Average sde always struggles in India

As I'm entering a new stage of life, I'm starting to reevaluate my career priorities. In my 20s, I was all about climbing the ladder and chasing prestige. Now, I'm more focused on finding work that aligns with my values and allows for a balanced lifestyle. Have any of you gone through a similar shift? How did it change your career trajectory? And how do you define success for yourself now versus when you first started out?

During my B.Tech, I balanced my studies with active participation in clubs and committees, and also engaged in sports and exploration. Aspiring for a non-core placement, I didn't participate in hackathons or apply for internships. After graduation, I pursued various paths, including preparing for the CAT exam with only three months of preparation time, but I didn't succeed. I then applied to several companies for data analytics roles but kept making new mistakes in each attempt. In one instance, I was rejected for oversharing my passion for data science in a final interview. To improve my chances, I optimized my resume and completed significant projects, but these efforts haven't yet yielded the desired results. Realizing the challenges of relying on a single target, I also started preparing for the GATE exam. Reflecting on my journey, I recognize that I should have applied for on-campus opportunities, as off-campus job hunting is challenging and unpredictable, regardless of one's preparation. Tell me your story? In order to get some hope that we can make it and it's never too late

Life is hard, and plans don't always turn out the way they should. But when we look back over our lives, we realize that some decisions really changed the course of our lives for the better.

Was having morning chai and realized I should write this somewhere. Not sure if there’s anything to learn here. Just one guy’s story Years 0 to 5: Small town child Was born in Bhubaneshwar, father had a government job. Very average middle class life. Middle class values. Parents always wanted me to study hard so I did. Used to be most excited about playing cricket and football very day Years 5 to 15: The studious class kid We shifted to Jaipur - dad had a transferable job. Took time adjusting to a new school but eventually made some friends. Realised I do not have any music/sports/artistic talent, but I can work hard. So I started working hard on my studies and started being top 10% of my class every year. Maths came easy to me. I am not in touch with any of my friends from this period but they have all gone on to do good things as I see from their LinkedIn profiles Years 15 to 22: IIT years

 Worked super freakin hard - gave the JEE and made it to one of the top 7 IITs in the Mech department, soon realised I do not love Mech and there weren’t any jobs as well. Started learning to code and made a few projects. Did an internship at Microsoft and another at a startup from a college alum. Ended up realising becoming an engineer is not my cup of tea long term. Took a hard turn to working on non engineering skills and jobs. 

Most importantly made so many friends, had so much fun. These are still some of my best friends and we still meet each other and stay at each other’s houses. Picked up a deep obsession with E-Sports (Counter Strike mostly) Years 22 to 24: First job Joined one of the top 10 consulting companies at a good salary. Moved to Mumbai - started wearing suits and living a great life from hotel to hotel. The job was good, but not engaging enough. Decided I should quit. But was scared to do it for 8 months. Started studying for my CAT Years 25 to 28: MBA and marriage CAT went sweet. Joined a top MBA school - the most formative years of my life to be honest. Almost close to my last 2 years at college. Met my wife there to whom I got later married at 28. I still keep in touch with a few people from MBA but not as many as I do from college. Years 28 to 32: Making it onto Tech My campus placement happened as a Product Manager at famous tech company in Bangalore where I have been for the last 4 years now. Got a couple promotions. I love my work and its impact. I still sometimes get to play my Counter Strike. As I look back on all of life, I guess the most important things I have learnt are to just stay happy and do something useful EVERY DAY. Be diligent, work hard and you’ll get where you want to. Do not stress over it. Just stay in the game. Don’t tire out. Anyway. That’s it folks!

Share your progress - the journey. - Where did you begin and where are you now? - What motivated you to go the extra mile? - Where do you see yourself in the next few years? - What did you do differently then the rest of the pack? This can serve as a motivation to those of us who wants to improve and as a appreciation for some of us who made themselves a stellar career. Eager to hear your stories. 🔥

Layoffs are bad I know, but there's always a silver lining Now since that's in the past, we can ponder what was good

So I am working at a startup for around a year now. Everyday I see, it feels, what am I really doing? Where is the life headed? Doing bare minimum or doing your tasks and fucking off isn't enough. It's expected that we outgrow constantly, as if it's this work that we can always think about and nothing else. At the end, am wondering if it's still worth it? 1 day it feels that let's just quit it! Next day I feel, okay, I do want the money. I ain't looking for suggestions here, just wanted to see if anyone else felt this way

Relaxing for a couple of months.

I am 24 F and not currently working. I got laid off from my first job with 9 months of work experience. I did DSA and applied to various companies, got shortlisted and cleared few rounds as well but after facing few heart crushing rejections i don’t feel like preparing any more. I have never been excited by the idea of working for a big MNC(people my age have their dream companies listed and are working towards it). Somehow this isn’t my calling and i am totally lost because i have not been working for the last 5 months. I strongly believe that there are few things we are naturally good at(I might be wrong here). Ever since my school days i have been a hard working person and have taken things very seriously. But now in this phase when i should be working hard, i dont feel like doing it, probably because i am doing something that doesn’t excite me. I somehow feel i am naturally good at networking, meeting new people,connecting with people at once, building things from scratch. Has anyone been through the same phase? I would highly appreciate any suggestions/advice. HELP ME OUT GUYS!!

This is a personal win post. I'm a '23 grad from top IIT but from non circuital branch. I did my summer internship in a payments MNC as a Quality Engineer and received PPO, but I rejected it since I didn't want to continue in testing. This was when recession was just starting. The money was decent in PPO, but I felt I could get more in a dev role in placements. When placements came, I interviewed with few big companies, but unfortunately got rejected at some stage. Finally I got placed at Cogoport (yes that same cursed company), with a higher CTC but same base. I was initially happy with it, but as I talked with seniors I came to know about the horrors there, and a month before my joining I decided to take the jump and didn't join. My parents weren't supportive of the decision and I had to fight with them. I was trying offcampus for a couple of months with a very specific strategy, I got good response but none of them converted to an offer. I finally joined a seed stage startup through my friend as an intern for 3 months. I struggled a lot initially but eventually put in the efforts and learnt and contributed well. The work, culture and people are great here. Two months after I joined the startup, I got to know that almost half of the new joiners were laid off from Cogoport. And today is my first official day as a full time employee at the same startup I joined as an intern. The base is also the same as the other 2 offers, although CTC decreased but I have immense learning and responsibilities here and I'm sure I'll grow faster than my counterparts in big companies. Thanks for hearing me out. Have a great end to the year folks