If a plumber out-earns a product manager in five years, don’t be shocked — an IIM alumums just explained why that future is closer than we think.

In a linkedin post, Lokesh Ahuja dismantled the prestige myths surrounding India’s white-collar workforce, arguing that creators—and skilled tradespeople—are poised to eclipse traditional knowledge workers in both income and influence.

“If a 23-year-old IIM grad made ₹41 crore, we’d call them a genius. But if a creator does it, we call them ‘cringe,’” Ahuja wrote, reacting to the backlash against a young influencer reportedly building a ₹41 crore empire without a degree or pedigree.

For Ahuja, the explanation is simple: demand and supply. “There are over 2 lakh IIM grads in India. But fewer than 10,000 creators have 1M+ followers,” he said. Of those, maybe 100 are top-tier—their scarcity fuels high earnings. “If you’re in that club, you won’t earn ‘fairly.’ You’ll earn disproportionately, just like CXOs or startup founders do.”

He recalled seeing a creator charge ₹6 lakh for a 30-second reel and land four in a single week—₹24 lakh without a single boss. “Content isn’t a ladder you climb. It’s a rocket… if it takes off.”

But Ahuja’s insight cut deeper than creator economics. He warned that AI is triggering an oversupply of knowledge workers—writers, analysts, even coders—jobs once considered “safe.”

“And when supply floods the system, value drops,” he wrote.

That’s why he believes the next pricing power shift could favor those doing work AI still can’t replicate. “Plumbers. Carpenters. Electricians. They’re not flashy but they do what AI can’t (at least so far). And in a few years, they might have more pricing power than product managers.”

His conclusion was clear and unflinching: “It’s not about what you studied. It’s about whether the market still needs it.”