Hi! Looking to hear from practicing lawyers who dropped the idea of giving UPSC considering the uncertainty and all. I’m an A0 (A1 for other firms) at a T1 and am considering the next steps. I do not dislike law, I enjoy it on most days however coming from a family of government servants the liking towards the uniform is tough to resist. I am most inclined towards IPS since I won’t have to let go of law in toto. But the usual concerns of age, chances of failing being much higher than passing, entry back into the system are not letting me take the plunge. Would love to hear from other folks. Thanks!
You are better of staying at a Tier 1, to be honest. Government jobs aren't all that great anymore (unless you're in the right service, right state etc). Imagine graduating from a top NLU, working at a Tier 1 law firm in Mumbai/Delhi/Bangalore, and then giving that up to work hard to end up in Koraput or Adilabad or some such? And all this for some 7LPA salary.
My sincere advice to almost everyone who says this is, do not take the plunge. However, let me expand on the same.
Do not take the plunge unless you have some sort of decent job lined up ready to take you unconditionally or reservation or great financial backing. 1.3 million people take the exam annually for 1255 seats. With these odds, the best chance of actually emerging successful is heavily dependent on luck instead of pure preparation. I have seen some great students who great institutes (like top IITs etc. far more difficult to get into compared to NLUs) lose 4-5 years of their life preparing for it. Keep in mind that you have to clear all 3 stages, even making it to the interview and failing means you're back to square one. Many get stuck in this rut, studying in the prime of their young adult life and emerge out of it hollow. You'll be 27-28, no work experience, no growth, no income these years, and no job prospects. You will see college and school mates around you getting promoted, buying cars, taking vacations, paying off home loans all the while you've been a net drain on your parents resources. I only say this because firstly, chances of failure are exponentially higher than that of success, and I've seen close friends go through this. Giving half of decade of something to your life and it not working out is hell, especially because in an exam like this, you aim for the moon but when you fail you do not land among the stars, you are stuck on earth, just older and mentally broken.
Only and only go for UPSC if you cannot imagine life without being in government service OR you are sure your mental resolve and toughness is strong enough to tide over the scenario of failure.
Slight addition. If you are general you are aiming for maybe 600 odd seats. And if you are specifically targeting IAS then may be 50 odd seats. There are crores of people who want to become IAS (of course mostly due to middle class colonial mentality of their parents, and lack of well paying jobs beyond metros and the sheer popularity of these services as well paying from the British era [mind you well paying private jobs are a recent addition, most villagers still think no one gets a higher salary then civil servants] etc are the silly reasons). So crores fighting for 50 odd seats. People selected for allied services still keep trying just to get that IAS seat. So we are talking about sacrificing 2 to 3 years (in some cases even more) of your prime youth. So do your maths and take a calculated risk. To be honest it becomes easier for someone who is not from IIT, IIM or NLUs to sit for these exams as they really do not have an alternative option. Sometimes I actually feel jealous of these people because since they have no option, they will drop for five years but will eventually get what they want. Anyone who has options will sooner or later give up under pressure. Which at the end of the day may also be the wise thing to do, considering may be 0.1 percent success rate.
10 lakh people apply, 12,000 get through prelims, 2,000 get through mains, 700 get selected, not many people can crack the gates, so out of 10 lakh only 12,000 are serious, and out of 12,000 only 2k are super serious, and out of this 700 are really serious and really lucky at the same time
Agree. except that it will be wrong to say that only 12,000 are serious. At the 12,000th rank if you see the next 10 marks, that will account for the next 10,000 ranks. And so on. It is that tough. A few marks here and there and you drop thousands in rank. Since it is mostly rote learning with no actual check of intelligence the parameters of performance just varies HUGELY. Take for eg ▮▮▮
So what does this tell us?? You may just have the potential to be NUMBER ONE in UPSC Mains (a descriptive paper which tests writing skills) but still not be cleared by UPSC at prelims stage itself because may be suck at objective. So it is totally wrong to say that just 12000 are serious. I'd say there are lakhs of serious candidates. But as the old saying goes if you test a fish by its ability to climb trees it will always fail. UPSC system has failed many a bright spark.
Secondly, nowhere in the DEVELOPED WORLD you have a civil services system similar to India. Simply put, it is TRASH. These officers were given so much power because they used to be British and we were their slaves. It was a Master-Slave relation. It is a pity how the same system has been allowed to continue unhindered in modern India. Even in UK you do not have an All British Service. In US there is no post like a DM. No exam that you can give and become the fucking CEO of a district. Govt services much like any other services like Army should be ground up. Like you start from a basic post and climb up the ladder. Similarly there should be lateral entry, like in US. People should be free to join govt from private sector and vice versa. But these babus oppose even that. They just want a system that feeds their ego. Surprisingly middle class Indians who are the WORST SUFFERERS of the high handedness, corruption and rudeness of these officers are actually a HUGE SUCKERS for these civil services and want their children to become one. The reason is simple, they want their children to have same powers and same money, that they had once been victim off. It is a typical middle class Indian's only lottery to power and money. Just give an exam and get everything. This lottery is not only illogical but should have completely been annhilated in 1947.]
Looks like someone didn’t clear any stage of the exam. You can’t even get AIR 1 like ▮▮▮ so stop blaming ▮▮▮ for your insecurities so called general category candidate. Mods why such a hateful comment even been allowed?
Apart from the one solitary example that the guy has given, which you have already censored anyway, the entire comment had nothing to do with caste. Yet your comment and attitude make it clear that you just reek of superciliousness and holier-than-thou attitude. Kindly refrain from your moderation duties. Your bias towards your own alma and people associated with it have already been revealed in course of your past actions. This gets added to the list.
I relate. I come from a family of government servants too, albeit not AIS. I had also given serious thought to UPSC, but then let it go upon realising it is not for me. I wanted to go for litigation, and have been doing it for about five years. I'm independent, and consider myself successful. I'm happy.
A couple of friends & batchmates gave their sincere efforts for UPSC. They were aspirants for 1-2 years after graduation, but could not clear. Both of them are litigating under seniors - one of them is getting independent clients too (second gen lawyer). In the longer run, 1-2 years don't matter.
But beyond this, at a personal level, I don't think it's worth giving too much time to UPSC. As you already said, you lose out on seniority. Then all the while you're prepping, you see your peers enjoying life (as much as is possible in their working conditions). You have to cut yourself off from a lot of social interactions and not attend a lot of parties. It's the opposite of what you have to do in the field of law otherwise - you have to be socially active, always meeting people, in order to get clients/referrals/whatever.
So if you do take the plunge, and fail, you would be restarting your career from the scratch. Again, it doesn't matter in the long run - but nothing much matters in the longer run as long as you remain content.
You have to make choices in life. Once made, you have to just live with them and look at what you end up achieving in your chosen career, rather than regretting about "what ifs". I have made my peace with practicing law (however there was a time when I wanted to go for judiciary). It has helped me achieve a stable marital life, a kid, a flat, a car, a decent career progression and all of these at a relatively young age. I am happy with my choice. One of my batchmate is still preparing for govt exams. And I am sure one day he will make it. To each their own. But I can't prepare for exams for half a decade, just for societal validation (I come from a Tier 2 city, so most of these people are themselves not quite literate and exposed, they don't know anything other than govt jobs, why should I care about these stupid people's validation?) that at the end of the day just test rote learning.
I still feel the regret sometimes. But that's rare now. And it seems to get more and more rare as time passes. Ultimately, if you find happiness in your work and are content, it gets fine.
Dude, if you need someone to convince you to NOT take the exam, then you probably have no chance of clearing it even if you took it. Save yourself the trouble and stick to the firm job. You don’t have the right attitude for someone who actually wants to engage in public service. And thankfully, as far as Civils goes, the fact that mummy or daddy cleared UPSC doesn’t give you any entitlement to it.
Do not take the plunge unless you have some sort of decent job lined up ready to take you unconditionally or reservation or great financial backing. 1.3 million people take the exam annually for 1255 seats. With these odds, the best chance of actually emerging successful is heavily dependent on luck instead of pure preparation. I have seen some great students who great institutes (like top IITs etc. far more difficult to get into compared to NLUs) lose 4-5 years of their life preparing for it. Keep in mind that you have to clear all 3 stages, even making it to the interview and failing means you're back to square one. Many get stuck in this rut, studying in the prime of their young adult life and emerge out of it hollow. You'll be 27-28, no work experience, no growth, no income these years, and no job prospects. You will see college and school mates around you getting promoted, buying cars, taking vacations, paying off home loans all the while you've been a net drain on your parents resources. I only say this because firstly, chances of failure are exponentially higher than that of success, and I've seen close friends go through this. Giving half of decade of something to your life and it not working out is hell, especially because in an exam like this, you aim for the moon but when you fail you do not land among the stars, you are stuck on earth, just older and mentally broken.
Only and only go for UPSC if you cannot imagine life without being in government service OR you are sure your mental resolve and toughness is strong enough to tide over the scenario of failure.
So what does this tell us?? You may just have the potential to be NUMBER ONE in UPSC Mains (a descriptive paper which tests writing skills) but still not be cleared by UPSC at prelims stage itself because may be suck at objective. So it is totally wrong to say that just 12000 are serious. I'd say there are lakhs of serious candidates. But as the old saying goes if you test a fish by its ability to climb trees it will always fail. UPSC system has failed many a bright spark.
Secondly, nowhere in the DEVELOPED WORLD you have a civil services system similar to India. Simply put, it is TRASH. These officers were given so much power because they used to be British and we were their slaves. It was a Master-Slave relation. It is a pity how the same system has been allowed to continue unhindered in modern India. Even in UK you do not have an All British Service. In US there is no post like a DM. No exam that you can give and become the fucking CEO of a district. Govt services much like any other services like Army should be ground up. Like you start from a basic post and climb up the ladder. Similarly there should be lateral entry, like in US. People should be free to join govt from private sector and vice versa. But these babus oppose even that. They just want a system that feeds their ego. Surprisingly middle class Indians who are the WORST SUFFERERS of the high handedness, corruption and rudeness of these officers are actually a HUGE SUCKERS for these civil services and want their children to become one. The reason is simple, they want their children to have same powers and same money, that they had once been victim off. It is a typical middle class Indian's only lottery to power and money. Just give an exam and get everything. This lottery is not only illogical but should have completely been annhilated in 1947.]
A couple of friends & batchmates gave their sincere efforts for UPSC. They were aspirants for 1-2 years after graduation, but could not clear. Both of them are litigating under seniors - one of them is getting independent clients too (second gen lawyer). In the longer run, 1-2 years don't matter.
But beyond this, at a personal level, I don't think it's worth giving too much time to UPSC. As you already said, you lose out on seniority. Then all the while you're prepping, you see your peers enjoying life (as much as is possible in their working conditions). You have to cut yourself off from a lot of social interactions and not attend a lot of parties. It's the opposite of what you have to do in the field of law otherwise - you have to be socially active, always meeting people, in order to get clients/referrals/whatever.
So if you do take the plunge, and fail, you would be restarting your career from the scratch. Again, it doesn't matter in the long run - but nothing much matters in the longer run as long as you remain content.
I still feel the regret sometimes. But that's rare now. And it seems to get more and more rare as time passes. Ultimately, if you find happiness in your work and are content, it gets fine.