The inspiring success story of Hyderabad-born engineer Soumith Chintala has gone viral on social media, earning widespread praise for his determination and resilience.
An X user recently shared details of Chintala’s journey, highlighting that he did not graduate from a premier institution such as an IIT or NIT.
Chintala studied at Hyderabad Public School and later completed his B.Tech degree from VIT Vellore.
“No IIT. No NIT. Bad at maths. Yet this man became the creator of PyTorch, a former Vice-President at Meta and the CTO of Thinking Machines Lab,” the viral post said.
The post also claimed that Chintala did not have a computer at home while growing up and had to use his neighbour’s system.
Today, he is globally recognised as one of the co-creators of PyTorch, the popular open-source machine-learning framework widely used by researchers and technology companies across the world.
However, his journey was not easy.
In 2009, while applying for higher studies in the United States, Chintala reportedly received 27 rejection letters before finally securing admission to New York University.
The post gained massive attention online, with thousands of users praising his refusal to give up despite repeated setbacks.
One user wrote that Chintala’s journey proved a person’s starting point did not determine how far they could go.
Another described his rise from having no computer at home to helping build one of the world’s most important AI tools as the true definition of resilience.
Chintala’s story has now become an inspiration for students and young engineers who believe that success is possible even without an elite educational background.
