Meet man, who left IT job to crack UPSC exam, first became IPS, then IAS officer with AIR..., currently posted as...

Those who have seen struggles and lived an unprivileged life know what it means to be successful and truly appreciate the outcome of hard work. Sandeep Kumar, who lost his father and whose mother runs a small shop, is now enjoying the fruits of his hard work as he has achieved what many can only dream of. And this achievement was made even special when he got it not once but thrice. Sandeep Kumar cracked the UPSC exam, one of the toughest competitive entrance exams in the country, three times.

After cracking the exam, he was first made an IPS officer but later prepared even harder and became an IAS officer. But this journey was not easy.

Who is IAS Sandeep Kumar?

Sandeep Kumar hails from Dumaria in Bihar’s Gaya district whose family comes from a poor background in which his mother, Renu Devi and elder brother Nitish Kumar, run a small shop. Sandeep has four siblings. He lost his father, Shambhu Kumar, and grandfather in a single day in 2017 after which the family struggled financially and Renu Devi started being concerned regarding Sandeep’s education. But even in such an unfavourable situation she did not lose hope and continued her struggles.

After Shambhu Kumar’s death, Renu Devi took the reins of the shop and home both. In an interview, Sandeep recalled that his father was a Mathematics and Science genius and always encouraged him to prepare for the civil services. Sandeep went to Janta High School, Dumaria and Gaya College and completed her graduation from IIT Mumbai in Mechanical Engineering. Soon after completing engineering, he took up a stable IT job but left it in 2019 to prepare for the UPSC CSE exam.

Sandeep Kumar’s UPSC journey

After studying hard for a long time, Sandeep cracked his first exam in 2022 with AIR 697 and gave another exam next year, in 2023, and improved his ranking to 601 and became an IPS officer. He wanted to become an IAS officer and so took the exam again the next year in 2024 and finally became the IAS officer with AIR 266.

Sandeep is currently undergoing IPS training in Hyderabad but will soon resign to start IAS training.