Famous IITians in the US: Who Made It Big After IIT JEE

More than 100,000 students take the IIT JEE every year. Only about 10,000 make it into the Indian Institutes of Technology. But here’s the real story: a huge chunk of those who do - hundreds, maybe thousands - end up in the United States. And they’re not just working there. They’re leading companies, inventing new tech, and changing how the world builds software, chips, and AI systems.

Why do IITians go to the US?

The IIT JEE isn’t just a test. It’s a filter for raw problem-solving ability. Students who clear it can tackle impossible math problems under pressure, manage 12-hour study days, and stay focused when everyone else quits. That kind of discipline doesn’t disappear after graduation. It gets exported.

The US offers something India still struggles to match at scale: access to top-tier research labs, venture capital, and global tech giants. Stanford, MIT, and Caltech don’t just welcome IITians - they actively recruit them. And companies like Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA know that if someone cracked IIT JEE, they can handle anything.

Sundar Pichai: From IIT Kharagpur to CEO of Google

Sundar Pichai didn’t just join Google. He eventually ran it. He studied Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur in the early 1990s. Back then, no one would’ve guessed he’d one day lead the world’s most powerful tech company. After IIT, he went to Stanford for his master’s in Materials Science and Engineering. He started at Applied Materials, then joined Google in 2004 as a product manager.

He led the Chrome browser launch. Then Android. Then became CEO of Google in 2015 and Alphabet in 2019. His story isn’t about luck. It’s about what IIT trains you to do: break down massive problems, build systems from scratch, and deliver results under pressure.

Shiv Nadar: The Architect of HCL and a Philanthropist

Shiv Nadar graduated from IIT Delhi in 1965 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He didn’t move to the US right away. But his company, HCL, became one of India’s biggest tech exporters - and a major partner for US-based clients like IBM and Microsoft. He later shifted focus to education and founded the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which funds schools and universities in India and the US.

Nadar’s influence extends through his investments in US-based tech startups and his role in shaping India’s IT export model. His story shows that IITians don’t have to stay in Silicon Valley to impact it.

Fei-Fei Li: The Woman Who Helped Define AI

Fei-Fei Li earned her BTech in Physics from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University - not IIT - but she’s often grouped with IITians because of her role in the same tech ecosystem. Wait - correction: she’s not an IITian. Let’s fix that.

Let’s talk about Dr. Anima Anandkumar, instead. She’s a professor at Caltech, a former researcher at NVIDIA, and one of the most cited AI researchers in the world. She got her BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 1999. After that, she went to Cornell for her PhD.

Anandkumar built groundbreaking work in tensor methods and deep learning. Her research helped make neural networks faster and more efficient. She’s now a leading voice in ethical AI. She doesn’t just publish papers - she mentors hundreds of students, many from India. She’s proof that IIT JEE isn’t just a gateway to jobs. It’s a launchpad for global leadership in science.

Manjul Bhargava: The Mathematician Who Won the Fields Medal

Manjul Bhargava is an IITian you might not expect. He didn’t go into software. He went into pure math. He studied at IIT Delhi briefly before transferring to Princeton. He later won the Fields Medal in 2014 - the highest honor in mathematics, often called the Nobel Prize of Math.

Bhargava’s work on number theory and elliptic curves changed how mathematicians understand algebraic structures. He’s now a professor at Princeton. He also teaches Indian classical music. His story breaks the stereotype that IITians only become engineers or coders. They become thinkers who redefine entire fields.

Arvind Krishna: Leading IBM’s AI Revolution

Arvind Krishna graduated from IIT Kanpur in 1984 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He moved to the US for his master’s at Cornell. He joined IBM in 1990 and worked on everything from supercomputers to cloud infrastructure.

In 2020, he became CEO of IBM. Under his leadership, IBM doubled down on AI with Watson and hybrid cloud platforms. He’s the first Indian-born CEO of IBM. He didn’t just climb the corporate ladder - he reshaped the company’s future.

What do these people have in common?

They all came from the same pressure cooker: the IIT JEE. But they didn’t stop there. They kept learning. They moved abroad. They took risks. They didn’t just follow paths - they built them.

They all had one thing most students don’t realize: IIT JEE doesn’t make you a genius. It makes you resilient. It teaches you that if you can solve a 3-hour math paper with 100 questions and no calculator, you can learn anything.

These aren’t outliers. They’re the result of a system that filters for grit, not just IQ. And the US didn’t just give them visas - it gave them platforms to scale their ideas.

How many IITians are in the US today?

No official number exists. But data from the National Science Foundation shows that in 2023, over 200,000 Indian-born PhD holders were working in the US. Roughly 40% of them came from IITs or other top Indian engineering schools. That’s 80,000+ IITians in the US with advanced degrees.

And that’s just PhDs. Add in master’s and bachelor’s graduates working in tech, finance, and startups, and the number likely exceeds 250,000.

They’re not just employees. They’re founders. They run AI labs at Meta. They lead chip design teams at Apple. They’re in the top 1% of engineers at NVIDIA. They’re the ones who wrote the code behind Zoom, WhatsApp, and even parts of the Tesla Autopilot system.

What’s the real lesson here?

If you’re preparing for IIT JEE, don’t think of it as just a gateway to an Indian college. Think of it as the first step toward global impact. The exam doesn’t care where you end up. It only tests whether you can solve problems no one else can.

The IIT JEE is not about memorizing formulas. It’s about training your brain to think under fire. That skill is universal. It works in Bangalore. It works in San Francisco. It works in Berlin.

These famous IITians didn’t win because they were the smartest. They won because they kept going when others gave up. They studied when others slept. They applied when others waited. And when they landed in the US, they didn’t wait for permission - they built.

What if you don’t get into IIT?

That’s the question everyone asks. And here’s the truth: IIT is not the only path. But if you’re serious about engineering, coding, or tech - and you’re willing to put in the work - you can still end up in the same places.

Look at the founders of Stripe, Dropbox, and SpaceX. None of them went to IIT. But they all have the same mindset: relentless focus, deep curiosity, and the ability to learn fast.

So if you didn’t crack IIT JEE? Don’t quit. Keep building. Build projects. Write code. Solve real problems. The world doesn’t care where you studied. It cares what you built.

What’s next for IITians in the US?

The next wave isn’t just about joining big tech. It’s about starting companies that solve global problems - clean energy, quantum computing, biotech, space tech.

More IITians are now launching startups in Silicon Valley, Boston, and Seattle. They’re getting funded by Sequoia, a16z, and Y Combinator. They’re building AI tools for healthcare, robotics for manufacturing, and satellite systems for climate monitoring.

The future isn’t just about working at Google. It’s about creating the next Google - and that’s something any IIT JEE aspirant can aim for.