An Indian professional who has spent years in Germany was surprised to find that JEE ranks and college names still feature prominently in conversations in Bengaluru. After nearly a decade abroad, he had grown accustomed to a different way of looking at academic and professional achievements.
Mayukh, who moved to Germany after completing his master’s degree in India, shared his experience on X. That changed when he recently visited Bengaluru for work. He was surprised to find people still asking about JEE ranks or trying to figure out which college someone had attended. He acknowledged that securing a strong JEE rank is an impressive achievement, particularly at a young age. However, he questioned why the exam continues to be discussed long after someone has entered professional life.
He said people he met there were generally unfamiliar with Indian undergraduate institutions, including IITs, NITs and Goa University. The factors that mattered most in his professional life abroad were things such as the reputation of his graduate school, research work, publications, conferences and invited talks, according to Mayukh. “Why are we fixated so much on an exam taken during adolescence?” he asked, adding that he could understand its relevance during the first few years of a career, but wondered why people in their 40s still bring it up.
