A nearly Rs 1 crore salary, an overseas posting and a career with one of the world's biggest technology companies. For many young engineers, this would be the point at which years of hard work finally pay off.

For Kanishak Kataria, it was the point at which he began questioning what he really wanted to do.An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Kataria was working as a software engineer at Samsung Electronics in South Korea. He reportedly earned close to Rs 1 crore annually.

But the prospect of building a lucrative career abroad did not hold his attention for long.He eventually left the job, returned to India and began preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination. The gamble paid off in April 2019, when he secured All India Rank 1 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2018.His journey was not a sudden switch from engineering to administration.

It was a decision shaped by his academic interests, family background and a growing desire to work in public service. WHEN A CRORE-RUPEE JOB WAS NOT THE END GOALKataria's career had taken off early.

After schooling in Kota, Rajasthan, he appeared for the IIT-JEE in 2010 and secured All India Rank 44 in the general category and Rank 1 in the Scheduled Caste category.He went on to study Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, graduating in 2014. Samsung Electronics in South Korea was his next stop, where he worked as a software engineer for around one-and-a-half years.

He later returned to India and worked as a data scientist in Bengaluru for about a year. It was during this period that his career priorities began to take a different direction.In an interview with NDTV, Kataria spoke about earning close to Rs 1 crore in South Korea.

He also explained that living abroad made him think about the differences between life there and in India, and the scope for improving governance and public services back home.HIS FAMILY HAD ALREADY GIVEN HIM A GLIMPSE OF PUBLIC SERVICEThe idea of joining the civil services was not entirely unfamiliar to Kataria. His father, Sanwarmal Verma, and uncle, Kailash Chand Verma, were both Indian Administrative Service officers.Growing up around people working in administration gave him an opportunity to understand what the profession involved.

He became interested in the possibility of contributing to society through public service.In 2017, he finally left his job to prepare for the UPSC examination. He initially spent seven to eight months attending coaching classes in Delhi to build his foundation before shifting to Jaipur for self-study.FROM A CAREER SWITCH TO ALL INDIA RANK 1Coming from an engineering background meant that several civil services subjects were unfamiliar to him.

Kataria began with NCERT textbooks and gradually moved to more advanced study materials.He chose Mathematics as his optional subject, given his interest in the discipline. During his preparation, he generally studied for eight to 10 hours a day, increasing this to 13–14 hours before the Main examination.His first attempt turned out to be his winning one.

He scored 1,121 out of 2,025 marks, including 942 in the written examination and 179 in the personality test, to emerge as the UPSC CSE 2018 topper.There was also a personal side to his success. Speaking to ANI, Kataria thanked his girlfriend, besides his parents and sister, acknowledging the support he had received during his preparation.For someone who had already reached what many would consider a dream career milestone, his decision to start over was a considerable gamble.

But his UPSC result showed where that decision eventually led him.- Ends