Success Stories

Dele Osunde is a graduate of the 6th class of the Electromechanics for young boys program. He graduated in September 2009 and by March 2010, he had been offered jobs by 3 different companies. He resumes work in Total Oil in March. These are short intercepts of an interview he granted recently:

 How did you get to know about IIT?

I saw  the advertisement for admission in the Punch Newspapers and I decided to apply. I did the entrance exam and later 2 oral interviews. I must say that the admission process is quite tough. Anyone who goes through that process can face any interview panel anywhere. It was the first time I was doing an oral interview.

What made you decide to go to IIT?

It was really providential. I had already registered for JAMB but the IIT exam fell on the same day. I tried to get to my JAMB centre but had difficulty in locating it. In order not to miss out on both opportunities, I rushed to take the IIT exam which I passed.

On getting to IIT, I was really impressed with what I saw. The amount of training equipment I saw was impressive and it is even much better now.  It was different from the typical technical school one hears about, where there is not enough equipment or those that exist are not functioning.

I was also impressed with the seriousness of the exam. It was very formal and we realized that it was something serious. IIT is one institution where you get what you worked for, nothing more.


What were the major lessons you learnt from your stay in IIT?

IIT went beyond academics and taught us morals and character formation. The classes on Work Ethics made a great impact and is one of the things my employers really appreciated.

What do you think about the tutorial system whereby each student has a tutor who advises him on academic, character and moral issues?

It is a good one. The tutors have to pay more attention to what the student faces at home. These things affect his academic work. Personally I found it quite difficult to study at home but I still had to cope with lots of school work. I will have preferred a situation where we could have stayed in a hostel near the school.


How did you get your first job after graduating?

The school informed that there were vacancies in the company and that we could go there for an interview. My recent interviews at Total were interesting because most of the people I was being interviewed with had higher degrees than I did. However, I was convinced that I was as well trained if not better trained than they were and I told the interview panel as much. They asked many questions in and out of the engineering fields but I was able to answer most of them confidently. Of courses my answers on Automation gave me an edge. They were really testing for charisma and confidence.

What was your first challenge as a worker?

I had actually worked before as an IT student in British American Tobacco but on resuming as a full time worker with my first employers, my challenge was understanding that I was no more a student and should not be expected to be treated as such.

I remember that we needed tools and so together with other IIT graduates we wrote a letter to our boss asking for tools. Our boss called us together and explained that there were other ways of going about getting what we needed and we should realize that we were no longer in school. We were encouraged to stand on our own and not act as a group all the time.