Ratan Tata did his secondary and senior secondary education at Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and then at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. Ratan was very brilliant in academics. 

After completing his schooling, Ratan enrolled for a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but later he changed his major and completed his graduation in Architecture from Cornell University.

Ratan’s reason for enrolling in mechanical engineering was his father’s insistence that he become an engineer, however, Ratan’s grandmother made him change his major as he always wanted to do architecture. After his graduation, Ratan also completed an Advanced Management Program in 1975 from the Harvard Business School.

Ratan started his professional career at an architectural firm in Los Angeles. Ratan worked in that architecture firm for 2 years and then moved back to India when his grandmother’s health started deteriorating. After his grandmother’s death, Ratan moved to Jamshedpur to do an internship at Tata Motors. He struggled there for almost 6 years trying to find his place in the company and was treated as a normal employee.

After being sent from one department to another, Tata finally find his place in Tata steel where he was tasked with blasting the furnace and shoveling limestone.

The biggest breakthrough in Ratan Tata’s life happened when JRD Tata stepped down from the throne as the chairman of Tata Industries. Tata becomes the chairman of the company amid the criticism of many people who were against the decision. But Tata proved everyone wrong by maintaining his position with dignity.