An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate's account of being judged during a job interview has triggered a wider conversation about the pressure attached to being an IITian and career decisions taken after that journey. Akash Sampurnanand Pandey, currently working as a software engineer at Rippling in New York City, United States, shared his experience on a social media post, highlighting the hidden cost of an IIT tag.
In a LinkedIn post, the professional recalled being told, "Arre, IIT se ho kar bhi yahin ho?" (you are still here, even after IIT) while appearing for an entry-level data analyst position offering Rs 40,000 a month. The remark came in 2019, three years after the candidate graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, in 2016.
The graduate said that he had recently discontinued preparation for the Union Public Service Commission examination and was attempting to return to the workforce after a career break. The interviewer's comment, he said, left him feeling like a "loser" and severely affected his confidence. Pandey noted: "It hit me hard. I felt like a loser. My confidence was shattered."
Pandey highlighted that the IIT tag opens several opportunities but can also create an expectation that its holders do not have the "right to fail" without being questioned or insulted. He sated:
"That's the part of the IIT tag nobody warns you about. It opens a lot of doors, yes. But it quietly shuts one door - the right to fail without being judged or insulted."
"And you internalize it. For months I measured myself against the top 1 percent of my batch and felt lost every single day."
After taking what he described as the "long road back", the professional said he gradually returned to professional life through a series of ordinary roles. He now works as a software professional in New York and stated that his gross income places him among the top two per cent of earners in the United States.
The "JEE exam was never meant to be a life sentence or a lifetime pass," he asserted. Pandey criticised the tendency to treat an IIT graduate's professional setback as entertainment or proof that the person failed to live up to their academic reputation.
The post said both IIT graduates burdened by "failed potential" and students without the IIT label may be trapped by the same misconception - that an entrance examination taken at the age of 18 can define their lifelong limits.
