Aditya Srivastava, who topped UPSC CSE 2023, has said, "Some mistakes also happened, like when I...failed in my first prelims, life taught a lesson." "I was collecting information only...I was doing more hard work rather than smart work," he added. "Leaving [my] job for preparation was really a tough decision for me," said Srivastava, who earlier worked at Goldman Sachs.