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‘Instead of worshipping degrees…’: Sridhar Vembu questions India’s ‘degree obsession’ as Zoho adopts skill-first hiring

Sridhar Vembu says this 'major cultural shift' will empower young people to become financially independent without drowning in student debt.

3 min readNew DelhiDec 4, 2025 06:00 PM IST

Sridhar VembSridhar Vembu's Zoho hire employees on skillsu

Vembu said Zoho avoids degree requirements, and HR asks managers to remove any such criteria

Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has sparked a lively debate online by announcing that the company has fully embraced skill-first hiring and no longer insists on college degrees for any role. In a post on X, he urged Indian parents and companies to rethink long-held beliefs about education and career paths.

Vembu began by praising a growing trend in the US, noting that “smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them”. He called it a major cultural shift, one that he said would empower young people to become financially independent without drowning in student debt. According to him, this new mindset could reshape not just careers, but “culture and politics”.

Vembu further wrote, “I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention.”

Explaining Zoho’s approach, Vembu said the company did not impose degree requirements at all. “If some manager posts a job that requires a degree, they get a polite message from HR to remove the degree requirement!” he added.

Check out the post:

Smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them. This is going to be a profound cultural shift. 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… https://t.co/qrtuWnCx5n

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) December 3, 2025

His comments drew strong reactions. Industrialist Dr Akkshye Tulsyan agreed completely, saying talent and grit outweigh any certificate. Others echoed the sentiment, arguing that India should stop treating degrees “like sacred relics”, especially when many young people are already mastering skills through online learning.

An X user wrote, “We need this mindset in India too, sir. Instead of worshipping degrees like sacred relics, we should probably start valuing actual skills. Half our job descriptions demand a PhD just to operate Excel, while the real talent is busy teaching themselves everything online. If America can break the “college or nothing” spell, India should at least stop treating degrees like entry tickets to adulthood.”

Another user commented, “That’s paradym shift you are trying to create. End of the day skill matters and it can be aquired by multiple ways. Formal school/college degree doesn’t matter much. More and more enterprises should create this environment. Thakyou.”

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A third user opposed the idea and wrote, “This is certainly not very wise. For businesses, this would look great as it will create a cheap workforce, but would leave an imprint of a deformed society in the long run.”

Another user who disagreed with Vembu wrote, “Just after school, how would they have the maturity to understand what is working? Are we not making them machines by employing them at a very young age? After joining, do they get sufficient time to enjoy their youth, or are they always under pressure to earn?”