IIT grads look towards offbeat careers

By Ruchi Shrimali

There was a time when getting into an IIT and becoming an engineer was in itself the ultimate goal of one's life. Things are changing now. The new breed of engineers is daring and loves to challenge themselves by opting for careers considered non-traditional till now. Latest to join the ‘offbeat' bandwagon are three IIT Delhi graduates - Mr. Jagmal Singh, Mr. Saurabh Mathur and Mr. Abhey Kumar - who left plum career profiles to launch their e-commerce portal called Rangiru.com in December 2011. The portal features handicrafts and lifestyle goods. Read more about Rangiru

Not content with being mere contributors, the trio was lured to start their own business by the challenge of starting something on their own on one hand, and helping in turning around the lives of artists on the other. While Mr. Singh, Mr. Mathur and Mr. Kumar were inspired by the social context their business could serve, the founders of Bangalore-based start-up Mygola.com, which was launched in 2009, are hardcore travel enthusiasts.

Mr. Anshuman Bapna graduate from IIT Bombay and did his MBA from Stanford. He was working with Google when he decided to quit his job and launch MyGola.com, along with another IIT Bombay graduate Mr. Prateek Sharma and Mr. Kadam Jeet Jain who is a Computer Science graduate from IIT Roorkee. Around 1,500 MyGola advisors work on queries from clients and comb through Internet to come up with the most comprehensive and customised travel solutions of all kinds. MyGola offers travel planning advise

Another online travel services company called TravelTriangle.com has come into spotlight by earning a revenue of Rs 1.2 crore in just 7 months! It too has been founded by two IIT graduates, Mr. Sankalp Agrawal and Mr. Sanchit Garg, who quit plush jobs at Adobe and Yahoo to start their own venture. Travel Triangle links customers to travel agents offering best deals

Mr. Agrawal is a graduate from IIT Kharagpur while Mr. Garg is a graduate of IIT Bombay. Their core development team member is Mr. Prabhat Gupta, also a graduate from IIT Guwahati.

MIT alumnus Mr. Varun Aggarwal and IIT-Delhi graduate Mr. Himanshu Aggarwal launched Aspiring Minds in 2008. The company uses skill analysis and artificial intelligence to match jobseekers and employers. Read more about Aspiring Minds

Mr. Nitin Gupta, a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay, venture too far when he founded Entertainment Engineers in October 2009. His team includes Mr. Vipul Goyal - an Electrical Engineer from IIT B, and Mr. Tushar Upadhyay - a Metallurgical Engineer from IIT B. The company promotes stand-up comedy

With Indian education coming of age, IIT graduates have finally realized that engineering is not only about nuts and bolts. It is also about re-engineering trends and come up with innovative solutions to everyday's problems.

Other interesting reads:

-E-comm companies woo IIM grads
-IIM-A's 3rd placement attracts industry stalwarts