Scalability is not something one usually associates with an IAS job

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Scalability is not something one usually associates with an IAS job.

However, scalability remains one of the two major reasons ( the second being diversity) for the question "Why IAS"?

I come from a coding background, where one converses with machines in a language they grasp, enabling us to automate tasks typically performed by humans. This interaction amplifies our efforts and hence ensures scalability - that is one can achieve outcomes that far exceed our inputs. Effectively, scalability is about making outcomes independent of inputs.

In fact, I would argue it is the scalability that makes computer science as the most sought after branch in engineering.

In my third year of college, I got an opportunity to work with an NGO. There I experienced a realization that the joy derived from helping even one person was more rewarding than any scalable financial gain scalability can ever give me.

By choosing IAS as a career it seemed, I opted for this personal fulfillment over scalability. For I'll be working on field and helping one person at a time. It seemed like the antithesis of scalability, or at least that was my initial impression.

However, a revelation soon struck me!

I discovered that the career of IAS can not only provide immense personal satisfaction from assisting others but also embodied the very essence of scalability I once cherished.

Let me explain.

Even in your early years in the field, you have opportunities to oversee and implement projects at scale. A single district can have a population of over a crore. Each initiative you take and every effort you make get magnified through the lens of massive government resources you have at your disposal. This is scalability.

However, the true Scalability arises once an IAS enters policy making. It's where one experiences compounding of all the learnings one gained while on the field for years. A single policy can lead to transformative changes that affect millions overnight!

No doubt, in this role, scalability lies not in personal gain but in impacting the masses. But that's what makes it all worthwhile!