The general quality of India 's engineering graduates is exactly where it was a decade ago, with next-gen tech skills still a chimera, the new Annual Employability Survey 2019 by Aspiring Minds has revealed.On top of a shocking series of revelations is the finding that 80% of Indian engineers are not fit for any job in the knowledge economy.Any changes whatsoever to the education system have been at best ad-hoc, which has kept the unemployability numbers very high and stubborn, the survey has found. The survey provides many dead giveaways about the Indian engineer's ability to code — which basically is bread and butter for everyone in the techie profession. "Good coding skills (the ability to write functionally correct code) are possessed by only 4.6% of Indian job applicants," goes one major finding that shows Indian engineering education for what it is.However, more Indian engineers (4.6%) can code correctly compared to their Chinese peers (2.1%), the survey found. That, however, is poor consolation for India, because a far higher number of American candidates (18.8%) can write correct codes.The India-China techie math has a significant catch, though. "If we consider only those candidates who can write correct code with few errors, the gap between China and India narrows (8.6% vs. 9.8%, respectively)," says Aspiring Minds.Interestingly, while the percentage of Indian engineers who code well is greater than the number of Chinese engineers, a much higher proportion of Indian engineers (37.7%) cannot write a compilable code compared to Chinese engineers (10.35%). This means that India must do more to educate its general population in proper coding skills, the survey suggests.So how does US compare in this area? "By comparison, the US engineers perform four times better than Indian engineers in coding: only 4% of the US candidates cannot write compilable code despite the fact that the base of the engineering population in the US is approximately four times smaller than in India."At a time when artificial intelligence is taking root as the very basis of new-age tech, just 2.5% of Indian engineering graduates have the relevant skills to make a career out of it. Tech industry now requires skills like machine learning and data science, things that are way beyond the vast majority of desi engineers, the findings underline.But that's not all. "Only 1.5% - 4.5% of engineers possess the necessary skills in data engineering, while only 2.8% - 5.3% are qualified in wireless technologies. These figures pale compared to the percentage of engineers (5.5%) that are qualified for basic programming," it says.As if these numbers are not shocking enough, the real unemployability figures are even more abysmal. For data sciences, the number of the employable stands at "only 50% - 60% of these numbers (or 1.5% total) when we factor in other skills such as cognitive and language that are key for career success".How have things come to this pass, and is there any way out of this pathetic state of affairs? The survey sheds ample light on the first part of the question: "Engineering education is mainly theory-based. Only 40% of students perform internships while only 36% undertake projects beyond their required coursework."The survey hits the nail on the head when it analyses the reason behind this galling lack of ability. "Students are trapped in a college bubble. They have little industry exposure. Only 47% of students attend industry talks. Sixty percent of faculty do not discuss how engineering concepts apply to industry."So, will the future be any better for Indian engineers who join the jobseekers' queue in millions every year? "These issues can be addressed by a mix of counseling programs and technology including artificial intelligence. Tools that help students assess their skills, find company matches and prepare for interviews will come in very handy," the survey points out.