6 Reasons IITians are Looking to Join a Start-Up

“As many as 65 start-up companies participated in the first phase of the placements this year, last year there was none”, these were the words of Babu Vishwanathan, Training and Placement Office Advisor, IIT-Madras. That in itself is a high percentage and seeing that the IIT-M is usually targeted by manufacturing and other sectors, this really makes you wonder what exactly the reason behind this new trend is. For starters, a majority of start-ups look for the technically proficient and hard working recruits, the 2 qualities that can easily be used as synonyms for any IITian. Another factor, and a major one at that, is the preference of an increasing number of students shifting from joining a well established organization to joining a star-up. We take a look at the reasons behind this shift:

Hands-on Experience

One of the biggest advantages of joining a start-up is that you are actually doing everything on your own and handling responsibilities that would be placed on your shoulders after years of slogging it out at an established company.

Quick and Extensive Learning

“In this world, there are two kinds of people, first, the ones who do the same thing every day and second, the ones who get to do everything in one day.” Joining a start-up gets the employee in to the second kind, with the learning-on-the-job progressing at a rapid pace. Ask any IITian, and his/her thirst for knowledge will lead to choosing a start-up.

Age Factor

A majority of employees at a start-up are in their mid-20s, making for a comfortable and the same time competitive work environment, which allows the employees to excel.

Innovation

Since a start-up does not have “a rich history that the employees should look to preserve”, every new idea, every creative input and a majority of risks taken to improve the productivity and efficiency of the operations are more than welcome. And almost every IITian hates doing things in a set way, making the start-ups sought after destinations.

Flexible Hours

IITians are not your typical “early to bed early to rise” people and a little flexibility in the timings is surely an added incentive.

Decent Salary

Gone are the days when start-ups were all work and no money. The average salaries being offered to IIT students range between Rs. 10-20 Lakh per year, which is actually a decent range for domestic companies.