A new Blind survey says more than one-third of Indian employees at Zoho, Apple and Nvidia hail from Tier-3 colleges, underscoring how skills-first hiring is reshaping tech career paths beyond India’s elite campuses.
The anonymous workplace platform Blind surveyed 1,602 Indian professionals between September 17 and September 24, 2025, and found that, among respondents who work at Zoho, Apple and Nvidia, an average of about 34% said they graduated from Tier-3 institutions. Respondents at firms like SAP and PayPal showed similar patterns. By contrast, companies that rely heavily on campus pipelines—such as Goldman Sachs, Visa and Oracle—had a lower share of Tier-3 alumni among respondents, averaging around 18%.
Blind grouped colleges using India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 as a reference: Tier 1 (IITs, IISc, top IIMs, BITS Pilani), Tier 2 (NITs, DTU, Jadavpur University and peers), and Tier 3 (other state and private universities within India). The results reflect self-reported backgrounds from verified Blind users, not company HR records. Many respondents at the skills-first firms also said their alma mater had little impact on their careers.
The findings add data to a trend that industry watchers and some employers have highlighted for years: tech teams are broadening their talent funnels beyond premier campuses. Zoho, for example, has long invested in alternative pathways such as Zoho Schools of Learning, which trains candidates outside traditional degree routes. For students outside elite colleges, the survey’s message is pragmatic: demonstrable skills can open doors at marquee employers.
India’s higher-education rankings are widely used by students and employers, but they don’t always map neatly to hiring outcomes—especially in fast-moving fields like software and AI. If skills-based hiring continues to expand, Tier-3 colleges and bootcamps could see stronger placement pipelines, while big-brand campuses may feel pressure to emphasize hands-on experience as much as pedigree.
Watch for whether more companies formalize skills-first practices with project-based assessments, apprenticeships or in-house academies. If the approach scales, expect wider geographic and socioeconomic diversity in India’s tech workforce, and potentially a more even distribution of opportunity beyond a handful of elite campuses.
Disclaimer: Figures cited are based on a self-reported Blind survey of verified users and should not be read as audited headcount data from the companies named.