IIT Hyderabad alumnus Vivekananda Pasam's career journey has taken several unexpected turns, from an Amazon job offer and UPSC preparation to government service and management education. Reflecting on his achievement, Pasam wrote on LinkedIn, "Six months ago, when I started preparing for B-school interviews, I genuinely believed that converting the top IIMs was beyond my reach." His journey has now led him to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad after scoring the 99.92 percentile in CAT 2025.
Pasam completed his BTech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Hyderabad in 2021. During campus placements, he received an offer from Amazon as a Software Development Engineer. However, instead of joining the company, he chose to prepare for the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Examination, driven by his interest in governance, economics and public policy.
He spent nearly four years preparing for UPSC and appeared in the examination in 2022, 2023 and 2025. He cleared the Preliminary examination in all three attempts but could not reach the final selection list. He later cleared the Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level examination and was selected as a Customs Inspector in September 2025.
After moving away from the UPSC path, Pasam turned to management education. With around 45 days to prepare for CAT 2025, he scored 99.92 percentile and converted all seven of the top IIMs, according to the reported account. He eventually chose IIM Ahmedabad and joined its 2026-28 programme.
He described the next two years as a test of his "resilience, humility, and perseverance." His journey highlights how setbacks can lead to new career directions rather than define an individual's future.