I am in exactly the same place as you. Taking the leap with a college friend. Your dreams are your dreams and they can never be real without aspirations. A lot of people have said a lot of things here but everyone who cracks it takes that gamble. Part of the process. We can perhaps connect too!

Stuff and nonsense. You go away for two years do some silly clerical work on the side you don’t get hired as easily when you come back. Firms have a constant supply of fresh grade and up and comers- they don’t need to consider someone who hasn’t applied themselves to the law for years.

I liked all those Bollywood movies and those characters made the right choice. But they had very different circumstances and options. That guy in 3 idiots was talented as a photographer and didn’t want to throw away talent. There is no one on earth who can claim to be talented at acing upsc. Apples to oranges. If this same guy had said I want to play music for a few years and he was very good- most people would have said - yeah give it a shot, you’re talented.

That IAS movie - did you even watch it ? That song is sung by a character who repeatedly sits for exams doesn’t crack them and becomes a tuition

Master / omelette shop owner. The protagonist came from such a terrible place in life his only way out was to try to get the upsc golden ticket. He had no other job or career in front of him.

The guy you’re talking to already has a career in front of him. One many folks would cut off an arm and leg for. One that is more lucrative than babugiri- and you want him to give it up “for a few years” because Bollywood movies?

How silly are you folks?

Hi, Farhan, the way I see it, there is of course (1) the rational, practical side which all the comments have kindly mapped here for you (rather anxiously I must say), and (2) the irrational, aspirational side - for which here is my two cents: get an easy, low paying job (maybe freelance for a while - the legal writing market is pretty good for that), prepare, see the two years through, and if you don't make it, you don't. Restart. Not a big deal. You are literally 23/24 (assuming you graduated 6 months ago). You have a lifetime to make and spend money. If you take the test and give it its due 2 years, at least you would have tried going your heart's way.

Sorry to be corny but - "Aaj dar mat farhaan nahi to 50 saal baad jab tu boodha hoke aise hi kisi aspataal me pada hoga aur marne ka intezaar kar raha hoga… tab sochega ki letter haath me tha, taxi gate par thi, zara si himmat kar leta to to saali zindagi kuch aur ho sakti thi..."

Good luck! Hope you crack it! And even if you dont, its okay, that's more than most of us T1s dare to do. May the force be with you Farhan <3.

Will you give OP money to feed and clothe him/herself, pay their electricity bills/rent, pay for any family obligations etc, in case this doesn't work out and OP has a hard time finding a way back into the industry? No you won't! You will just not, in 99.99 cases out of 100, want to go quite that far. Your standpoint, however, would be selfish in the extreme. At least the "armchair naysayers" who can be so easily dismissed are transparent that they won't help like that either, but at least they are clear on that by not being hipocritical! Instead, they are giving OP realistic advice to stay on a stable career track (for now at least), so that later life problems can be avoided.

You know what? You people - the so-called "idealists" - are all the same! Always blaming everyone else but yourselves for problems, always trying to deny that the consequences of your choices and actions can still impact 20 years down the line! If you aren't wealthy enough, that's because there are people with stinkingly high levels of wealth. What is so hard in pulling up your bootstraps and doing whatever it takes to get to that level? Because that is exactly what people like you will do in 20 years' time. When OP's social circle will be sending their kids to swanky schools and will have the financial standing to ensure that they get exclusive and swanky higher education opportunities (many outside the country) - exclusive because they require (i) solid brains from the kids; and (ii) plenty of the right stuff as well (with limited options to access it if not available) - you will dismiss the life achievements of such people as "privilege". What's the problem in making some life sacrifices? In just grunt-working at a T1 job for 20 hours a day, so that your kid might be able to follow her calling? Your kid will be privileged enough to make most of her talents to follow her calling. For all you know, she may want to become a historian in LSE, but the educational opportunities required to get there with even small degree of smoothness require her to show her brains are the best as well as she has money in her pocket. Will she thank you for randomly "following" some whim in your 20's? No she won't! At best, she will grin, grit her teeth and try for those limited options for funding to access those opportunities at postgrad level; at worst, she might do that and curse you in her adult life. Stop thinking only about yourself and think about others, too. There is plenty of time - so much that it drags - to follow whims in later life, if you have money, then that will just be so easy. Don't waste what time you have now!

As someone who did this, don’t do it without a few years of work experience atleast. A T1 job is not worth throwing away for the CSE gamble unless you’re 100% sure you will never want to return to corp for money and other perks. Unless you get IAS/IFS or maybe IPS, the rest of the services have work profiles that are as dull and even more thankless in terms of pay and prestige and you will be treated as if you didn’t even succeed in the exam. And I’m sure even you’ll feel the same way if you don’t get a top 100 rank and crack the top 2-3 services. Even IPS officer repeatedly attempt the exam year after year for rank improvement which tell you all you need to know about the design of this exam.

Big mistake. Huge. There is so much luck built into an exam like UPSC, I dont know why anyone would give up on a whole career path to take years off to prepare for it. Its one thing if you dont have a job generally- then yeah, you can use your time to prepare for exam and try and crack it. But to give up a career on the offchance you might get really really lucky and be- what?- a babu? ridiculous trade.

I sat for DZ, landed a T1 job here in Delhi. Been 6 months. Body is here but heart and mind is on UPSC.

I know my ability - I think 2 years of exclusive UPSC prep can see me through to at least one of top four services.

How do I leave, and in 2 years if I don't crack, where do I land?

Someone who has been there, done that?