I believe this holds true mostly for Indian engineers. Not sure if this is true everywhere. I personally believe, being an engineer one should be flexible enough to do any kind of job.
All said, I've something serious to say about it [Keeping the context confined to Indian Engineers]
Most of them (engineers) are into engineers for the jobs' sake - not for the love of engineering. Then, campus recruitment occurs when the students are in third year of engineering. Having an assured high - pay job in hand, while you're still studying is a fantastic feeling. Since making money is the one & the only aim most of them have - they have only one option left - IT/Software.
However, the scenario is changing. Services oriented Indian IT industry is seeing a downtime. Hopefully the situation will get better in future but I hope engineers are well prepared for the IT slowdown. Manufacturing industry is seeing some good light and more jobs are being created. I hope engineers will have opportunities in core industries.
Do u seriously think the enthusiasm of doing it big in our own fields is lacking..
The enthusiasm existed only in few brilliant minds who jumped into engineering for the love of it & you know what? They are already working in core industries.
For others, the enthusiasm never existed.