Hey are you preparing for UPSC exams then this is the most important article you should read till the end because
in this article i will state down 10 career options which you can consider as alternative career options for UPSC or it can be a plan B or a backup option for UPSC aspirants.
I believe it is very important to have a backup plan or plan B or alternative career options if you are preparing for CSE which is a highly competitive exam in the world.
I guess I do not need to talk about how competitive the CS exams are.
So it becomes a highly important task to have a backup plan or plan B when you are preparing for the UPSC exams because at the end of the day prevention is better than cure & you can stop roaming as jobless if you fail in the exams in future.
So let’s jump right in.
Table of Contents
Alternative career options & backup plan for UPSC aspirants
-
Teaching & tutoring
This is one of the most common and popular alternative career options.
This becomes a great choice if you are interested in the teaching profession and like to explain the subjects then becoming a teacher is a good career choice for UPSC aspirants who don’t clear the exam.
I am not just talking about teaching a subject in a school or a college, if you want to teach those students in schools then you have to take tet exam, you can also start your own tuition and start teaching children and those who are preparing for the government exams from your home at the same time
you can also start your own coaching institutions and teach a specific subject for example if you are an engineer and have good knowledge in mathematics or any other subject then
You can start taking classes of mathematics as an optional subject for the aspirants at the same time you can also start your own youtube channel and start teaching the students about the subject in detail.
You can also start mentorship and teach your students about the mistakes that you have committed in your preparation and prevent those mistakes from happening by your students as a mentor in CSE exams.
The average salary of a teacher in India is around 30000 rupees per month and the price will vary depending upon the educational institution and also upon the subject you teach.
The amount of money you can charge if you start your own coaching institution will depend upon how many students passed from your coaching service for example,
If you teach maths classes in UPSC optionals for the students and if the majority of the students clear the maths optional papers from your coaching then obviously you can increase the price of your coaching service as well and grow from there.
There are some coaching institutions in my city of hyderabad in telangana which charge more than 50000 rupees for maths optionals subjects for 5 months duration which means 10000 rupees for each student for every month.
This is a highly profitable job.
2. GATE exam
This is another good career option you can choose.
If you like then you can also continue with your higher studies and prepare for the GATE exam.
GATE exam is an exam conducted by IIT colleges to get admission into colleges for post graduation
Anyone who has successfully completed 10+2+2 or 10+3+1 and is studying the third year of UG or studied engineering, arch, BSc, ba, or BCom and apply for this exam
By writing the gate exam, if you are an engineer then you can get a chance to get a job in the public sector undertaking companies like BDL, HAL, DRDO, etc.
These are basically government jobs because the companies are owned by the government and with government jobs, we get many other benefits like stability promotions and retirement benefits, and
you are also trying to get a government job essentially with UPSC exams as well, the only difference will be that you will have less power and control if you get a job in the PSU sector compared to UPSC,
Apart from that, you will also get money from the government for studying Mtech or your post-graduation in your branch after passing the GATE exam every month.
for more information, you can read my guide on pros and cons of gate exam.
3. CAT exam
You can also consider preparing for the CAT exam so that you can get admission into a top MBA college in India like IIM, etc.
The MBA full form is Master of Business Administration. An MBA degree teaches a wide range of business fields like accounting, marketing & management.
After you get an MBA degree you can get many career options like sales and marketing, finance, project manager, account management, and many more.
The eligibility for the exam is that you need to have a bachelors degree from any university with atleast 50% marks in your UG to apply.
You can learn more about the MBA and its benefits and drawbacks here.
4. State level government exams
Apart from going for higher studies you can also consider writing the state level government exams.
For example you can get into police services and become a constable or assistant commissioner of police by clearing the state level government exams.
The competition in these exams are relatively less compared to civil services because these exams are conducted at the state level.
Because even these exams are conducted by the UPSC board so the exam pattern and syllabus will be more or less the same.
5. Coding & programming
You can also consider learning coding and programming languages and get a job in top IT and tech companies like Wipro, HCL, Infosys, tech Mahindra, etc.
This becomes even more important as the majority of the UPSC aspirants are from engineering background.
You can easily learn coding and programming languages on platforms like udemy, geeksforgeeks, GitHub, stack overflow, code academy and coding Ninja, etc.
The fact is that you do not need to have a tech background or be a computer science engineer in order to learn coding and get a job in an IT company.
There are many companies which hire students based upon the skill set and experience not based upon which degree they have and how many marks they scored because at the end of the day your skills are what matters the most in real life.
The average salary of a coder and programmer in India is around 500000 rupees per annum and you can also start freelancing and earn more money.
6. SSC CGL
You can also prepare for the Staff Selection Commission exams – Combined Graduate Level Examination, often referred to as SSC is an examination conducted to recruit staff to various posts in ministries, departments and organisations of the Government of India.
These exams are conducted once every year.
These are just another form of civil service examination.
By clearing this examination you will get many jobs like assistant audit officer & assistant account officer in the Indian audit and accounts department, assistant section officer in CBI, railways, etc departments,
and you can also get a job in enforcement directorate of revenue department, inspector of income tax, assistant in ministry of external affairs and many more departments which are controlled by the central government.
7. IBPS exams
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Probationary Officers or IBPS PO exam is conducted every year for recruitment to the post of Probationary Officer in 11 Public Sector Banks in India.
Anyone between 20-30 years of age and also has a graduate-level degree education can apply for the exams and what’s really great is that not just Indians but foreign country students including Nepal, Bhutan & gulf countries can also apply for the exam
You can get a clerk job, and many are jobs in many other banks across India like Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, etc.
These are basically government jobs so even though the initial salary is quite less you will get many other benefits like retirement benefits, promotions and paid leaves, health insurance, and stability, etc.
Just like this, you can find many other government exams where you can apply and start preparing for the exam apart from the Upsc.
8. Army
You can also consider getting into the army and defense forces as an alternative to the civil Service exam.
The Combined Defence Services Examination is conducted by the UPSC for the recruitment of Officers in the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, and Indian Air Force Academy.
By preparing for this exam you can get a chance to get into the army and serve the country.
The only disadvantage of this exam is the age limit factor, if you want to get into the Indian army academy then you have to be in between 19- 24 years age and you should be unmarried,
if you want to get into Indian Navy your age should be between 19 to 22 and you should be unmarried and if you want to get into Air force your age should be between 19 to 23 and you should be obviously unmarried as well and if you are taking offices course for male the age limit is between 19 to 25 years and unmarried.
If you don’t clear the UPSC civil service exam at the age of 22, you can consider the army and CDS exam.
You can learn more about the exam here.
The average salary of the soldier in the Indian army is around 25 to 30 thousand rupees per month and in the Indian army there are many ranks and stages like from captain to major to colonel to brigadier and general, with higher ranking in army, your salary and perks will also get increased.
You can also get many other benefits of getting into the army and other branches of the military like navy and airforce like retirement benefits with lifetime pension, health insurance and housing facility, etc.
You can read my guide on the pros and cons of joining the Indian army in detail here.
9. Lawyer
Another interesting career you can choose as an alternative to UPSC exams is law.
You can take LLB courses after your undergraduate and you can get a chance to become a lawyer or judge and legal journalist and many other jobs.
Even with lawyers, you can choose many categories of being a lawyer like a criminal lawyer, corporate lawyer, government lawyer, etc.
After your undergraduate, it can take additional three years with LLB courses before you can become a lawyer and start working & earning.
The average salary of a lawyer in India is around 500000 rupees per annum and obviously there are lots of factors that determine the salary for each individual lawyer.
For more information you can read my guide on pros and cons of being a lawyer in detail here.
10. Learn Digital marketing
Digital marketing is another good option you can choose as an alternative for the civil service exam.
Digital marketing is basically marketing of any product and service on online platforms like Facebook, Google, youtube and using digital platforms.
You can learn digital marketing for free and take courses on many platforms like udemy, Google digital marketing course, digital Deepak internship program,
where you will learn different branches of digital marketing like Search engine Optimisation, social media marketing, search engine marketing, pay-per-click, email marketing, affiliate marketing, etc.
By learning digital marketing you can get many jobs like digital marketing manager, social media manager, SEO specialists, Facebook ads specialist, SEO writer.
The average salary of a digital marketing manager in India is around 7 lakh rupees per annum.
But apart from working as an employee to a company you can also start your own business or website and start creating content around a particular topic and make money or you can start your own dropshipping store, you can also start a digital marketing agency, etc.
You can find many jobs which are both high paying and also in demand by learning digital marketing.
There are a few other career options you can choose like you can start your own business of any kind both online or offline or you can also start an NGO with a bunch of other like-minded aspirants and volunteers and work for the welfare of the society and people.
Along with that, you can also consider getting into politics and become a politician because you have learned some important subjects like Political Science, public administration and also constitution so you must have a lot of knowledge about these subjects along with the current affairs and since you are also aware of the socio-economic conditions, problems of the society which can help you succeed in your career as a politician.
And if you have a bachelor of arts degree then I would highly recommend you to read my guide on the best and the high paying jobs after bachelor of arts degree here.
With that said let’s conclude the article.
Conclusion
These are all the best career options for UPSC aspirants.
Do let me know what are your thoughts about having a backup plan for UPSC and also any other career option you would like me to include in this list in the comment section below.
Share the article with your friends for also preparing for the civil Service exam.
Subscribe to my blog and receive notifications regarding whenever I publish a new post in future.