#906 Here are my reasons for accepting faculty position in one of the IITs 1. Low teaching load. Typically you teach only one course per semester. That means typically 85 contact hours per year. 2. Low work pressure. Nobody will bother you about how much research funding you brought in and how many papers you published and how many PhDs you graduated. Of course, these things matter in long run for your promotions, but nobody will bother you for few years after joining. Compared to this, an assistant professor in US is under intense work pressure. 3. On campus life is extremely safe and relaxing. I can be in my lab at any time of the day without worrying about safety of my family. School, market complex, hospital, gym are just ten minutes walking distance from my apartment. 24X7 water and electricity. No pollution and noise. My kids can actually enjoy their child hood in such a campus. They can play on huge play grounds, nice gardens, and small forest in the campus. All these things have disappeared from almost every city in India. For me, this was the single strongest reason for accepting faculty position in IIT. If I want to buy an apartment in such a locality in any city, it will cost me at least a crore rupees. 4. Freedom. Typically, nobody interferes in your teaching and research. And I love it! This freedom comes with the attached responsibility of working hard and honestly. And I love this too! 5. Medical facilities. As a student, my experience of IIT medical facilities was not good. But surprisingly, as a faculty it is totally different. Doctors and medical staff in our on-campus hospital are extra ordinary. In the past, I have lived in a few metros in India and US. But I never got the kind of attention and care that our institute doctors and medical staff provide. May be I will write at length about it sometime later. As an assistant professor, there are a few experiences that I can complain about. 1. Most of the BTech students are extremely brittle and arrogant. If they do not get internship in a foreign university in the third year or if they do not get a job offer on day zero or if DC++ hub is down...it is almost like the-end-of-world-scenario for them. Most of them are under the false impression that they are the best in India. I have also studied and taught in non IIT institutes in India and US. And I can tell you that IIT BTech students rank far below others if you consider motivation, hard work and honesty as evaluation criteria. Somebody should tell them that JEE rank and campus job package is not everything in life. However, I also have taught and advised some of the amazing BTech students. 2. Research quality is poor. And nobody cares about it. Only numbers matter. How many papers published? How many PhDs graduated?...That is sad. However, if you do not worry much about promotions, then you can ignore this number race. 3. Efforts invested in teaching are not appreciated. Quality teaching is the beginning of good research. If you do not teach well, if you do not get students interested in the subject, if you do not give glimpse of wonders of science and engineering to students, if you do not create an awesome in-class experience....how do you expect these students to work on research problems beyond their exams and BTPs? 4. Nobody seriously thinks about attracting best students for graduate programs. Most of the bright students leave for foreign universities or get lured by industry. Many will point to low stipend given to IIT graduate students. But that is just a lame excuse. Fact is, we have not worked hard to make graduate program in IITs attractive enough for the brightest Indian students. Still, I love my job in IIT as a faculty member. Remember: No workplace is a perfect workplace. A lot depends on what you make out of the situation.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:41:49 +0000
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