The placement season for the second semester of the academic year 2018-19 has been one of the better ones in recent history. With the campus average package reaching 12.8 LPA (with a median of 11 LPA), as compared to 11 LPA of last time, the Placement Unit (PU) Coordinator had a lot to say about the improvements in placements this semester.

This semester witnessed an increase in the number of jobs offered in the Finance sector, with big names like William O’ Neil coming for recruitments. According to the student coordinator of the PU, Siddhant Narula, simply having a minor in Finance does not make a profile competitive enough for the top jobs. The key to landing a good finance job is one’s depth of knowledge in the field, and relevant experience through internships and Practice School. ‘People who land the top packages in finance have been working towards their goal from their first year itself,’ Siddhant said. To spread awareness about the Finance sector, the PU recently established a dedicated Finance Unit. The purpose of this unit is to inform students about the prospects and demands of a job in Finance. The overall prospects in Finance, however, are still low as BITS is primarily a technical institution. Recruiters that do end up coming to campus, do so mostly in search of analytical talent.

With the institute offering a minor in Data Science, the placement opportunities in the field are expected to blow up in the coming years. Although more than half the seats of the program are reserved for students of Computer Science, it is the non-CS students that benefit the most from this minor. ‘Students from other branches can combine their domain knowledge with data science. This makes them prime prospects for the abundant application-based jobs in the market,’ Siddhant said. The data science minor is expected to be useful across all fields, as even the more management-focused roles, like that of a Product Manager, require some basic proficiency in up-and-coming technology. The Mechanical and Chemical core companies have not adapted the latest technology yet, but in the coming five years the scenario may change a lot.

Elaborating on the Product Manager profile, Siddhant said that this role is the one which has the best growth prospects out of all CS profiles. ‘One can essentially double-triple their salaries in five years,’ claims Siddhant.

Core placements saw an overall increase in both numbers and packages. Various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), such as GAIL and IOCL, showed interest in recruiting from BITS. Other notable names were the Trident group (which offered a package of 15 LPA) and Michelin, along with all the other usual legacy recruiters. Overall, the scenario was much better than that of previous years.

On the topic of factors hampering one’s chances of getting placed, Siddhant spoke about students being overconfident and misguided. ‘Having spoken only to seniors who got the top packages, students tend to develop a very wrong idea about placements. Everybody thinks that landing 15+ is easy, whereas in reality, even 10+ might be hard to obtain.’ Recently in an initiative to give students an unbiased view of placements, the PU organized an interaction session with a few placed seniors. The turnout for the event, however, was dismal. This lack of knowledge often results in overconfidence amongst students, which leads to them not being able to land their dream jobs.