Would you turn down a job offer even if you were offered double the salary? Most of you won't do that, right? But one of India's biggest IT giants, Infosys' co-founder, indeed did so, way back in 1969.
Infosys co-founder?Narayana Murthy?recently visited the site of his first job¡ªthe prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)¡ªas a chief guest at the institute¡¯s 58th convocation ceremony. He had joined IIMA as chief systems programmer after graduating with a master¡¯s degree from IIT-Kanpur in 1969.
As he returned to the IIMA, a Facebook post revealed that Murthy had received several lucrative job offers after graduating from IIT Kanpur.?Among those who wanted Murthy, who was a young graduate at that time, were companies like TELCO, TISCO, and Air India. Each of these companies was offering him a salary of around Rs 1,600 per month?at that time, as per various media reports.
Murthy, however, chose to join IIMA as chief systems programmer,?earning half of what he would have earned at Air India?or other potential employers.
The reason? Murthy had revealed that he turned down better-paying jobs to join IIMA because the prestigious institution was in the process of installing India¡¯s first time-sharing system¡ªand the third such in the world after Harvard and Stanford in 1969.
Murthy, however, chose to join IIMA as chief systems programmer, earning half of what he would have earned at Air India or other potential employers.
The reason? Murthy had revealed that he turned down better-paying jobs to join IIMA because the prestigious institution was in the process of installing India¡¯s first time-sharing system ¨C and the third such in the world after Harvard and Stanford in 1969.
Murthy knew he would learn a lot if he joined the IIMA. "But there was only one catch and that was the salary," he said in an interview as part of the IIMA Archives Oral History Project, as per reports.Unsure about what to do, he consulted his teacher, who advised him to chase knowledge instead of money. Hence, he chose IIMA over Air India and others.
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¡°So I was the only person from my batch of 16 students to have taken half the salary in quest of learning about a modern operating system,?about the opportunity to interact with very bright students, about the opportunity to create lots of interactive lessons using computers for students in accounting, simulation, finance, production, etc. So therefore I chose that path, and that¡¯s probably the best decision I made in my life," Infosys?co-founder Murthy concluded.
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