10 Cool Jobs in India

The outlook is bright, and the job market offers many cool and interesting ways to make a living in India. Suppose you’re looking to make a career move or just getting your career started and interested in pursuing something cool. In that case, you’ll find plenty of fun and exciting job options, including unusual jobs and unique career choices. 

With a quickly growing economy, many companies are choosing India as the location for their production facilities, with sectors such as renewable energy, fast-moving consumer goods, and the automobile sectors being amongst the highest anticipated spaces to see strong returns. 

Unusual jobs and career choices in India

India’s diverse economy allows for various job opportunities across various industries. Plenty of interesting options are available. Whether you’re artistic or tech-savvy or want to try something different, India has exciting careers. Coursera has compiled a list of India’s 10 coolest jobs so you can start planning your future.

1. Naval architect

Average salary: ₹17,00,000 annaully

Job description and requirements: Naval architects get to design and build marine vessels such as ships, submarines, and yachts. To become a naval architect, you will need a bachelor’s or master’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering. After completion, students can work in public or private sectors, such as the Indian Navy.

2. Fashion designer

Average salary: ₹7,39,476 annually

Job description and requirements: If you love to style fashionable outfits and are good at keeping up with the latest trends, a career in fashion design could be the right choice. As a fashion designer, you will design and assist in the production of clothes and shoes, or you can specialise in accessories like bags and glasses. You may pursue various bachelor's degrees in this field, including fashion and apparel designing, lifestyle and accessory design, or fashion business and retail management. 

3. Airline pilot

Average salary: ₹83,41,476 annually

Job description and requirements: If you love travelling to India and the world, an airline pilot might be your job. Working as an airline pilot is not only an exciting career but a well-compensated one. To start your career as a pilot, you can join the military, attend an airline cadet programme or go to flight school. 

4. Music producer

Average salary: ₹7,00,000-₹12,00,000 annually

Job description and requirements: Music producers help compose, arrange and record songs. How you do this is up to you, as you can let your creativity take over by testing out different instruments and styles to establish your unique sound. To take your passion for music to the professional level, you must build your portfolio to showcase your skills. A degree in sound engineering can be useful to develop your abilities further. 

5. Game designer

Average salary: ₹9,00,000-₹12,00,000 annually

Job description and requirements: A love for video games can be what you need to kickstart your career as a game designer. Game designers develop new games, characters, stories, and more through computer programming. To develop your computer programming skills and become a game designer, you will need a computer science or engineering degree.

6. Aerospace engineer

Average salary: ₹5,50,000 annually

Job description and requirements: Aerospace engineers get to design aircraft and spacecraft, with some even working with rockets and missiles, depending on their work sector. Before gaining work opportunities, you will need a bachelor’s or master’s degree in aerospace engineering. 

7. Social media manager

Average salary: ₹5,28,000 annually

Job description and requirements: With the increased social media use in recent years, companies need social media managers to grow their brand online. You will develop strategies for a company's online presence in this role. Using data, you will identify what types of content audiences respond well to and use that insight to market your brand's products. There are a variety of education options for prospective social media managers. Beneficial degrees include a bachelor’s in marketing, communications or media.

8. Wildlife biologist

Average salary: ₹5,74,116

Job description and requirements: If you love animals, a career in wildlife biology can be a fun and fulfilling way for you to work hands-on to save wildlife in India. Wildlife biologists study ecosystems and their relationship with wildlife. To perform scientific tests and experiments in this field, you will need to earn a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences followed by a master’s degree in wildlife sciences or wildlife conservation.

9. Wedding planner

Average salary: ₹16,48,404 annually

Job description and requirements: Wedding planners have many responsibilities when helping couples prepare for their big day. Preparation is essential to ensure a wedding runs smoothly, including decor, food, the venue, and much more. As a wedding planner, you will make all the various aspects work for your clients based on their budget and manage payments and scheduling with the various vendors. Being a wedding planner in India has become a trend in recent years. To start your career, complete a wedding planning certificate to learn the necessary skills and gain industry knowledge. 

10.  Sommelier

Average salary: ₹3,99,828 annually

Job description and requirements: Last but not least, one of the coolest jobs you can have in India is becoming a professional sommelier. Using your expertise in wine, as a sommelier, you can make suggestions and inform others about specific wines and their unique characteristics. You will need an excellent sense of taste and smell and a love for wine. A Wine and Spirit Education Trust certificate, along with other wine-tasting certificates, can create opportunities in this industry, showing you have what it takes to be a sommelier.

*All annual salary data is sourced from Glassdoor India as of January 2024.

Tips for landing a cool job in India

Before applying for your next job opportunity, it's helpful to design your resume specifically for the job you’re applying for rather than using the same resume for different jobs. Tailoring your skills and experiences to better align with the job description can help the hiring manager identify how you may be a good fit for the job, especially if you don’t have previous experience in the industry you’re looking to enter. Rather than detailing the various tasks you have worked on, highlight your achievements to illustrate your impact in previous roles. 

Next steps

Coursera offers a variety of courses to get you closer to reaching your career goals, no matter what direction they may take. For example, Michigan State University’s Game Design and Development with Unity 2020 Specialisation is a popular course introducing you to video game design and development. If fashion is your calling, Parson School of Design’s Fashion Design course will teach you applicable concepts from design process techniques to ways to demonstrate partnership with other brands.