What after the JEE results?

It's that time of the year. Like every year, a few dreams were fulfilled and many were broken when IIT results were announced yesterday.

Given the cult status IITs have in the Indian society, emotions are running high right now in Indian homes. Those who made it are all over the newspapers and are the object of idolisation and jealousy. And those who didn't? They feel like "failures" who not need to introspect and find out alternative paths to success in their lives.

If you are an experienced professional like me, you might be getting these questions:

1. How important is getting into an IIT?
2. Should we drop a year to take one shot at it?
3. If I still don't make it, should I plan for post grads in IIMs, IITs or foreign universities?
4. If not IIT, what colleges and courses I should take this year?

Let's try to answer these questions, with an eye on how the professional career landscape is changing.

Yes, the brand value of IIT is unmatched

The IIT degree is definitely a credential that means you won't be stopped at the gates of many companies.

However, there are now far more top opportunities than qualified IITians

In a world of limited opportunities (think 1990s to 2010) and limited sources of good education, an IIT degree had immense value.

However, the world has changed now.

1. Opportunities outnumber talent
2. Skills have become more important than degrees
3. Learning skill has become decentralized and affordable (cost is almost zero)

Let's look at these in more detail.

There is massive talent gap in the industry

Take any industry, the demand for skilled talent is only growing. The education sector is still churning out degree holders but they don't have the skills the industry demands such as technology, cloud computing, cybersecurity, big data analytics.

Around 90% of engineering freshers in India are unemployable. And yet, there are thousands of open jobs that never get closed.

The gap is so big that in the last 3 years, salaries in tech industry have increased more than 100%.

Skills have become more important than degrees.

A simple LinkedIn search on "Software Developer Engineers" at Amazon shows that it hires many more people from non IITs than IITs:

And this is Amazon, which actually has a strong preference for educational background. There are tonnes of high quality and well paying companies that hire purely skill driven.

Apart from domestic companies, the demand for talent is now international and there companies paying an Indian salary of INR 50L to 1.5cr to folks with 3-6 year experience. No IIT degree required - just prove the skills!

Learning skills has become easier, accessible and almost free

Education is decentralized today. The best of content is all out there and it's free.

Platforms like Khan Academy, OpenStax, and MIT OpenCourseWare provide a vast collection of educational resources and learners can get access to textbooks, lecture notes, videos, and other materials without any cost barriers.

And not just the content, the best teachers are today actively sharing their knowledge on youtube and other platforms.

There is no better time than now to learn in the history of humanity.

Now, let's answer the questions students ask

With this context, now let me try to answer the questions above.

Question 1: How important is getting into an IIT?

No doubt, it's a great credential. Try to get it if you can.

But remember:

1. Not all IITians are successful. For every successful IITian you see ("Sundar Pichai"), there are thousands that are not.
2. There are many successful people who are not IITians. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft is from Manipal Institute of Technology, Shantanu Narayan, CEO of Adobe is from Osmania University and Vijay Shekhar Sharma is from DTU and built Paytm. The list goes on. They don't have a common thread - so we miss seeing them.

Question 2: Should we drop a year to take one more shot at it?

Your professional life is going to be around 40 years. So, 1 or 2 years here or there don't make much difference. I don't know why in India, we have unnecessarily obsessed over sending kids to schools earlier, trying to save them 1-2 years.

However, dropping an year to prepare for a hyper competitive exam is a different thing.

The problem is that it becomes a pressure cooker experience for most students. The immense experience leads to a subpar performance in exams and if they fail again - their failures are now conclusive. The resulting feeling of rejection often has long term scars that makes them underperform and very unhappy in their lives.

So I'd advise taking a drop only if you and your family can handle failures. If the stakes are high, the family has to arrange for finances or have high societal pressure, I'd suggest to avoid dropping an year. Instead, see if you can focus on building your skills. In today's professional word it will be more rewarding.

Question 3: If I still don't make it, should I plan for post grads in IIMs, IITs or foreign universities?

Sure, you can do this when the time comes.

However, do NOT sacrifice your present for the future. Many students take admissions into other colleges but they never study there seriously and are just waiting for an "exit option". Due to this, they

1. They never learn the skills they could have learned
2. They are again committing to another distant (and highly competitive) dream that may not get achieved

Whatever college or branch you choose, accept it openly and keep acquiring the skills that interest you.

Question 4: If not IIT, what colleges and courses I should take this year?

I'd actually skip this question. After reading this entire post, you should have your own answer. Please post as comment below.

(Hint: Skills matter more. Passion is pre-requisite to learning top skills.)

Conclusion: We need to change our perspective with the changing times

While our fascination with degrees makes our young generate hard working, it also creates dangers that can be both short term and long term.

It's criminal that at the age our youth should be discovering their passion, many bright ones are just trying to clear competition exams. First in schools, then for IITs, then for IIMs and then for low value campus jobs.

It would be far better to keep things real and understand the changing realities of the professional world. In today's world that is full of opportunities and possibilities, there is enough potential for everyone to succeed.

You just need to know your passion and work hard to follow it. Nothing else will matter.