--- title: 'How Engineering Degrees Are Failing Today!' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=lSpKg9mXEoA' video_id: 'lSpKg9mXEoA' date: 2026-08-03 duration_sec: 1242 --- # How Engineering Degrees Are Failing Today! > Source: [How Engineering Degrees Are Failing Today!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lSpKg9mXEoA) ## Summary The video critiques the traditional Indian engineering education system, arguing that degrees are becoming less relevant in the AI era. It presents statistics on graduate employment, shares personal and anecdotal stories, and promotes a skill-based alternative, the Polaris School of Technology, as a solution. ### Key Points - **The Reality of Engineering Degrees** [00:02] — Every year, 15 lakh engineers graduate in India, but only 3 lakh get decent jobs. The remaining 12 lakh are underemployed or work in unrelated fields, making 80% of engineering degrees practically useless. - **Cost vs. Return on Education** [01:52] — An average engineering degree costs ₹8-15 lakh in private colleges, totaling ₹15-20 lakh with expenses. The average starting salary is ₹3.5 lakh per annum (₹29,000/month), meaning it takes 6-7 years to recover the cost. - **Rahul's Interview Failure** [03:11] — Rahul, an engineering graduate, faced an interview question: 'Show me what you have built.' He had theoretical knowledge but no practical projects, leading to rejection. The interviewer emphasized needing someone who can 'ship code from day one.' - **Tech Giants Drop Degree Requirements** [04:07] — Google, Apple, IBM, and Tesla have announced that degrees are no longer mandatory for many roles, recognizing that skills and portfolios matter more than formal education. - **The Power of Skills: Personal Story** [05:10] — The creator shares his journey: after 12th, he learned video editing, used Fiverr and Freelancer, and eventually earned ₹25-30k/month within 3 months, and ₹1 lakh in 6 months, without a degree. - **The Need for Education Reform** [07:50] — The solution is not to skip college but to change the education method: focus on real coding projects, industry-relevant tech, mandatory internships, portfolio building, and soft skills. - **Polaris School of Technology** [10:05] — Polaris is a modern tech school offering a B.Tech in CS with AI/ML focus, from Medhavi Skills University. It emphasizes 5000+ hours of coding, 11+ programming languages, and real projects. - **Curriculum and Credits** [12:14] — The curriculum has 163 credits: 88 for industry track (projects, coding) and 75 for university track (foundations). This split ensures academic and practical skills. - **Incubator and Events** [13:07] — Polaris hosts events like Vibathon (Asia's largest coding hackathon) and the first Indian OpenAI conference. Students get access to real-world companies like Gemini, OpenAI, and Replit. - **Year-by-Year Learning** [14:56] — Year 1: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, DSA, math. Year 2: Cloud, advanced frameworks, databases, team projects. Year 3: Specialization. Year 4: Capstone project or internship, hackathons. - **Mentorship and Stipends** [16:39] — Mentors include industry practitioners and founders. First and second-year students earn stipends of ₹2.5-5 lakh. International internships are common (1 in 3). - **Admission and Scholarship** [17:18] — Admission via Polaris Admission Test (PAT) and interview. In February, a scholarship worth ₹1 lakh (₹8 lakh fee reduction) and a free MacBook for top 50 students with 90+ percentile in JEE or 1200+ in PAT. - **Limited Seats and Philosophy** [18:27] — Polaris admits only 400 students per year, ensuring quality. It is for 'builders' who want to do more than study, and also values sports and leadership. ### Conclusion The video argues that traditional degrees are losing value, and skill-based education like Polaris offers a better path. It encourages viewers to consider what they will become after college, not just the degree. ## Transcript spend 4 years in college. Then visit the placement cell. And finally after doing all this you get a job of ₹25,000, that too if you get it. This is the real reality of the Indian education system. I am being flippant, listen, 15 lakh engineers graduate every year in India. And out of these, only 3 lakh people get decent jobs. What happens to the remaining 12 lakh people? They are either underemployed or working in a field completely different from their degree. Meaning, the degrees of 80% of engineers are practically useless. But what I am saying is not that you should not study nor am I saying that you should not go to college. I have only one question, is degree everything ? Or we are running a race whose finish line is in the wrong place. So today I am going to talk about this and at the end of the video I will reveal India's biggest scholarship which is worth ₹1 lakh. Its link is going to be in the description below. But make sure you watch this video till the end. Now let's start with the big question. Look, we all have grown up in the same narrative. First of all, get good marks in 10th. Then take science. After that go to 12th and you will get a good placement and after that your life will be set. This worn- that even questioning it seems wrong. You should go and tell Papa that I don't have to go to college from tomorrow and then go and check what his want to present some facts before you. I want to share some real stories. And then whatever decision you take in the end will be yours. Because I don't understand the logic of this thing. In 2026, when AI is changing everything, companies are looking at portfolios more than degrees. When even the world's biggest tech companies do n't require a degree. So brother, why are we still following the education model of 1990 and understand what is the actual value of a degree and But before that, let's look at some numbers. An average engineering degree in India costs around ₹ 8 to ₹15 lakh in a private college and if you add hostel books and other expenses, it reaches around ₹15 to ₹20 lakh. Now if you look at it as an investment, then you have invested Rs 20 lakh here. You gave me 4 years and what did you get in return? According to a report by Lindin, the what did you get in return? According to a report by Lindin, the average starting salary of fresh engineering graduates in 2023 was only ₹3.5 lakh per annum. Meaning roughly ₹29,000 per month. Brother, you invest your ₹20 lakh and earn ₹29,000 per month. Just try some simple maths. It will take you 6 to 7 years to recover just the cost of your education. That too if you don't spend a single penny, but this is just an average. The reality is even more harsh. These graduates coming out of tier two and tier three colleges find it graduates coming out of tier two and tier three colleges find it people spend one or two years of their life in unpaid internships. That too just by thinking experience. And do you know what the most ironic thing is? The degree for which you worked so hard and spent so much money, is know very well what is taught in college and what you need in the industry that there is a huge difference between these two things. So now your question would be that brother, So here I will tell you a real scenario. I have a friend named Rahul. He got his engineering degree from a decent college in Tieu. Now this a company came for campus placement. There was the role of a software developer. The salary was also decent at ₹6 lakh per annum. But the first question Rahul gets in the interview is, show me what you have built. Brother Rahul was left stunned there because he had gone there prepared to tell me about yourself. Now look at this thing, the Cleared DSA concepts, cleared exams. But never actually and copy paste the assignments. And these college projects were poor interviewer was good. He told him politely that you have good theoretical knowledge. But we need someone who can ship code from day one. And with this my brother Rahul got his first rejection. He told that whose name was Arjun. He did n't get a degree from some fancy college. But he had Moreover, he had also launched some of his own SaaS products which had some monthly worked on new life projects. That's why he got that job and you will see this pattern everywhere. Google officially announced in 2018 that degrees are no longer mandatory for many roles. Apple, IBM, Tesla have all adopted this same policy. Because he realized that degree does not indicate anyone's capability. A degree simply indicates that you spent 4 years in college. But these skills actually tell you what you are capable of doing. So now that we are tell you a story of my own. It is a very interesting story. After completion of 12th board my result was good. I got 89%. There was an atmosphere of complete happiness at home. Was. that son, now you will study in IIT. But no one could see how lost and confused I was inside. And along with the confusion, I was money problem. The financial situation of my house was not good at that time. Papa also did not have any stable job. And the coaching fees which was one to one and a half lakhs were also difficult for us to afford. I had decided that some monthly income. But as they say, reality always hits you hard and even after 2 months and working so hard, I was only able to earn ₹4500 per month. I was very frustrated. I had become very night I was randomly watching a video on YouTube and I understood a concept which was known as that people also sell their skills. Like writing, designing, video editing, Now after hearing this, I could not sleep the whole night. I thought what do I know? Once in school I edited a small video for Annual Day. It was a but people liked it very much. So I thought why not do some freelance work in video editing. So from the second day I got completely involved. I used to sit for 4-5 hours practice till 2-3 in the night. I almost still remember it. I had an old PC and it was difficult to edit videos on it. So it took me a whole week to edit a video. Now I had learnt it where should I get clients from? First of all, I Created an account on Fiverr. Created an account on Freelancer. But two weeks passed and not a single order came. Then I changed my approach a little bit. I started DMing you guys I used to use a very simple generic template. I still remember brother, I saw your latest video [music]. The editing was good. But if you improve your fonts, then your video can become even better and I can help you in doing this. And whatever your first video is, I will edit it for free. I must have DMed at least 2025 people. Of them, 1820 people rude reply. But yes, there was around 5000 subscribers at that time. And in fact, he is still in make fitness videos at that time. So I put in all my heart and dedication and edited a video of him and it took me almost around 2 to 3 days. And then I shared my edited video with him. Now I see that after two-three days I get ₹500. Now I was wondering, brother, where did this money come from? Then And that is exactly how I started my freelancing journey. If you want to know his name too, I will tell you right now. Master Trainer Sagar has a page on Instagram and YouTube at that time. And then he was my first client. Now these ₹500 that I got for the first time were actually a kind of proof for me that brother, some money can be generated from your skills. Now and after 3 months I had eight regular clients and my monthly income was roughly around ₹25 to ₹30,000 and by the completion of 6 months I had earned roughly around ₹1 lakh i.e. ₹ 12-₹13,000. Now imagine after 12th, without any degree, without any job, without any investment, just learning a skill. By the way, if you are because the scholarship is going to be revealed in some time. So I was saying that so much can be changed by just learning one skill. That is the power of skills. Then you will say brother, what is the reason behind this that one should not go to college. No my brother, we don't have to simple solution to this is to change the method of education. If there is a system where actual coding projects are worked on from pay day one. Industry relevant technology should be taught and not any outdated syllabus and where internship with real companies is mandatory , portfolio building should be a part of the curriculum and along with this soft skills, communication, problem solving, everything should be integrated in your curriculum. Basically a place where you get a degree and also get skills. Sounds too good to be true na. But actually there are some places which are doing exactly this. And one of these is Polaric School of one of the biggest issues with traditional colleges is that most of the Students wake up every day, attend lectures submit assignments and prepare for exams. But the exposure to all the things that are coding practice, building systems, solving real problems is Your studies continue but your practical experience remains the same. In fact, in many colleges, coding or practical sitting in the computer lab during the lab period or writing a small experiment and submitting it. Now what learn the names of programming languages but are reach the graduation stage, most of them have never worked on a proper project and along with this, their curriculum also moves at a very slow pace and gets updated slowly. But on the other hand, if you look at it, technology is changing every year. AI is leading the way. coming, new frameworks are coming. But the subjects of these old colleges have remained the same for many years. And that is why what students are learning is far And that is why what students are learning is far when companies are hiring, what they want to see is what have you built? How did you work in real situations? because of this, many graduates get rejected even after reaching the job interview. Because he never had any real experience. And this is where experience. And this is where completes college but to start his career he has to learn from zero again. And I am writing that as long as education continues in this manner, this gap will continue to increase. Now, understanding this gap, a new type of tech education model has been created. skills, real projects and real industry exposure. And with this started. But what is this Polari School of Technology? So Bor's Polari School of Technology is a modern educational tech school designed to bridge the gap between traditional degrees and actual job [music] readiness. offers an integrated B.Tech degree in Computer Science. Whose main focus is Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Now in this you get the degree from Medhavi Skills University. why I am taking this as an example? Because tech schools like these are focusing on skills in today's times. And the real life results of all these things can be seen first and second year music students earned a cumulative stipend of ₹1 crore [Music] Imagine ₹1 crore and that too with an internship stipend. Now this thing is proving that skill based learning is actually working. Their and advanced manner. First of all, in this the students have to do more than 5000 plus hours of coding. And from the first semester itself, languages. On top of that, this curriculum is designed for AI first careers. Which is a skill of the future. Moreover, to maintain high standards, the school follows a rigorous selection process through the Polaris Admission Test [Music] ensures that the graduate is not only academically qualified but also possesses the technical expertise that top tier global companies look for. So I was just trying to So the curriculum of Polari School of Technology , the Polari School of Technology treats classrooms like a software as I mentioned earlier, 5000 plus hours of coding practice is a mandate for students. Here, a student learns more than 11 programming languages ​​in the first year itself become equal to those professionals who have two to three years of experience. Plus, their technical curriculum is designed directly to meet the needs of modern tech joints. Students Spotify use. Their practical focus ensures that students are proficient in everything from front-end design to back- end database management. And their main focus is only on making the graduates their credit structure gives total 163 credits, 88 credits are for the industry track i.e. projects and coding. While 75 credits cover the foundations of the university track. Now understand what happens because of this split. Due to this split, fulfill their academic requirements. But at the same time, we look for. And finally, studying at Pollaro School of Technology is participate in intense hackathons and secure prestigious international internships like Google Summer of Code, and secure prestigious international internships like Google Summer of Code, their data, one out of every three internships is international and you will not believe that till now their first and second year students have been interning in more than eight countries. Then here you enter a professional ecosystem which works more like a tech incubator than a traditional college. which is a concept that does not exist in India. This is the concept of events. Last events were held here. Let me give you an example of Vibathon which has become Asia's largest Wipe Coding Hackathon. Where more than 1500 participants had come from all over the country. Apart from this, the first Indian conference of Open AI, the founding company of ChatBT, was events are with real world companies. Like Gemini, Open AI, Replate. By partnering with all these events, students here get access and people attend networking seminars for that access. Plus, launchpad for all the students who want to start their own business. Where seed funding up to $00 is offered to help students And if you want to become a creator like me, they also have a creator program. Where cinematography, social media strategy. You get training in many such things Now let me also tell you how their year by year courses where your coding will start from the very first day. You have to write code, not theory. Projects will have to be created using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Along with structures will have to be implemented in real life and maths will also have to be learnt which is useful in solving AI problems. Plus, communication and interview skills are also having skills is one thing but presenting yourself in a way that brings out your skills even more is a different thing. After that there is Here Two Basically, once your foundation is strong, your building begins. Cloud computing advanced frameworks, databases and real team projects that You will get to do all these things here. Along with this, you also have deadlines , version control, testing has to be done just like in real life. And becoming a developer occurs. And finally, industry exposure happens in year four. You have Build and launch your own caption project or do an internship in India or overseas. Along with that, you can also participate in hackathons and coding classes. You you can also participate in hackathons and coding classes. You you are getting complete industry experience in your college itself. Now I found the curriculum of Polari School of Technology strong because there are some projects linked with every subject. you immediately have to do some work on that concept. Basically, like in normal colleges, write the answer on the paper and move ahead. This is not their style. If you want to learn here, you will have to show it by doing the work. And you don't just have classroom work. events with real assignments where students' portfolios are prepared. And by showcasing these portfolios, a student can stand out in the interview. at Polari School of Technology, mentorship is led by active practitioners and founders rather than traditional academics. Their curriculum is designed by Avinash Ramakant from BITS Plani and Jaideep Prasad, a Google Summer of Code veteran. And the whole vision of Polaris comes from its founder Mukul Rasoki who is from IIT Rukirki and even featured in Forbes 30 under [music] 30. And Basavat Agarwal who has worked at Microsoft , these guys do the shaping. And these are the people who are ensuring that the education is as per the top dear industry standards. And for the international angle, international level mentors also come here. Like Blinkit's former CTO Jacob also supported by a tiered mentor network. Dikshita Verma, Software Engineer at Google, Harsh Rama Rao, Senior VP at Ekko, Ninja technical challenges. Whereas all the other industry mentors provide real world context. Look, because of Polaris' open source focus, students also work on global projects like the Bitcoin ecosystem under international mentors. like the Bitcoin ecosystem under international mentors. strong. Stipends ranging from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh have been received for first and second an 18-19 year old child earning while studying. In fact, to fact, to hosts weekly fireside chats. Every week, founders, CTOs, and tech leaders visit the campus and share insights from their own personal experiences. Recent guests also include notable figures like Ishant Sharma, Harsh Pyam Sir. get constant access to successful professors. So the admission process of Polari School of Technology starts with online application and Polaris Admission Test i.e. find the link to it in my description below. After which a personal one on one interview will be taken of you. And only for the month of February their biggest scholarship is open. Which is worth ₹1 lakh in which you are directly getting a fee of ₹8 lakh. Plus you'll also get a free MacBook. But this will be available only to the top 50 students. Their 90 plus [music] percentile chahiye in JW or 1200 plus score chahiye in PAT. Selected candidates have to attend pre-engineering sessions. make you college ready. And finally, after completing the admission process through Medhavi Skills University, you get the enrollment letter. Now if I talk about PAT i.e. Polaris Admission Test, it is a one minute online exam with a fee of ₹1500 and which is of 240 marks and offers two different tracks. The format is a who know how to code. It mainly consists of coding questions and debugging MCQs Track. Now this is for those who are strong in maths and logic but do not know coding. Here the entire focus is on mathematics and logical reasoning. The and the admission School of Technology admits only 400 students throughout the year. Now ensures that every student [of Sangeet] apply. So a place like Polari School of Technology is for those builders who believe in doing more than studying. This What's more, the school serves as a tech incubator for aspiring founders. you don't need to be a coding expert to apply. Polar School of And finally, this school also values ​​sports and leadership very much. Ganguly Young Leader in Tech Scholarship. So in today's time, education does not just mean going to college. Education means laying the foundation for your career for the next 10-15 years. And the decision you take after 12th decides whether you will struggle or grow smoothly. Many students take admission without thinking because some relative told them that their heard the name of some famous college. At that moment everything seems fine to us. But when three-four years pass and the real world comes before you, then you realize what a big mistake you made. But the model of new-age [music] schools like Polaris Here, students and stay connected with the industry right from the beginning. And while others are [music] after graduation, Pollard's students are already working somewhere by then. path here is very easy. You will have to work hard here too. Discipline will have to be shown. There will be pressure here too. But the hard work that goes in here will directly translate into a career and that will create the biggest difference [in music]. Look, the future belongs to those who prepare today and the best education is where you whenever you have to choose a college after 12th, do what you will become after coming out of there. A degree holder or a real your career, then a place like Polaris gives you the environment where growth happens naturally. I have given the link of Pat in the description below. Go and check it out once because it can become the turning point of your life. I will with another such interesting and valuable topic. Till then, keep hustling, keep learning and as always hustling, keep learning and as always keep inspiring.