2 years back, I voluntarily took a pay cut from 60L/year to 25L to chase my startup dream. Did it work out? No. Was it worth it? Debatable. Will I have regrets later in life? Not a chance.

Have u ever resigned without any offer in hand? If yes what was the reason and how things went ahead??

Hello grapevines! Need your help/opinion here. I work for a big corp. ~6YOE. 48L. The work culture here seems a bit off. Constant pressure to compete and snatch the work and prove oneself. Chaos is being glorified. Onsite team is unresponsive and hiding information. Asking for a KT is being judged upon(expectation is apparently to read through the code). Everyone is trying to earn brownie points by impressing the manage because no one seems to know what to work upon. Technical ability is being looked down upon in the name of domain knowledge. I switched recently to upskill and grow, but seems like it was a wrong choice. I’m looking for early stage startups to switch to. I know the current market situation is bad, but I’d take the risk as long as I’m getting to expose myself to good problem statements and less bullshit.

From my college days I always wanted to start something of my own. After my graduation I started my own company then closed due to the pandemic. Post the pandemic I joined a company. Got married. I want to start something of my own now and am very scared because in 1 year we will have a baby I don't know what to do. Financially not capable of starting as well. I need to save for the future. I am having a big time existential crisis is anyone going through the same thing? Being a woman and being highly motivated with a lot of challenges itself is challenging.

I recently got an offer from early stage startup with a paycut from my current salary. Currently I am working at a MNC with monotonous work and learning. Should I join the startup?

Back in 2018, I had an offer from a fast-growing fintech startup. The salary was lower, the hours looked brutal, and the whole thing seemed risky. I chose to stay at my comfortable Big Tech job instead. Fast forward to now: that startup just went public, and early employees are instant millionaires. Meanwhile, I'm still grinding away at the same desk, wondering "what if?" Has anyone else passed up a high-risk, high-reward opportunity for security? How do you cope with the regret?

Hello Grapevine fam, I want to share my story and get everyone's suggestions on how to proceed. I have been working with this startup for more than two years. Recently, my manager and HR head called me for a meeting and said I wasn't living up to their expectations and they wanted me to resign. In the same discussion they said, the company would be paying 2 months salary as severance pay and my LWD would be in June since the notice period here is 2 months and this would help me in my job hunt. So having faith in this company, I resigned. Right after that my manager and the HR head is not legally acknowledging the two months of my salary as severance pay. And the very same day, they sent me the experience letter which had the same day as my last working day, despite them mentioning my LWD would be in June. How do I proceed now? I have given my best to the company in the last two years. But things turned out this way, very dejected and disappointed with the startup.

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?

My current salary is 42LPA. I am from IIT, have 7 years of experience and work in product. Honestly, my value in the market is higher than what I’m being paid but I am very demotivated to optimise for that. When I do see less deserving people minting more money, I feel that I am doing injustice to myself and playing the wrong hand. More and more though, the thought of earning more money chokes me a bit. I have dreams of building something of my own - that gives me control to build something my way and freedom to live my life as per my terms. But the mindset of “zyada paisa pareshaani hai” doesn’t leave me. My family also is not dependent on me and whatever is needed from my side, I actively contribute to. I also lack any motivation to focus on my investments and see my money grow. I just have money sitting around in my bank account purely for nothing I also look at my lifestyle choices from time to time and go into existential debate of why we need the things that we do. This has come to a point where I really do not understand my relationship with money and why we earn and spend it. For me at this point, it’s just a show for the world. There’s very little that you need, and really no limit to what you want to show. And I just don’t see a point in it anymore.

Looking forward to some nice stories from the community. Some positive, some not so positive - what made you take a pay cut?

I recently worked at a startup and it was terrible. To be honest, I still worked at one of the better ones but it just sucked. Some of the clear downsides I see - Survival mode leads to chaos. You can be treated anyway and asked to leave whenever even though you left big opportunities to be here - Brand loss to find next job (Big problem) - Trying to make you feel unworthy(Doesn't bother me but I have seen people lose self confidence) - Loss of opportunity to build real skills like building sustainable teams for the long run I think over all working at a startup especially early teams is a losing proposition. Do it only if - - you know the founders/team well - you know the industry and market well and it is a bet you personally believe in - you are secure enough in life that if you go back to your job, you will easily get employed For middle class kids, startups are the worst bets one can take.