Sridhar Vembu backs Palantir-style ‘skip college’ trend, says “at Zoho, no job requires a college degree”

Sridhar Vembu

Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu has backed a growing global shift towards skills-first hiring, saying young people who enter the workforce early are driving a “profound cultural shift.” His comments came after engaging with a viral post about Palantir encouraging high-school students to skip college and start working directly on high-stakes national-security and technology challenges.

A shift driven by new attitudes towards education

In his post on X, Vembu wrote that “smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them,” adding that this change reflects the “real youth power” — young people who can “stand on their own feet, without having to incur heavy debt to get a degree.”

He also added that this trend will influence how teenagers “view the world,” reshaping culture, work and even politics. Vembu urged “educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention,” suggesting that the shift underway in the US could soon extend to India.

He als quoted Palantir’s programme and mentioned that the company told high schoolers to “skip college, walk past the gatekeepers, and start working on real-world national-security and tech problems at eighteen.” It described how 500 teens applied, 22 got in, and “some turned down places at Ivy League schools,” while one student “walked away from a full-ride scholarship backed by the Department of Defense.”

The post argued that students chose the fellowship because “college has stopped rewarding merit and started rewarding compliance.”

Zoho’s stance: No degree required for any job

Vembu reinforced that Zoho already follows the same philosophy. “At Zoho, no job requires a college degree,” he said. He added that “if some manager posts a job that requires a degree, they get a polite message from HR to remove the degree requirement.”

He also highlighted his experience working with young employees, saying, “In Tenkasi, I closely work with a technical team whose median age is 19. Their energy and can-do spirit is infectious. I have to work hard to keep up with them!”

His comments reflect Zoho’s long-standing push for alternative talent pathways, with on-the-job learning replacing formal credentials.

The larger thread also raised fears about what happens if the “smartest teenagers decide college isn’t worth the time and companies start agreeing with them.” It questioned whether the traditional system could become “irrelevant” if elite employers consistently groom talent straight after school.

Vembu did not address concerns about reduced research or potential salary imbalances for non-degree hires, but his endorsement adds momentum to a growing global conversation about redefining education-to-employment pathways.

What’s Palantir’s ‘skip-college’ push?

Palantir’s fellowship invites high-school graduates to bypass college and work directly on national-security, healthcare and government-tech projects. The programme received 500 applications, selecting 22 teenagers — including students who rejected Ivy League offers and a full Department of Defense-funded scholarship. Palantir argues that universities reward compliance over capability, and that motivated teenagers can contribute meaningfully when trusted from the beginning.