Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath on being a school dropout: ‘Felt insecure after friends graduated, social stigma around jobs…’

livemint.com:

Nikhil Kamath in an interview with The Print shared his thoughts on being a school dropout. He also noted the societal stigma associated with low-barrier jobs regardless of the monetary success. When asked how the reactions were after his dropping out Kamath said his parents took the news better than expected.

"My parents had given up on me. It felt like they had lost hope," he joked, adding that his extended family values higher education. "Coming from a South Indian family with highly educated relatives, the pressure was on to follow a certain path of achievement.

I believe my parents handled the situation better than expected, they showed gumption and faith in me," he said. On his school friends, Kamath said nothing changed because of his decisions, adding that he did get "insecure" at some point, but the circumstances made him aware of societal stigmas surrounding certain professions. "I feel like the psychology behind it is very interesting.

So my first job at a call centre in Bengaluru when I was 17 used to pay me ₹8,000-9,000. I was feeling really good about myself because I had a wage, I had access to more money than my friends had access to at that point in time, and I've been precociously greedy for financial independence. You feel good from 17 to 22, while your friends are at college," he started.

Adding: "You start feeling unnerved when your friends graduate college and get their first job because there is societal stigma around a job which does not have an entry barrier. It could be any job. Call centre jobs did not require a degree they did not require expertise or proficiency of a certain kind, so societal stigma is there.