The Life Choices of India’s Brightest Minds
Let's assume your son or daughter studied CSE at IIT Bombay. Right after graduation, he/she declares that they would not go after the software or corporate route. They want to explore life and career. They want to build their career on passion rather than on their college degree. Honestly, what is your response? If I am in that position, I would take some time to digest this fact. Maybe after some time, I might accept it, but it will take time to adopt.
Why did this question suddenly come up? I will share the profile of the following person. Can you guess what this wizkid is experimenting with in life? IITB CSE '21 | JEE 2017 AIR 1 (360/360 scorer). You might be wondering: he might have gone for an MS/PhD, joined a financial company as a Quant Specialist, joined an MNC as a Software Engineer, or become an AI Engineer at an AI model development firm. Yes, right. However, it is not. Please read his recent post:
"9 years ago today (2nd April 2017), I gave my JEE. I got AIR 1 and became the only person ever to score a perfect 360/360 score. This day looked normal back then, but it changed my life. I went from yet another high schooler to national news overnight. The traditional corporate IIT route never appealed to me, and the popularity I enjoyed due to my rank helped me pursue many different careers. Over the years, I've been an educator, built businesses, spoken across the country, invested, traveled, and very recently, started releasing my own music as a singer-songwriter. I've been focusing a lot more on investing and music lately, and you'll hear more of my music this year. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in my journey. In more ways than one, it is our story - not just mine." - Kalpit Veerwal
Interestingly, this post prompted me to think about what 3 batches before the JEE toppers were doing and what 3 batches after the 2017 topper are doing.
2020 - Chirag Falor -> From IIT CSE, joined but dropped; moved to MIT (BTech, MS). His final thesis is on quantum cryptography.
2019 - Kartikeya Gupta -> BTech CSE, IITB; Samsung internship; no idea after that, as LinkedIn is not updated further.
2018 - Pranav Goyal -> IITB CSE; Jane Street quantitative trader in Hong Kong; no LinkedIn updates further.
2016 - Aman Bansal -> IITB CSE; Stanford MS (ML focus); now with WisdomAI.
2015 - Satwat Jagwani -> IITB for 2 years; moved to MIT (BS, MS); Software Development Engineer at Cadence Design Systems.
2014 - Chitraang Murdia -> IITB CSE (dropped); BS MIT in Physics; PhD at University of California, Berkeley; Physics postdoc at UPenn now.
After reading these profiles, I understand: same starting point, different lives. That is not confusion - that is freedom. Who is right and who is stereotyped, we cannot judge. But one common pattern I observed in all is that they use LinkedIn less. I hardly see posts, except a few. It means they are still focused on the path they have taken and are building on it.
I am not trying to highlight the rank, but I want to study the psychological paths of people in the same bracket in a country like India, which has a population of 1.4 billion.
If I have to summarize based on their profiles:
- Kalpit Veerwal (2017) - Explorer
- Chirag Falor (2020), Chitraang Murdia (2014) - Seekers
- Kartikeya Gupta (2019) - maybe Executor
- Pranav Goyal (2018) - maybe Performer
- Aman Bansal (2016), Satwat Jagwani (2015) - more of Builders
What I realize is: not all toppers chase stability. Some chase self.
To all my parent friends - Parents seek certainty. Children seek possibility!!
Ravi Saripalle
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
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