Entrepreneur and author Ankur Warikoo shared a heartwarming story of a young designer from Indore who failed the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) twice but went on to build a successful career without pursuing a traditional academic degree.
Warikoo also said the designer’s professional portfolio would “easily outshine” those of many graduates from the country’s top engineering colleges.
The entrepreneur used the example to question India’s continued emphasis on academic credentials and institutional reputation. He argued that the country does not lack talent but has become overly dependent on labels such as prestigious university degrees and corporate job titles when assessing a person’s abilities.
Warikoo also said that traditional credentials largely indicate where a person has been, rather than how far they can go in the future.
“India does not have a talent problem. It has a label problem. We’ve been trained to recognize talent only when it comes stamped with the right college, degree, or company. And that’s why some of the best talent in the country remains invisible. Credentials can tell you where someone has been. They cannot tell you how far they can go,” Warikoo wrote in the caption.
However, the post sparked a debate, with several users disagreeing with Warikoo over questioning India’s emphasis on academic degrees. “Why to embarass iitians ….and the peak of 17 year old what xtra you have to show the potential….geeting select in iit after the hardest exam it shows that ur problem solver….why it is so common that ittians make most of the startups in india ..there is something we should think about,” a user wrote.
“Yeah he choose a wise step much better than taking admission in tier 3 college,” another user commented. “When people gonna stop romanticizing exceptions!” a third user reacted.
