My Parents Think I Failed at Engineering - But the System Failed Me

My father doesn't say it directly. But I see it in his eyes every morning when I wake up at 11 AM. Another day. Another unemployed day. Another reminder that his investment in my engineering degree was a waste.

The Weight of 8 Lakhs

"Beta, maybe try for bank exams?" My mother suggests gently during dinner. Translation: We've given up on you becoming an engineer.

8 lakhs. That's what they spent on my BTech from a "reputed" private college in Andhra Pradesh. Add another 2 lakhs for coaching classes, hostel, and those engineering drawing instruments I never used after first year.

10 lakhs total. In our middle-class family, that's selling gold, taking loans, and my father skipping his diabetes medicines sometimes to save money.

"Sharma uncle's son got placed in Amazon with 45 LPA package," my mother mentions casually. The unspoken question hangs in the air: Why not you?

The Numbers Don't Lie

Let me show you my "achievements" after 6 years (4 years BTech + 2 years job hunting):

• Applications sent: 523
• Responses received: 12
• Interviews attended: 0
• Rejections without reason: 511
• Current salary: ₹0
• Parents' faith in me: Declining daily

But here's what my marksheet doesn't show:

• My college taught C programming using Turbo C++ from 1991
• We learned "cloud computing" from a professor who'd never used AWS
• "Web development" meant HTML tables and marquee tags
• Our "AI/ML" course was pure theory - no code, no projects
• Final year project? Copied from GitHub, like everyone else's

The Interview That Never Happened

Remember those 12 responses I got? Here's how they went:

Company 1-6: "Complete this HackerRank test." Failed. They wanted dynamic programming. We learned bubble sort.

Company 7-9: "Share your GitHub profile." Shared my empty profile with one "Hello World" repo. Never heard back.

Company 10-11: "We need 2 years experience." For a fresher position. Make it make sense.

Company 12: "Selected for interview!" Location: Bangalore. Travel cost: ₹3000. Couldn't afford it. Opportunity gone.

The Family WhatsApp Group Torture

Every family WhatsApp group forward feels like a personal attack:

"Sunita's daughter joined TCS!"
"Rahul got H1B visa!"
"Priya bought a car for her parents!"

Meanwhile, I'm the ghost who never posts updates. What would I share? "Day 734 of unemployment. Learned to make the perfect Maggi"?

The Relatives' "Helpful" Advice

Family gatherings are torture chambers where everyone has advice:

• "Try harder beta" - Thanks uncle, never thought of that
• "Lower your expectations" - Already applying for 15k/month jobs
• "Do some courses" - With what money?
• "Start your own business" - Sure, let me use my ₹0 savings
• "Maybe IT field isn't for you" - After 4 years of BTech?

What My Parents Don't Know

They don't know that India produces 1.5 million engineers annually, and 80% are unemployable. They don't know that companies reject resumes in 6 seconds using ATS systems. They don't know that "entry-level" jobs require 3 years experience.

They don't know that my college's placement statistics were fake - those "placed" students were doing unpaid internships or working in call centers.

They don't know that while they taught us C programming, the industry moved to React, Node.js, and AI. We're not even fighting with swords while others have guns - we're fighting with sticks while others have drones.

The Daily Shame Routine

6:00 AM: Father leaves for work. Avoids eye contact.
10:00 AM: I wake up. No point in waking early.
11:00 AM: Check email. No responses. Check LinkedIn. Everyone's celebrating new jobs.
2:00 PM: Apply to 10 more jobs. Copy-paste cover letter. Attach same resume.
4:00 PM: Mother asks if I "did anything productive today."
7:00 PM: Dinner in silence. TV news about "India's booming IT sector."
11:00 PM: Scroll through Instagram. School friends buying houses.
2:00 AM: Can't sleep. Wonder if I should've done BCom instead.

The Breaking Point

Last week, my father had a mild heart episode. Stress, the doctor said. When I went to buy his medicines, I realized - I couldn't even pay for them. My mother quietly handed me money from her savings.

That night, I heard them talking:

"Maybe we should've sent him for government job coaching instead."
"At least he would've had some job by now."
"All that education money... we could've bought a flat instead."

They think I was sleeping. I wasn't.

The System That Failed Us

My parents think I failed. But here's the truth they need to know:

• The education system failed me by teaching 1970s technology in 2020
• The placement system failed me with fake statistics and unpaid "opportunities"
• The job market failed me by requiring experience for entry-level positions
• The government failed me by allowing colleges to mint degrees without quality

I'm not a failure. I'm a product of a failed system. One among millions who were sold dreams and given outdated tools to achieve them.

The Hope That Keeps Me Going

Despite everything, I haven't given up. I'm learning React on YouTube. Building projects. Contributing to open source. Teaching myself what college should have taught.

Programs like 34Dot give me hope. They teach what industry actually wants. They understand that we don't need more theory - we need jobs. We need dignity. We need to make our parents proud again.

To Every Parent Reading This

Your child didn't fail. The system did. Your investment wasn't wrong. The product was defective.

That engineering degree you paid lakhs for? It became outdated the day it was printed. Not because your child didn't study hard enough, but because colleges are teaching history while industry is building the future.

To Every Unemployed Engineer

You're not alone. You're not a failure. You're a survivor of India's biggest education scam.

The shame you feel? Convert it to anger. Anger at the system. Then convert that anger to action. Learn what they didn't teach. Build what they said you couldn't. Prove them wrong.

Not for them. Not even for your parents. But for yourself. Because you deserve better than 2 AM anxiety attacks wondering where you went wrong.

You didn't go wrong. You were sent down the wrong path. Now it's time to find the right one.