Zoho drops degree requirement, Sridhar Vembu urges Indian parents to rethink career pathways
Zoho's Sridhar Vembu has created a stir on the internet once again. His comments on the concept of 'skills over degrees' has triggered a wave of responses online.
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Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has said the company no longer mandates a college degree for any of its job roles, reinforcing its commitment to skill-based hiring. In a social media post, he also urged Indian parents to allow young people greater freedom in charting their careers instead of relying on traditional academic routes.
Vembu began by praising a growing trend in the United States, where “smart American students” are choosing to bypass college altogether, supported by employers open to alternative pathways. He described this shift as transformative, enabling young people to start working without accumulating debt and fostering a new sense of independence. “This is the real ‘youth power’,” he wrote, adding that it could fundamentally reshape culture, politics and how the next generation sees the world.
Smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them. This is going to be a profound cultural shift. This is the real "youth power", enabling young men and women to stand on their own feet, without having to incur heavy debt to get a… https://t.co/qrtuWnCx5n
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) December 3, 2025
“I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention,” he said.
Vembu went on to clarify Zoho’s own approach to hiring. “At Zoho, no job requires a college degree,” he said, noting that if any manager includes such a prerequisite in a job listing, they receive a “polite message” from HR instructing them to remove it.
His comments triggered a wave of responses online. Industrialist Dr Akkshye Tulsyan called the approach exactly the mindset India needs, emphasising that talent and curiosity matter more than formal credentials. Others said prioritising skills could give young people from smaller towns a fairer chance and accelerate India’s innovation potential.
But not everyone agreed. Some expressed concern about whether teenagers entering the workforce too early would have the maturity to navigate professional life or the time to enjoy their youth, warning that the push for early employment could place undue pressure on them.
