Meet Edward Nathan Varghese: IIT Hyderabad Student Who Landed Record-Breaking Rs 2.5 Crore Job Offer

At a time when hiring conditions remain challenging, Edward Nathan Varghese, a computer science engineering student from the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH), has secured a Rs 2.5 crore offer from a Netherlands-based company during the current placement season, as per a Times of India (TOI) report. 

The institute said the offer marks the largest package ever received by an IITH student since its establishment in 2008.

Edward Nathan Varghese, who is in his final year of study, is due to begin his career as a software engineer at Optiver in July. The 21-year-old secured the role by converting a two-month internship into a pre-placement offer with the global trading firm.

Having grown up in Hyderabad, he completed his schooling in Bengaluru from Classes 7 to 12. Varghese said he remained confident of securing a lucrative offer despite the broader slowdown in the job market, the report added. 

"This was the first and only company I interviewed for. I was ecstatic when my mentor indicated that the firm would be extending me an offer. So were my parents," Varghese was quoted as saying.

"I knew that the IIT tag would draw companies to our campus and that the effect of the present job market would be minimal. Also, since the first year of engineering, I was into competitive programming and among the top 100 in the country. That too helped me crack the interview, along with the curriculum that gave us the option to do a wide range of courses. I was lucky to get a PPO," he added. Both his parents are engineers. 

Two students were shortlisted for internships at Optiver, but Varghese was the only one to secure a pre-placement offer. The summer internship comprised a fortnight of training followed by a six-week project, and he is set to join the firm’s Netherlands office in a full-time role.

Varghese was not the only standout in the placement season. Another computer science engineering student at IIT Hyderabad secured an offer worth Rs 1.1 crore,  further underlining the institute’s strong placement performance. Previously, the biggest package recorded at IITH stood at around Rs 1 crore, achieved in 2017, the report added.