The great engineer boom and a little misunderstanding

The other day, in my school group, I made a casual remark about how India has an overwhelming number of engineers now — so many that, for many, an engineering degree is treated like any other graduation. It wasn’t a personal attack, just an observation backed by data.  Every year, hundreds of private engineering colleges churn out lakhs of graduates. Not all secure jobs that match their degrees.

Ah, the old gatekeeping at work. I was taken aback –since when do we need an engineering degree to discuss engineers?

True, I never studied mathematics beyond a certain level, nor did I walk the path of engineering. But does that mean I can’t read, analyze, or comment on it? The news business and writing in general — is about observing the world, gathering information, and making sense of it. And the numbers speak for themselves. With thousands of engineers stepping into the job market every year, not all find roles that require an engineering background. Many even take up jobs where their degrees hold little relevance.

It’s not a question of whether engineering is valuable — it certainly is. But when something becomes abundant, its exclusivity diminishes. That’s just how economies work.

But in the heat of the moment, none of this mattered. My lack of an engineering degree had already disqualified me from speaking on the matter. The irony? I write about space missions without ever boarding a rocket, about medicine without being a doctor, and about politics without being a politician. And not just on a whim — every piece comes from rigorous research, burning the midnight oil while the world sleeps. Yet, when it comes to engineers, the walls go up: No degree, no entry! As if knowledge were stamped on a certificate rather than built through understanding.

So, I laughed wholeheartedly and let the argument slide. After all, engineers are problem solvers. One day, perhaps, they will crack this puzzle too — the idea that knowledge isn’t owned, and understanding or having an opinion about a field isn’t limited to those within it.