Disclaimer: Originally published in February 2018. It is being republished since it still remains an interesting topic till today.
India has been witnessing a changing job trend ever since the 1990s, when the economy was globalised. Previously, many Indians completed their graduation and opted for the security of a government job.
With the opening of the economy and the coming of MNCs to India, competition grew intense in the job market, and people began to qualify themselves even more in order to secure a high-paying job, opting to do their post-graduation.
However, the 2000s have been witnessing a movement away from the beaten path, where many Indians have chosen to arm themselves with an undergraduate degree -the basic qualification- and then diversify into the field of their choice, whether or not it has any relevance to what they have studied.
This has resulted in the creation of many successful startups by young minds, providing alternate avenues of employment, and in some cases, alternate lifestyles.
One example of this is Alma Mater, a website founded by Bangalore-bred Varun Agarwal, who finished his engineering and then started a service that provided online tools that enabled customers to design and buy T-shirts and hoodies for events and reunions in their educational institutions.
The concept has been wildly successful, and Agarwal became a celebrated businessman in his twenties, soon after completing his graduation in engineering.
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Another such venture is NotionPress, a Chennai-based publishing house started by Naveen Valsakumar and his friends not too long after they completed their graduation in engineering. It has now been functional for several years and specialises in launching new authors into the market.
In a growing market like India where there is a huge consumer population from the middle, upper-middle, and upper classes, there is almost always a demand for a niche product or service that can be provided by minds quick enough to grasp the gap in the market and capitalise on it.
And as long as the products and services provided are timely and satisfactory, the consumer is not likely to probe into the qualifications of the people providing them.
Other examples of successful Indian startups are Flipkart (online shopping), Zivame (online lingerie store), Paperboat (Indian beverages and snacks), and The Bold Creative (advertising, designing, and client servicing).
Most of these startups do not require a specific qualification- they look for intelligent and motivated individuals committed to helping them provide quality service to their customers. Several Indian startups have been set up by their founders fresh out of college, and many of these founders do not hold a degree related to the field of work their startup offers.
It appears that if one is seeking to find or work with a startup, one need not go for a post-graduate degree. It is enough if they are armed with the basic qualification of an undergraduate degree, along with drive, initiative, and the interest required to be a hard and successful worker.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Alma Mater, NotionPress, The Bold Creative
This post is tagged under: Alma Mater, education in India, Education qualification needed for startups, flipkart, indian entrepreneurs, indian startups, NotionPress, online shopping, PG degree necessary?, PG degree needed? postgrad degree necessary, Varun Agarwal, young entrepreneurs, Zivame
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