I studied business, then became a pilot: Why my degree did not define my career

It was in my early teens that I first realised I was not simply a passenger travelling on an aircraft. I was fascinated by airplanes, the cockpit and the pilots. While most passengers looked forward to reaching their destination, I found myself fascinated by the aircraft itself and the professionalism of the cockpit crew.

By the age of 13, I had made a firm decision: one day, I would become a pilot.

What I did not know then was that the journey to the cockpit would not be a straight line.

My undergraduate degree was in Business Management, specialising in Entrepreneurship Development, a field that, at first glance, seems far removed from aviation.

Today, I realise it was never a detour. It was part of the preparation.HOW I MADE THE LEAP FROM BUSINESS TO AVIATION

My transition into aviation was not sudden. Becoming a pilot was the one thing I had always been certain about. What I had not planned was the path I would take before getting there.

I completed Grade 12 in 2022, when the aviation industry was still recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. My family and I felt it was wiser not to enter the industry immediately. Instead, I decided to pursue an undergraduate degree first.

The question then became: What should I study?

I chose Business Management with a specialisation in Entrepreneurship Development at Woxsen University.

The decision was deliberate. My father and I believed that regardless of the profession one chooses, an understanding of business provides a valuable foundation for navigating the real world.

Business education teaches much more than how companies operate. It develops financial awareness, strategic thinking, communication, decision-making, leadership and problem-solving. For me, that was the real value of the degree.

I had always considered myself a planner and organiser, but Woxsen turned out to be one of those unexpected decisions that shaped me in ways I had not anticipated.A FAMILY THAT NEVER LIMITED MY AMBITION

I have often been asked, “How did you convince your family to let you become a pilot?”

The truth is, I never had to convince them.

My parents were excited that I was pursuing something different and uncommon, and becoming a pilot would be the first such profession in our family.

I am particularly fortunate to have grown up in a home where academic results were never treated as the sole measure of achievement. When I received my results, my parents did not immediately ask about my marks. They would ask, “Did you answer the test based on the knowledge you had?”

If I lost marks on something I genuinely knew, they reminded me that marks were not the ultimate measure of learning.

Perhaps that is where some of my unconventional thinking comes from. My parents taught me to value learning over numbers, capability over labels and growth over comparison. THE FOUNDATIONS BEFORE THE COCKPIT

I come from Hyderabad and completed my schooling through Grade 12 at Vikas The Concept School. During school, I served as Vice Captain and later Captain.

Those roles taught me leadership, decision-making, communication and accountability. More importantly, they taught me the responsibility that comes with being trusted by others.

When I joined Woxsen after Grade 12, I already knew I wanted to return to aviation after completing my degree. But I did not want to pursue a degree simply for the sake of having one. I wanted the education itself to hold value.

I actively sought experiences beyond the classroom. I served as a one-day Vice President, worked as a Campus Ambassador and Administrative Liaison, and interned under the Vice President. These experiences taught me how to communicate and work with people across different departments and backgrounds.

One of my most transformative experiences came in my fourth semester, when I studied at IE University in Madrid, Spain, as an exchange student.

The international exposure, classroom discussions and diversity of perspectives gave me a different understanding of business and the world around me. I returned to India with lessons that continue to influence the way I approach my career.

I had entered university intending to earn a degree before becoming a pilot. I left with something more valuable: an expanded way of thinking.FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE COCKPIT

Being a pilot may appear glamorous from the outside, but behind the uniform and the cockpit is a profession that demands discipline, responsibility, communication, decision-making, situational awareness and the ability to remain composed under pressure.

Many of those qualities had already been developed throughout my life: some at home, some at school and many during university.

By my final semester, I knew I had made the most of my degree. But the calling toward aviation had never disappeared.

During my final semester, I applied to IndiGo's Cadet Pilot Programme and was selected. I was 20 years old.

The timing was challenging. I needed to begin airline pilot training while completing my final semester at university. With the support of incredible mentors, I completed my final semester online while simultaneously undertaking my aviation training.

I did my flight training in South Africa.

I still remember my first flight. It was surreal. That first hour in the air seemed to pass in a matter of moments.

But I quickly understood that flying was not simply about fulfilling a childhood dream. It was about applying everything I had learned throughout my life in a completely new environment.

The leadership I developed in school, the communication and decision-making skills I strengthened at university, the discipline I learned at home and my ability to work with different people all became relevant in the cockpit.

Flying continues to teach me new things every day. But I also recognise that many of the qualities that brought me into this profession were developed long before I ever sat in a cockpit.DOES A DEGREE HAVE TO DEFINE YOUR PASSION?

My parents have both built successful professional and personal lives, but neither has allowed formal education to become a limitation on what they could pursue. My younger sister is currently in Grade 12 and is also preparing to begin her journey towards becoming a pilot.

For me, this family environment has reinforced one important belief: education should expand your possibilities, not restrict them.

A degree is important. It gives us knowledge, develops our capabilities and introduces us to a particular field of study. But it does not have to dictate our passion, identity or entire professional journey.

I studied entrepreneurship, but I became a commercial pilot. I do not see those two things as contradictory.

In fact, I can see a future where they complement each other. At some point in my career, I would love to explore entrepreneurship within the aviation industry and build something of my own. If I do, my education will not have been separate from my career; it will have become another tool supporting the work I am passionate about.

I would also like to pursue a master's degree later in my career. A pilot does not necessarily need one, but I want one because I believe education should never have an expiration date. THE FOUR Ps I HAVE ALWAYS LIVED BY

I have always believed in the four Ps of life: Passion. Patience. Persistence. Purpose.

Patience allowed me to take a different route when the timing was not right.

Persistence kept me moving towards aviation while I was pursuing another field.

And Purpose reminded me why I started in the first place.

I have never considered a degree a boundary around what a person can become.

Instead, I see education as an opportunity to become more capable, more aware and better prepared to face the real world, whatever profession is eventually chosen.

My journey from a business classroom to a commercial cockpit taught me that our education and our profession do not always have to look identical on paper.

Sometimes, one teaches you how to build a career. The other teaches you what you truly want to build your life around.

For me, entrepreneurship taught me how to think, and aviation is where I wanted to go. The journey between the two taught me how to become my ideal self.

There is a whole world beyond the bubble we know. All it takes is a little courage to step outside it and see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

The sky is just the beginning.- EndsRead | MBA, BTech, CA: Are costly degrees losing value in India job market?Read | Need money to study, need education to earn: The vicious loop trapping students