Learning has never been as easy as it is today, thanks to the advent of LLMs. To learn anything, all you need is a book and access to ChatGPT (or other AI tools) for clearing doubts. Additionally, a nice deck of slides summarizing key concepts helps filter out less relevant content. A large number of lecture slides offered by top teachers in every field are readily available for your use. The hefty fees charged by large private and some public institutions in exchange for brand value and placement seem hard to justify today, as students are increasingly relying on alternative sources for their learning. Many administrators likely recognise this shift, though it's not always openly acknowledged.
The idea behind IITs was always quality teaching. Backed by the best infrastructure and extremely good professors who could introduce you to the magnificent world of engineering, it is still a dream of many. The professors train you to build small prototypes of the advanced tools like OS, LLM, hardware, compiler, etc., that will make you confident enough to build anything imaginable on this planet. But the recent quantum leap in AI technologies made it extremely easy for students to build these advanced projects. Earlier, it would take days of debugging, but with the help of LLMs, it can now be done in a matter of hours.
Nowadays, even an average student can complete very challenging systems assignments. However, students often miss the point that the reason behind these assignments is to develop debugging skills necessary for building large projects, which are still beyond the reach of advanced AI tools. Some may argue that in a few years, everything could be written by LLMs. That could be true, but in that case, engineers will be completely irrelevant. The basic assumption in this post is that engineers will remain relevant in the near future.
Suppose you want to learn subject X. Find a professor from MIT, Stanford, Princeton, IITs, etc., who has offered X and has a webpage for it. Ask ChatGPT to do this task for you. Find the reference book and slides on the page. Read books, slides, and use ChatGPT for any doubts. Go through the assignments on their webpage. Try to do the assignment yourself. If you are facing an issue, consider using ChatGPT for assistance, but your ultimate goal is to learn the skill that enables you to complete the project independently.
If you are worried that there are thousands of students in the reputed colleges, how can you compete with them to find a job? You would be surprised to know that in non-IIT expensive branded colleges, only 5% of the students are interested in learning. Many struggle with basic programming tasks, such as writing a linked-list program, on their own. They are mostly hired because the companies are looking for trainability these days, rather than already trained students. If you are already trained enough (i.e., have the skills that good professors want their students to have when they design their courses), you'll be able to land a good job very soon.
If you want exposure to truly challenging problems outside the coursework that ChatGPT can't solve as of now, you can consider applying to MTech programs at IITs and IISC, which are fully funded by the government. Some IIT/IISC professors also offer internship/RA roles that you can try. Typically, they seek students with a strong technical background, so it's advisable to read their research papers before approaching them. These opportunities would be an excellent gateway for you to explore the fascinating world of research. The Google Summer of Code is also a nice program for building open-source tools, and they pay very generously, too.
For a PhD, IISC is a good option because it hires faculty mainly for research. If you can find a fully funded program outside India, that would be even better (although I think IISC would be a better option than many of them). If you go through the profiles of IIT or IISC professors, you will find that most of them will have a PhD from outside India. These are the places that should be your ideal target if you are open to relocating outside the country. Just ask ChatGPT for assistance.
As far as I know, many professors at IITs or tier-2 colleges mainly treat their PhD students as an RA, poach each other's students, etc., so please be careful before getting into a trap. Use ChatGPT for advice, but note that since these topics haven't been widely discussed in the public domain, the AI tools may hallucinate.
Happy learning without wasting your parents' money!