This is partly in response to Abhaya's blog post and, partly because I wanted, for a while, an excuse to push out this thing which was rotting in the drafts.

At the outset, I am less worried about the TWITCH (TechMahindra-Satyam,Wipro,Infosys,TCS,Coginzant,HCL) saying that a large number of engineers are "unemployable", than I am with reading about start-ups saying a similar thing. The business focus between the two groups is radically different to be worried about an apparently similar statements being aired.

I had earlier written about a similar theme. And, I believe that the Computer Science and Engineering curricula (or, the Information Technology one) does an adequate job doing what they are supposed to do - teaching first principles. The revisionist zeal driven by the somewhat astro-turfing nature of large stock-market bellweathers will do more harm than good when it comes to teaching students. The striking characteristic of being unemployable isn't a factor of the curricula. The fundamental issue that I have with the "education system" is that it is geared towards a single goal - to enable students to 'pass'. When you have that as a single point agenda, you'd pretty much dump everything by the wayside if it doesn't contribute explicitly to your agenda.

Unfortunately, I disagree with the notion that the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a "geek magnet". In what can be considered the strangest perversion of a programming community project, the GSoC in India is basically prepared for just like any other examination. If you don't believe me subscribe to the mailing lists of various colleges or, start talking with GSoC-er from India about this. In short, it isn't too different from a GATE and, the old agenda pops up - one needs to "pass". Which is why I also rule out ACM/IEEE and similar organizations doing 'camps' and so forth.

What is needed however is (and this is off a discussion between Susmit and Sayamindu), a way to create an opportunity that has low floor, high ceiling and wide walls. And, a need to be associated/embedded within a community of like minded folks. In order to hire employable scientists one has to also get down in the mud and get work done. How that happens is something which I've not managed to think through yet, but I am fairly certain that that's what is required.