'IIT made me a self-assured man'

Umang Gupta reminisces about his days at IIT-Kanpur.

The most vivid memories of my youth are those of my five years at IIT-Kanpur. My best and most enduring friendships were made during those years.

In 1971, I graduated from IIT-Kanpur with a BTech in Chemical Engineering.

Even though I never pursued an engineering career after graduating, and instead became an early software entrepreneur in Silcon valley, I cannot even begin to imagine how my life would have turned out if I had not had the good fortune to study at an IIT.

While at IIT-Kanpur, I turned from a bright but not very confident adolescent into a self-assured young man full of ambition and a burning desire to succeed in life.

Perhaps this was because of the intensively competitive atmosphere that existed there.

Or perhaps it was the confidence in myself that came from the knowledge that I was one of of only 1,500 students chosen from all over India out of over 100,000 who took the JEE exam that year.

Or perhaps it was the realisation after many years studying in a "Sainik School" that at IIT I was like a fish in water -- at home with other students like me who were bright and competitive, always looking to explore the unknown and push the boundaries of our knowledge and our individual abilities.

In my case I enjoyed not only taking core engineering courses, but also took an active interest in optional subjects that involved the humanities and social sciences, and in extra-curricular activities such as drama, debating and student politics.

During my third year at IIT-Kanpur, I learnt computer programming on one of the earliest IBM mainframe computers to be available anywhere in India.

That's where I fell in love with computers and everything to do with them. I used my early knowledge of software programming to get a full graduate assistantship that enabled me to come to the US and obtain my MBA straight after graduating with my BTech in 1971.

That same passion for computers helped me get my first job at IBM in the US, and after that helped drive me to seek a Silicon Valley entrepreneurial career by joining as employee #17 of Oracle in 1981.

While there, I wrote the first formal business plan for Oracle, and became an early VP of Oracle's fledgling PC division. Despite Oracle being a very competitive place, it was amazing to be told once that I was too competitive. I'd never heard that said of me at IIT!

The competitive spirit inculcated in me at IIT and further honed at IBM and Oracle gave me the confidence in 1984 to start Gupta Technologies, the world's first client/server software company, and also the first Indian-founded software company to go public in the US stock market (in January 1993).

Since 1997, I have been Chairman and CEO of my third public software company, Keynote Systems, which had its IPO in August 1999.

When I think of today's aspiring IITians, all I can say is: Follow your heart. IIT is an ideal learning institution for the brightest students of India who clearly have a head for technology.

But if you can combine your keen intelligence with the passion to make a difference to India and to the world, anything and everything is possible for you.

(Umang Gupta has served since 1997 as Chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems Inc, the worldwide leader in e-business performance management services. Umang received his BTech degree in chemical engineering from the IIT-Kanpur in 1971 and his MBA from Kent State University in Ohio in 1972.)