A 27-year-old cloud engineer from Lucknow who left a corporate career at Amazon, along with a further offer from Airbus, is scheduled to be commissioned into the Indian Army on Saturday at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Gaya.
Shardendu Tiwari, a resident of Neelmatha in Lucknow with family roots in Pipergaon, Sultanpur district, will take the final step of the passing-out parade as a second-generation soldier. His father, Honorary Captain Raj Kumar Tiwari, served for 36 years in the Army Service Corps before retirement. That household tradition, rather than the security of a high-paying technology job, shaped the younger Tiwari’s choice.
He completed his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Chandimandir, in Haryana. He later earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Information Technology and an M.Tech in Computer Science and Information Security from Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, as part of the 2021–2023 postgraduate batch. After campus placement, he worked as a cloud engineer at Amazon on an annual package of about ₹46 lakh and was also selected by the aerospace major Airbus.
The corporate path did not close the earlier ambition. Tiwari appeared for Army selection eight times before he was recommended. His alma mater recorded that he was recommended for the Technical Graduate Course through 14 Services Selection Board, Allahabad, and then proceeded to OTA Gaya. He joined through the technical entry route, a path that allows an officer to serve while remaining connected with engineering and technology.
“I was also drawn to the armed forces because of the opportunities they offer for adventure and field service,” he said.
A defence spokesperson said that, despite professional success and lucrative opportunities, Tiwari chose to follow his father’s footsteps, left the high-paying corporate career, and opted for the olive-green uniform. During training at OTA Gaya he was appointed Senior Under Officer, one of the highest cadet appointments at the academy and an acknowledgement of leadership during the course. He is described as a mountain-trekking enthusiast who also plays basketball and table tennis, and he has credited perseverance and a clear sense of purpose for the outcome.
Saturday’s ceremony is the academy’s 29th passing-out parade. A total of 254 cadets — 219 men and 35 women — are due to be commissioned after completing Short Service Commission (Technical) training. Lieutenant General Le Van Hoang of the Vietnam People’s Army is scheduled to attend as chief guest. The academy commandant, Lieutenant General Sandeep Singh, has said the outgoing batch has been prepared for multi-domain operations, including exposure to artificial intelligence, drones, cyber and robotics. Male officers from the course are expected to be allotted across arms and services, including the Corps of Engineers, the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, the Corps of Signals and the Infantry.
OTA Gaya is one of the Army’s principal officer-training establishments and specialises in preparing technical graduates for commissioned service. For Tiwari, the parade will close a long interval between a stable technology career and repeated attempts at selection. For his family, it will mark the continuation of a military lineage that began with 36 years of service by an Honorary Captain of the Army Service Corps.
The commissioning will confer the rank of Lieutenant. The newly commissioned officers will thereafter proceed to their allotted units across the country.
