My family want me to appear for UPSC while I am not sure I want that kind of life. I want to practice and family can sustain me for some years. But almost every week they bring this topic up. They are trying to convince me and its getting in my head too that there are no more honorable career than IAS or IPS. I would be just a lowlife in litigation and will be far behind my peers who are attempting UPSC. Is it really true that if you don't become IAS, everything is just settlement and adjustment!?Its getting in my head however I am not sure I want to attempt UPSC I am 26 already and too late for exam and unsure. Right now the atmosphere in my home is that there are no other worthwhile career than UPSC every career other than being civil servant is just lowlife.

There must be a reason high performers from NLS and NLUD (those who could have got choice foreign LLMs/Magic Circle/Tier 1 corp jobs) chose to aim for and clear the UPSC. Not making a pissing contest about NLUs, but just saying that high performers across top NLUs are working towards it, when other options are already right there for the taking.

Vaishali Singh was a gold medalist at NLUD and working at S&R before IAS. Vinayak from NLS was at Allen & Overy in London before the IPS. Vikramaditya from NALSAR did his Oxford BCL before joining IAS. People like Saumya Sharma, Jaydev and Kanchan were barely out of college but aimed for IAS turning down other paths. Other NLS people like Geetanjali and Saket were at Amarchand and Luthra/JSA before joining the IFS.

For every 5 people who are opting for UPSC, there are 50 equally qualified people who are not. That's not really an indicator of anything. It is not the profession but the professional who attracts respect. There are plenty of people in every profession who earn that respect, just like there are others who fail to do so.

Lmao. This logic is specious at best. That would imply that given the number of Ivy / Ox-bridge NLU grads who join a corporate law firm or public policy thinktank of JGLS makes each of those the most coveted job. People have different preferences. Their preferences neither prove nor disprove what the most 'honorable' job is (whatever the fuck the most 'honorable' job even means).

To dear OP I think you have been severely brainwashed by your parents. No UPSC is not the ultimate job. Thousands of IITians IIM passouts AIIMS passouts top tier law school passouts and gazillion other brilliant passouts from other great places of learning in India DO NOT event sit for UPSC exams. My brother a top doctor from AIIMS and gold medalist throughout never ever considered babugiri as a career. Every single of these people I have talked about had an equally good chance to clear UPSC. They just did not want to. Clearly UPSC is not THE BEST career option out there. Hell these days it is not even the best paying job as it used to be in say 80s or 90s. It is people with your mindset who are making a VIPs out of them. In USA no one is as crazy about government jobs as in India. 200 years of slavery and VIP culture is what is to be blamed for this stupid obsession some people have. If UPSC is your passion, sure brilliant go for it! But NEVER once think that any other profession or job is below you! I get it every law pass out does not have a chance for a big 6, but every pass out has an equal chance to clear UPSC. So I can understand the craze for a shot at the top government job. But in India people like you are making it unhealthy. Don't make lawyers of legally india feel as if they are inferior to a civil servant. They are not. Such UPSC frenzy should not even be allowed in legally india. Legally India is not a upsc channel. And a lot of VIP culture is being mowed down these days. It will soon be obliterated. Any civil servant should be treated as servant of the public..which he or she is..rather than some lord or boss. And having said that, every job is respectable. Lions don't care about opinion of sheeps. Be a lion in whichever professional field or career you choose, and don't let any dumb guy who says you are subservient to a UPSC person affect your mind.

Comment number 2 is the most stupid analogy ever. By that logic there are many civil servant who quit government mid way in their career and join private sphere. Does that fact alone make private sphere better than civil services? It doesn't. Similarly the fact that a few law school students join civil services doesn't mean that corporate law jobs are inferior. They are one of the best paying jobs in India right now. Career choices ultimately boils down to a person's passion, expectations and household circumstances. Each to their own.

Hi OP your statement is the most ridiculous statement that I have ever heard. But I am not surprised, as this God worshipping of UPSC is fairly common in India and especially in North India. The reason for this is Civil Servants used to literally be lords during the British era, and 200 years of slavery have taught generations of Indians to bend head over heels to 'my lords' aka civil servants (The same is not true anymore though). The lack of industrialisation, privatisation, development and literacy means most of India still relies on government jobs for livelihood. Thus any parent having a government job is inbred with the concept that IAS is king, because these officers lead most of the government departments. In north India except Delhi NCR there is no MAJOR Metropolitan region (Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata all outside North India). Which means lack of jobs. A parent residing in Mumbai knows there is no dearth of career opportunities in other fields and profession. But a parent residing in an average town of Uttar Pradesh believes UPSC as the end game. No one here knows Trilegal, but everyone knows the DM. Hence this attitude.

In any capitalist, developed and liberal country it is mostly bank balance that is the sign of success like America. In USA there is no CRAZE to become a Detective in the police force or Captain of the Precinct (if it is your passion sure join the police force but in USA there is NOT a crazy obsession for government job)…as opposed to say the craze to become a DSP or SP in India. This is further amplified by the fact that 70 percent of India lives in rural area or somehow has direct roots to it. And in rural area if you want a well paying job with power, UPSC is the only way to go. I think more than money it is a perverted sense of power that society has gifted to these civil servants that is the cause for this craze. The VIP culture of civil services is almost absent in USA. The contrary attitude prevalent in India was also helped by the fact that even post-independence the same my baap culture was allowed to continue to some extent (at least psychologically) and till pre-liberalization and even up to may be 1990s civil services used to be the highest paying JOB. Agar NAUKRI karke paisa kamana hai to civil servant ban jaao. Simple. Typical service class/middle class dream. It might be noted that in no other developed country like USA or even in UK itself is the bureaucracy given such god level treatment. Government job in USA is just like any other job with its own advantages and disadvantages. But the hallmark of success in any developed capitalist country is your bank balance and salary and NOT if you are driving a car with a beacon. In India I can bet go to any small city of India and the hallmark of success for the majority of people would be whether or not you have become an IAS. Which obviously is wrong.

This attitude has destroyed generations of entrepreneurial ideas and prevented many kids from becoming future business men/women and tycoons, as kids from school life are taught that IAS is 'my baap' and every other thing is just slavery. This stops the mental ambition of kids. So instead of starting a startup, choosing a profession/vocation or becoming artists or whatever else their talents best suited them to become, these young guns slave for years and years to clear UPSC just because their parents said so. This lower and middle class dream of IAS has literally destroyed India and may be costed 3 to 4 % in GDP growth annually. If in a country of "1.2 billion" population, the country's young students instead of getting employed and working or creating businesses are just sitting in a room for five years at a stretch mugging up current affairs for an exam which eventually only has about "90" seats for IAS annually, naturally the country is losing on productive labour and gross national product and per capita salary. It is disguised unemployment, all because of the parent's stupid attitude that IAS is king, they destroy the lives of youth and cost nation millions of dollars, when the same youth could have been so good at so many other things like sports, business, acting, accountancy, law or whatever zillion professional options one has. Even if they do not become IAS the craze for government job is still there. So they will become a sub-inspector, or tehsildar or BDO or join some allied state services and still continue to prepare for UPSC. They will take a government job and then will abscond from the same or take study leaves for months, just to prepare for UPSC, this causes a grave loss to the state exchequer both in terms of manhours plus money. And if these people do not make it to UPSC then they spend the rest of their lives cursing the jobs that they are doing because duh but obviously the jobs that they are doing is "inferior" to IAS. In a country where caste system and social strata is so dominant doing an "inferior" job comes with its own set of social and psychological ramifications.

By law of probability if millions of people are fighting for just 90 seats, the one million minus 90 people will naturally end up unsatisfied for the rest of their lives if they have imbibed a mindset that every other job is inferior. They have have may be sacrificed 2 may be 3 years and in some cases 6 to 10 years of their prime youth preparing for the exams and still could not get IAS by sheer law of probability and averages. Congratulations, you have now created a disgruntled human resource, that is going to be jealous and feel inferior to IAS officers for the rest of their lives. My father is a prime example of this. He sacrificed many years for the IAS dream, he eventually did land a government job, but since he could not get IAS it was like a bitter thorn for the rest of his life. Throughout his life he worked for the government and naturally there was an inferiority complex deeply embedded in him thanks to a typical middle class Indian upbringing that has gone unchecked for DECADES now that IAS is the King. He is NOT. When you have psychologically moulded your kids right from childhood into making them believe that IAS is the king, then if he/she does not become that, there is a high chance they will have an inferiority complex for the REST OF THEIR LIVES. The statement from OP is reflective of this EXACT mindset. Our kids deserve better! This why the government is trying to make maximum age for UPSC as 26 years. This is why government is allowing lateral entry from private sectors to equivalent positions of civil servants. This is why the government is trying to make non IAS officers from civil services as head of institutions and various bodies which have traditionally always have IAS. Just to break this stereotype. But there is immense pressure from public to not to change the system as they see UPSC as their only chance to have any go at real power. Which is why various civil society leaders have demanded an end to VIP culture and unnecessary VIP treatment provided to some govt officers and netas. So that this unhealthy obsession goes away.

The Indian civil services system is out dated, redundant and archaic. Except may be essay and ethics paper the exams just test rote learning, and the whole idea of optional subject is just crazy. You can take medical science as subject and end up becoming an Indian Postal Service officer. What is the connection? If your exam system allows a B.A. in Sanskrit to become an Indian Revenue Services officer, there is something fundamentally wrong in your system. Much like private job, government jobs should be aligned with graduation outcomes. Just like a lawyer becomes a judge, an accountant/CA should be in IRS, and people from IIMs should be leading government PSUs. There should be some rational nexus.

Now is the time to drop certain TRUTH BOMBS on OP which should answer the questions. No UPSC is not the ultimate career parth, but it is one of the many career paths. It is definitely not the highest paying profession any more. IIM/IIT/NLU graduates and other grads from other top professional schools earn a lot lot more than even the senior most IAS officer of the country can ever imagine. The car, the driver can easily be bought with money. Taking orders from a politician and dealing with goons and sourceful people day in and day out can be as tiring as a normal private desk job. Some IAS officers sleep just 4 hours a day, due to the immense workload they have. Some IAS have quit their jobs because a politician slapped them. Some IPS have been killed by the mafia. Some IRS have been wrongly framed and jailed for the rest of their lives. The DM bunglow you only get for a few years of your IAS life. Rest of the time you will be living in normal flats. Post retirement you will live an ordinary life. A lot of Civil Servants actually quit while they are still young and move to private sector. A law firm partner would have saved 10 times more than an average civil servant by the time he retires. Plus a lawyer can practice even post retirement. Due to illiteracy, lack of sensitivity, lack of career opportunities, and a slavery mindset (thanks to the British) a lot of Indians do think UPSC as the ultimate career option. Lot of civil servants themselves are pushing their children to private sectors or even abroad to work in MNCs. Because they know that brilliant and very well paying opportunities exist in private sectors too. Since they themselves have become civil servants they know the difficulties lying beneath all that glamour. So would you measure yardstick of success from what an uneducated, biased, desensitised rural mind thinks or what the educated people think?? No the IAS is not a GOD, he is just another babu doing just another job, much like zillions of other jobs in India. Each job being equally respectable. The British era is gone, and OP you should change your feudal mindset too, you are not your parent, you are you. Build your own identity. Take your own rational decisions.

Hi R. I think you can remove the facts contested from the comment 1.1.1 everything is true. I think the last para has some facts that look like they might need some verification. Sadly all of them are correct and everyone needs to know these things:

IPS killed by Mafia: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ips-officer-killed-by-mining-mafia-in-madhya-pradesh-470712

IAS slapped, quits civil services to start a startup: https://www.livemint.com/news/business-of-life/from-the-ias-to-a-startup-1541193353718.html

IES officer killed by mafia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Dubey#:~:text=Satyendra%20Dubey%20(1973%E2%80%932003),Golden%20Quadrilateral%20highway%20construction%20project.

Director General level Civil Servant wrongly accused of bribery, entire family tortured, entire family commits suicide : https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/bk-bansal-suicide-who-was-he-what-happened-and-who-did-he-blame-116092900465_1.html

Just a few examples. Sadly there are many. These are many realities of civil services that do not get enough publicity and people just see the glamour around it due to the colonial mindset of 200 years and just drop everything and start mugging up for the exams without deeply studying where they are landing. I mean if you know the pros and cons and then do something it is perfectly alright. But most of the students start prepping for UPSC just because their parents 'think' it is the ultimate thing to do in life. Nothing can be further from truth. So I would say do your due diligence and then pick up a career option. Each job is respectful and will have its own pros and cons. Only an illiterate uneducated mind would say that XYZ is the most superior job on planet and everything else is just lowlife. Wake up OP it is 2021!

I started preparing for UPSC at 25 and have been preparing for the past 2 years. Like you, I didn't know anything about this exam at all when I decided to switch. My two cents after being in the process is that for every success story out there of lawyers who have made it, there are many like me who don't. The college you went to has nothing to do with your chances of clearing this exam. It was my own decision to take the plunge so I have no one to blame except myself. I knew the losses I would be incurring as a result of sitting at home and preparing. So, if you're unsure, don't do it. Certainly don't do it because your parents are asking you to. That said, our parents' generation definitely views the UPSC CSE as the pinnacle of the middle class dream. Just know that this exam is a lot of work, discipline and grit and it's possible you might have nothing to show at the end of it all. So think carefully and decide if it is for you. Only then take the plunge. If not, there are other jobs. There is honour in all work.

I think it should completely be your choice.......rather than asking immature law students and devastated corp lawyers, or listening to your parents and supposedly being 'influenced' by them, ask yourself...what do you really want, UPSC requires relentless devotion and as a premier government officer, you would be paid a handsome salary apart from other perks (google it)

Yeah, in their 30s, civil servants empower and uplift thousands of people around them. Ira Singhal ensured employment of thousands of transgenders during her tenure as Sub Collector. But a perspective beyond one's own narcissistic self is too much to expect from privileged brats like yourself.

No it is just a remnant from British and near Independence era which has stuck so deep in the typical Indian middle class that forget civil services even a mid or low tier government job is thought to be much better than anything else. We all know Britihshers used to literally rule and we were their slaves. Even today that slave mentality is there, people want their children to become these lords (in their mind). Even in Britain you don't have posts like IAS and DMs. Only in India. They should have done away with all colonial drama in 1947. The kind of opportunities and pay that you see in private sector now was unimaginable till as latest as 90s and early 2000s. That psyche will take some time to go. But educated and aware people know otherwise. That is why I have often observed that almost all my friends who had their parents in civil services didn't go for services themselves coz they knew that at the end of the day it is just a career option like many others. Definitely not superior than everything, especially at a time when you can earn much more in private sector. Having said that money is not everything and you can choose your poison.