are an option, but that's a competitive world on its own."

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What recruiters are looking for in Engineering graduates

The hurdles are unlikely to disappear overnight, even if a conscious effort is made to make the transition to the workforce easier for graduates. To navigate the waters, it's important to know what recruiters look for and ensure that you have the skills and characteristics suitable for your field.

We reached out to Tasneem Zaman Labeeb, Chief Business Development Officer at Hipo, who's in the process of recruiting for various technical posts. When asked about their outlook towards fresh graduates and what they look for in an employee, Tasneem says, "We're certainly open to hiring fresh graduates as the tech field is constantly evolving, given that the graduates have the updated knowledge. It's not necessarily important for them to already possess said skills in their repertoire, as long as they have some relevant skills, we hire and train them."

Tasneem goes on to explain that stellar performance doesn't always equate to employability. "Even if you hire someone very high performing, you always have to get them to adapt the working modality of the company," says Tasneem. "One problem with high performers is that they often don't want to collaborate, and learn fast. Even for tech roles, soft skills like collaboration and engaging in non-tech thoughts are paramount, which can sometimes make or break a CV. As a person from a non-tech background myself, I have to look after products, so I need to hire someone I can put my confidence in. And I can only do that with those who align with the company-wide ethos. However, many tech companies are going to hire a high-performing core lean team. It's less about cutting costs and more about scaling super fast."

It goes without saying that the job market at present is difficult for most people, regardless of their majors. Given the number of graduates we produce and the lack of work opportunities, the situation may feel skewed against engineers, who have to battle against lower pay and a lack of career growth even after breaking into the workforce. This leads to engineers either drifting to non-technical fields or pursuing a life abroad.

Despite the lack of opportunities, engineering graduates remain a demographic with strong technical knowledge who are indispensable to our economy. It's of utmost importance that initiatives are taken to retain this skilled group by ensuring employment and career growth prospects.

Zabin is an Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduate from the Islamic University of Technology, a chronically online night owl, and a sufferer of many migraines. Find her at: [email protected]