Exploring Career Options aligned with your UPSC Strengths and Interests

I know what it really feels like to prepare for UPSC, I have personally been there. A small room filled with piles of books, maps stuck on the walls, calendar marked with each day coming closer to the Prelims date. 

It took a very long time, tons of tears and hopelessness to understand that Life after UPSC is not barren. 

You know the facts, that 15 lakh people apply and around 800 get selected. This is a massive failure rate of 99.9%. This number doesn’t mean that those who failed are not hardworking.

Trust me, How to use UPSC skills for Private Jobs? Is the question troubling even those who have appeared for UPSC interview multiple times. 

But many Ex- UPSC aspirants on the other hand are actually doing great in their lives. This happens because of two factors. 

First one- Being an UPSC aspirant builds you up because of the disciplined life you followed, the curiosity with which you read NCERTs and the problem solving abilities by working out day to day issues.

Secondly- These aspirants didn’t wait for years or their final failure. They were smart enough to pick up a skill after 1-2 years of preparation. To make it easier they answered the question: What to do if I fail in UPSC?

Let’s explore a few career paths

Where aspirants like you have found jobs and are killing it by taking heavy paychecks and multiple promotions in very very short durations.

• Data Science:

One of my friends from UPSC library, Akshay Kumar, who had economics as his optional. After 2 attempts when he realized that UPSC isn’t working for him. He firmly decided that he had to Explore career options after UPSC.

He was extremely fortunate to have a relative and two friends who were already in Data Science. They guided him about how to enter the industry. This helped him from overcoming the stress and depression he was stuck in. 

He once told me “After mugging up hundreds of data points for UPSC, analyzing customer pattern feels like child’s play. He now works for a Top MNC, doubling his income every two years, earning much more than what Group A officers get.

• UI/UX (User Interface and User Experience):

In your general studies foundation course, you must have had a teacher who had told you “Content is king but presentation is queen”

Nidhi Ahuja, left UPSC preparation after 3 unsuccessful attempts. She always drew very beautiful diagrams and flowcharts. One thing I gladly remember: She made flow chart of the whole Modern History book Spectrum.

Now she designs apps so good that they are winning international awards. Her degree in Architecture helped her to have like of smooth transition. 

She said this to me: If you like design or are creative then UI/UX is basically GS answer writing with digital software. 

• Digital Marketing:

UPSC Essay writing forces you to connect Economy, Polity, History, Governance into a seamless narrative, explaining the topic at various levels. That is exactly what digital marketers do for brands. 

From writing great essays to creating campaigns for startups to grow on Instagram. Rahul Singh is going great as freelancer associated with an UK based client. He frankly said: If you can make sense of ARC reports you can for sure figure out Instagram algorithms. 

• Coding: 

Anuj Juneja (B.com Hons.), prepared for 5 years for UPSC. He decided that he should go for coding as because in his school C++ and Java were taught. But when we look at majority of us we didn’t get this opportunity. For Anuj, debugging errors in code felt strangely but like revising polity. 

Both need a lot of patience, both frustrate you a lot but both give you the kick when you finally achieve the goal of perfection.

• Public Policy:

Richa missed the final merit list by 2 times with a narrow margin. Now she writes policy briefs for MP’s. Her UPSC journey didn’t go waste. Today she is drafting reports on migration patterns and networking with real change makers. Now there is no more of “Beta ab kya kar rahe ho?”

How to actually shift to a new career

Firstly, Pick a new lane apart from preparing from any other government sector exam. This could be done very easily through Career Discovery Test on this website.

Secondly, Choose a career not in family or societal pressure but in scientific way, whereby you get to know very deeply about a particular career. This could be done through Skill Explorer Sessions.

Thirdly, Network smartly. Find people on LinkedIn who have the same career and position you want to achieve someday. 

Fourthly, Don’t hesitate to start small. Right now, entry into a great career is more important that CTC.