Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu: Smart American students now skip going to college, I would urge educated Indian parents to…

Zoho founder and chief scientist Sridhar Vembu has thrown his weight behind a controversial trend sweeping through America's tech industry—high school graduates skipping college entirely and jumping straight into the workforce. In a strongly-worded social media post, Vembu declared this a "profound cultural shift" that Indian parents and students must urgently recognize.

"Smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them," Vembu wrote on X, responding to Palantir's unprecedented hiring experiment that recruited 22 high school graduates, bypassing traditional university education altogether.



The Zoho co-founder framed this movement as authentic empowerment for young people. "This is the real 'youth power', enabling young men and women to stand on their own feet, without having to incur heavy debt to get a degree and paying their own way," he emphasized, highlighting the crushing burden of student loans that has become synonymous with American higher education.

Sridhar Vembu asks Indian parents to reconsider their college-at-any-cost mindset

Vembu’s message carried a direct appeal to parents. "I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention," Vembu wrote, signaling that this American trend holds important lessons for India's education-obsessed middle class, where college degrees—often pursued at significant financial and emotional cost—remain deeply entrenched as markers of success.



The backdrop to Vembu's comments is Palantir's Meritocracy Fellowship, which attracted over 500 applications from high school students for just 22 positions. The program's messaging was deliberately provocative: "Skip the debt. Skip the indoctrination." Some accepted fellows turned down Ivy League admissions, while one walked away from a full Department of Defense-backed scholarship to join the tech giant instead.

During their four-month paid internship, these teenagers worked on real national security and technology challenges alongside Palantir's full-time employees, while also studying U.S. history and Western civilization. Those who excelled received interviews for salaried positions, bypassing the traditional four-year university pipeline entirely.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has been vocally critical of higher education, arguing that universities have abandoned merit-based admissions and become "breeding grounds for extremism and chaos." He's stated bluntly that work experience at Palantir provides better credentials than elite university degrees.

No college degree needed at Zoho corporation

Vembu hasn't just endorsed this philosophy—he's implemented it. "At Zoho, no job requires a college degree and if some manager posts a job that requires a degree, they get a polite message from HR to remove the degree requirement!" he revealed.

His commitment runs deep. "In Tenkasi, I closely work with a technical team whose median age is 19. Their energy and can-do spirit is infectious. I have to work hard to keep up with them!" Vembu shared, illustrating how young workers without degrees are thriving at his company.

Vembu's warning to Indian parents comes as American sentiment toward higher education sours dramatically. Recent data shows 70% of Americans believe higher education is heading in the wrong direction, with 55% rating colleges poorly on preparing students for well-paying jobs. Meanwhile, Gen Z graduates face mounting debt—averaging over $94,000—while 58% struggle to find stable employment after graduation.

"This trend will change the way they view the world and it will change culture and politics," Vembu predicted. "I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention."