The Engineering Services Examination is conducted by the UPSC every year to recruit officers for the services which cater to the technical functions of the Government of India in the field of engineering. They administer a large segment of the public sector economy, which constitutes of Indian Railways, Power, Telecommunications, Central Water engineering, Defence service of Engineers, Central Engineering Service, namely. The ESE is a Central Civil service and the recruited candidates can be posted anywhere across the country. Previously this examination had been conducted as Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam. ESE/IES exam recruits the Class ‘A’ & ‘B’ officers against the various technical posts for Central Government. Approximately 2.0-2.25 lacs candidates appear for the examination each year. The ESE/IES exam is conducted for only 4 core streams of engineering which are:
- Electrical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
The UPSC conducts this exam as a 3 step recruitment drive namely:
(i) ESE-Prelim.
(ii) ESE-Mains.
(iii) Personality Test.
On the basis of the merit in the exam, the candidates are recommended to the Union Government for the available posts. The career progression goes smoothly attaining high esteem. The first position offered is that of Asst. Executive engineer and the hierarchy ends at the position of Chairman/ Managing Director.