Dates for Engineering Services Exam (IES) 2015 has been notified by UPSC through its “Calendar of Examination” for the year 2015-2016. The detailed notification (i.e. advertisement) is going to be published on 14th March, 2015 (Saturday) and submission of online application form would also start from the same date. Last date to submit the form/online registration is 10th April, 2015 and the three-day IES 2015 would be held from 12th to 14th June, 2015.

Close to 500 engineering graduates are recruited every year through this highly competitive exam, as it is considered a Crème de la crème engineering job in India. Therefore, like every year, I am posting below the information on IES 2015, so that the aspirants can orient their preparation for this exam. This article tells you in a nutshell what are the eligibility required and how to apply. It also gives you important insights into how competitive this exam is.

Towards the end of the article I have also posted the “IES exam prep materials”
Before we go further, let us find what is IES exam.

What is IES exam?
Engineering Services Exam (commonly called as Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam) is a premier competitive examination conducted by UPSC (Union Public Service Commission), for selecting approx. 500 engineers for Government of India’s engineering organizations, such as Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Central Engineering Service (CES), Military Engineering Services (MES) etc. The exam is conducted for the branches of Civil. Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics Engineering every year in the month of May/June, the notification for which comes out in the month of February/March.

Central Govt. Departments in which you get a job through IES Exam:
Departments for Civil Engineering
(i) Indian Railway Service of Engineers.
(ii) Indian Railway Stores Services
(iii) Central Engineering Service.
(iv) Indian Defence Service of Engineers.
(v) Indian Ordnance Factories Services.
(vi) Central Water Engineering Service
(vii) Central Engineering Service (Roads).
(viii) Border Roads Engineering Service.

Departments for Mechanical Engineering
(i) Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers.
(ii) Indian Railway Stores Service.
(iii) Central Water Engineering Service.
(iv) Central Power Engineering Service.
(v) Indian Ordnance Factories Service.
(vi) Indian Naval Armament Service.
(vii) Corps of EME, Ministry of Defence.
(viii) Indian Navy.
(ix) Central Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Service.
(x) Border Roads Engineering Service.
(xi) Indian Supply Service.
(xii) Indian Defence Service of Engineers.
(xiii) Central Engineering Service (Roads).

Departments for Electrical Engineering
(i) Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers.
(ii) Indian Railway Stores Service.
(iii) Central Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Service.
(iv) Indian Naval Armament Service.
(v) Indian Ordnance Factories Service.
(vi) Central Power Engineering Service.
(vii) Indian Defence Service of Engineers.
(viii) Indian Navy.
(ix) Indian Supply Service.
(x) Corps of EME, Ministry of Defence.

Departments for Electronics And Telecommunication Engineering
(i) Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers.
(ii) Indian Railway Stores Service.
(iii) Indian Naval Armament Service.
(iv) Corps of E.M.E., Ministry of Defence.
(v) Central Power Engg. Service.
(vi) Wireless Planning and Co-ordination Wing/Monitoring Organisation.
(vii) Indian Navy.
(viii) Indian Supply Service.
(ix) Indian Inspection Service.
(x) Indian Telecommunication Service
(xi) Junior Telecom officer.

How competitive is IES exam?
The popularity of this exam can be gauged from the following analysis, compiled from UPSC Annual Reports for IES Exam 2003 to IES Exam 2011:

As you can see from above, only two to four persons per thousand who applies for IES exam, cuts the grade and becomes an IES officer. Thus the popularity of IES exam can be compared to another cream services of Government of India – IAS (Civil Services) exam.
You can find from above IES exam statistics that only 30% – 40% people (in column “Appeared”) who applies for IES exam, actually appears in the IES exam. Also majority of the screening is done at the Written test – less than 10% of those who writes the exam are called for interview. However, once you are called for the interview, chances of being finally selected is pretty good- as high as 50%!

IES Exam Vacancy 2015:
Number of vacancy is likely to be know only when the IES 2015 Notification comes out. But you can have some idea from the number of vacancies in last eight exams as given below. Just for you, I have compiled the branch-wise vacancies in IES exam from IES-2003 to IES-2010.compiled from UPSC Annual Reports.

Roughly about 40% Civil, 26% Mechanical, 17% Electrical & 18% Electronics is the branch-wise vacancies.
IES Exam 2015 Important dates:
Date of notification & Online submission of form starts: 14th March, 2015.
Last date for submission of IES 2015 Online form: 10th April, 2015..
Date of IES 2015 exam: 12.06.2015 (3 days exam)

IES 2015 Eligibility:
Age Eligibility: (on the 1st January, 2015)
You need to be between 21 years to 30 years.
Age relaxations exist as per Govt. rules.Academic Qualification Eligibility:
You must be a graduate in Engineering from a recognized university.
Even Final year students can also appear in IES exam, provided he/she can provide the proof of passing the exam when IES exam (Written) result comes out, which is around December 2015.IES Exam 2015 Online Form:
You have to apply through only through online form.
There is no offline application form.
The application form would be available in this Online UPSC website from 14th March to 15th April,2015.IES 2015 Exam (Civil Eng.) Pattern, Syllabus
IES 2015 Exam (Mech. Eng.) Pattern, Syllabus
IES 2015 Exam (Electrical) Pattern, Syllabus
IES 2015 Exam (Electronics) Pattern, Syllabus

Download Previous Year Question papers of UPSC