From failing IIT twice to top roles at Google and Microsoft: Indian woman’s success story inspires internet

An Indian-origin tech leader’s career journey, from failing the IIT entrance exam twice to working for some of the world’s biggest technology companies, is going viral online for its inspirational message. Taking to X, Priyanka Vergadia, who according to her LinkedIn bio works at Microsoft as Senior Director, Forward Deployed Engineering & Advising, detailed how early setbacks did not prevent her from building a global career in technology. Priyanka Vergadia works at Microsoft as Senior Director, Forward Deployed Engineering & Advising.(X/@pvergadia) Vergadia, who is based in California, began her post with a candid admission, saying that she failed the IIT entrance exam twice, took loans she “couldn’t afford and started her career as a quality engineer while friends progressed faster. She then shared a year–year timeline of the last 25 years. From failing IIT twice to working for big techsIn her post, Vergadia wrote that she set her sights on IIT in 2000, failed in 2004 and again in 2005, and then reluctantly joined another engineering college. 2009, she had graduated in India and moved to the United States for graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, starting “from scratch in a new country”. The early years, she said, were marked difficulty in finding an internship, loan repayment pressures, and starting out at a small startup. Then, her career gradually evolved from quality assurance to customer-facing engineering roles. 2014, she said, she felt she had “arrived” in her “happy place” – solving business problems daily with engineering. Then, in 2017, “Google found me,” she wrote, later discovering a passion for developer relations (DevRel), launching zero-to-one products, becoming a best-selling author, and eventually leading Developer Advocacy for North America at Google Cloud. Vergadia added that in 2024, Microsoft “found” her to lead developer strategy for go-to-market, and in 2025 she earned a Wharton MBA, published another best-selling book and took the TED stage, while leading teams delivering multi-billion-dollar impact. “The entire time, one truth kept me going: I had to believe in myself before anyone else would. Failing IIT twice felt like the end of the world. But it wasn’t my destination – it was just the beginning,” she wrote. “From a “Not-IIT” engineering school to leading developer strategy at the world’s biggest tech companies wasn’t about being the smartest person in the room. It was about showing up consently, learning relentlessly, and never letting failure or fear make my decisions,” she continued. Vergadia concluded her saying, “Don’t give up on yourself. Your timeline is your own. Dream! Dream big! You can only achieve what you can imagine..so don’t hold back.” Social media reactionsThe post has drawn thousands reactions, with many calling her timeline “inspirational”. One user wrote, “Heartwarming timeline.” Another said, “Failure at the start feels permanent, but it quietly builds the grit that outlasts early success. In the long run, steady persence does more heavy lifting than a single, perfect leap.” “Inspirational note for many IIT dropouts,” commented a third user. “Thanks for sharing your journey. It’s a powerful reminder that success isn’t always linear. Your resilience is inspiring, and it’s great to see how far you’ve come,” wrote another.