An IIT BHU alumnus not too long ago recalled a 2019 job interview the place an interviewer questioned why he was making use of for an entry-level knowledge analyst position regardless of having graduated from an IIT. The position paid ₹40,000 per 30 days, and the techie stated that the comment left him questioning his personal profession progress.
In a LinkedIn submit, Akash Sampurnanand Pandey, a New York-based software engineer and IIT BHU alumnus, shared the interview expertise whereas reflecting on the expectations and stress related to the IIT tag. He stated that he graduated from IIT BHU (Varanasi) in 2016. Three years later, in 2019, he had give up his UPSC preparation and was making an attempt to return to the business after a profession hole.
Throughout one of many interviews, Pandey recalled that the interviewer informed him, “Arre, IIT se ho kar bhi yahin ho?” He stated the remark “hit me arduous” and shattered his confidence. “I felt like a loser,” he wrote.
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The techie stated that the expertise made him realise that the IIT tag comes with an expectation of fixed success. “That is the a part of the IIT tag no person warns you about. It opens numerous doorways, sure. However it quietly shuts one door – the appropriate to fail with out being judged or insulted,” he wrote.
Pandey stated that he spent months evaluating himself with the highest 1% of his batch and felt misplaced. In line with him, whereas the media typically focuses on IIT graduates who obtain extraordinary success, the bulk go on to have well-paid and fulfilling careers that will not essentially be glamorous.
“So I took the lengthy highway again. One unglamorous position at a time,” Pandey wrote. He shared that he has since constructed a profession within the US and presently works as a software program engineer in New York. He additionally acknowledged that his gross earnings now places him “nicely sufficient into the highest 2% of US incomes.
Reflecting on the incident, Pandey stated that some individuals might take satisfaction in seeing an IITian wrestle, notably due to the importance connected to the doorway examination. “However right here is the reality that units everybody free. JEE examination was by no means meant to be a life sentence or a lifetime go,” he wrote.
“The IITian carrying the heavy burden of failed potential and the individual with out the IIT tag feeling lesser are sure by the identical phantasm – that an entrance check they appeared at 18 can set their lifelong limits,” he added.
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What did social media say?
The submit sparked dialogue on LinkedIn, with a number of customers sharing related experiences.
One person wrote, “Had an identical dialog with somebody who was from one other premier establishment (not IIT) after my commencement – I believe it is very important notice that setbacks are a traditional a part of life and generally you simply gotta push it by means of.”
“I agree, moving into IITs create this burden of excessive expectations in everybody, even in IITians themselves. The life is an extended highway and setbacks are a part of it. However, I additionally see that moving into IIT a private success that offers me braveness, that I received towards odds earlier than and I can do it once more. Some who get into IITs are distinctive for positive, however most labored arduous to earn that place and I believe that ache makes them able to rise towards challenges life throw at them,” commented one other.
“I had related conversations with individuals in my earlier organisation. Being from IIT/NIT, however not doing that nice in life offers subsequent stage stress and humiliation surrounds you if you hear such issues from peeps round you. You’re feeling like what you may have performed by reaching so many issues, however then I say to myself, time modifications. One must maintain all these dialog apart and work upon turning into what you need in life,” wrote a 3rd person.
“I hear you – that is the opposite facet of the double edged sword of finishing schooling from an esteemed organisation. Many individuals really feel they’re overqualified, particularly in job discussions and many others. Though in actuality many people from such esteemed organisation do not want to be recognized by these tags solely or anymore in future!” stated one other.
