4 min readNew Delhi IApr 28, 2022 11:40 AM IST
First published on: Dec 4, 2021 at 06:30 PM IST
‘IIT Dropouts’ is a series by the indianexpress.com on students who dropped out from the premier engineering schools to follow their true calling. Read their stories here.
Unlike other engineering aspirants, Anant Mittal did not aim to join the IIT or the Computer Science branch of engineering. All he was sure about was his passion to develop physical technologies and he believed any good college could provide him the opportunity as long as it had the required resources. However, as he appeared for the JEE examination in 2017, Anant was able to achieve a decent rank to get into IIT-Guwahati.
“Since I belong to the city where India’s first Civil Engineering college, the Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now IIT-Roorkee), was established, my parents convinced me to join the civil engineering branch but during the first semester I realised this isn’t what I wanted to pursue as a career,” Anant shared.
The drive to stay in touch with machines and tech sources kept Anant unsettled throughout his academic years at IIT-Guwahati. Meanwhile, he participated in various events, including Techkriti IIT Kanpur, IIT (BHU) Technex, IIT Kharagpur tech-fest Kshitij and brought laurels to the institute by winning many events.
In the first year of college, Anant thought of joining IIT and after lot of contemplation, he decided to quit Civil Engineering and pursue his passion by working on some technical projects. However, his seniors guided him to make a wise choice by pondering on all the available options.
Simultaneously, in 2018, Anant launched his first start-up — Racerfly — a company that configures South Korean and Chinese drone components to provide affordable drone technology in India. Within two years of launch, Racerfly gained momentum and this is when Anant decided to call quits at IIT-Guwahati and invest all his time in transforming the drone technology market in India.
“By the third year of my degree, Racerfly had worked at the state and national levels with the governments as well as companies. As I saw my dream turning into a reality, I knew this was the time to invest my everything into the brand. Initially, my family was hesitant about the decision but they eventually came onboard,” Anant told indianexpress.com.
In 2020, Anant officially dropped out of IIT-Guwahati and worked full-time on his start-up. As the Covid-19 pandemic hit the entire world, Anant and his team developed a drone with an automated sprayer to sanitize large areas, including roads, parks and footpaths, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The drone technology was taken up by the state governments of Assam and Uttarakhand.
Anant’s decision to quit IIT was a well-thought plan which worked out well for him. “It is neither the institution nor the course one pursues that defines success but it’s the mental satisfaction and happiness one gains from their work. Discover yourself and you will find your right fitting, whether it is a job, business, art or any other career choice,” Mittal said.
The drive to stay in touch with machines and tech sources kept Anant unsettled throughout the years he spent at IIT-Guwahati. (Graphics by Angshuman Maity) 
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