Lucknow’s Piyush Kapoor, a Google engineer in California, secured AIR 402 in UPSC on his fifth attempt while balancing work and studying just 2–3 hours daily. For several years, the AIR Topper 402 balanced his work life at Google's Mountain View, California, headquarters with late-night study sessions for India's most challenging exam

Lucknow: A 32-year-old from Lucknow, Piyush Kapoor, secured the 402nd rank in the Civil Services Examination results announced on Friday. This massive feat was accomplished while working thousands of miles away in the United States, as reported by the Times of India.

For several years, the AIR Topper 402 balanced his work life at Google's Mountain View, California, headquarters with late-night study sessions for India's most challenging exam. He studied for the UPSC at night while working as a software engineer during the day. An IIT-BHU computer science graduate, Piyush worked at Google, where he contributed to improving Gmail’s spam and phishing protection systems

Preparing from another continent was challenging and isolating, especially after facing multiple setbacks. However, his family remained a strong source of motivation. In an interview with Times of India, his father, 66-year-old retired banker Arun Kapoor, expressed pride in his son's perseverance, pointing out that although this was Piyush's fifth attempt, he never let setbacks deter him.

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