Hello grapeviners,  I want to show my current work experience in a not so well known startup as contract role since it has been a 10 month stint only. Can I showcase it as a contract role?  It will...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Hello grapeviners,

I want to show my current work experience in a not so well known startup as contract role since it has been a 10 month stint only. Can I showcase it as a contract role?

It will help me justify my short stint. Also, I have been unfortunate to have had a series of short stints before as well. Those were big startups but either got closed or carried out heavy layoffs.

Please suggest. Would be quite helpful to know about the hack 🙂

Full time role to contract role

Product Manager

Full time role to contract role- Grapevine

I was recently laid off. I am applying for jobs. One question that has been a bother for me is on my unfortunate past short stints. 
Need help from folks on how to tackle these Q's.
I am applying for product / strategy roles.
2015 - tier 1 engg
2019 - tier 1 MBA
1.5 yrs - did my own startup...fairly successful but later failed due to covid
11 months - worked in a fairly well known fast growing startup - left coz wanted to move to a product centric startup
14 months - worked in product based big unicorn startup - got laid off
10 months - joined an early stage startup - startup failed and laid off again

What should be my interview strategy? How do I portray my story in a positive light?

How to tackle interview Q's on my short stints?

Welcome to Confessions's Private Community

Forgive me my Sins

In 2017, after graduating, I joined a big IT corporate as an Associate Consultant (Engineer). My start date was delayed by six months, and four months in, I was benched with half my already very low pay.

Money was tight with rent and other expenses. My family expected me to start investing in jewellery and buying land.

I was new to Bangalore and wanted more money to visit bars and expensive restaurants every weekend. Wanted to buy a bike with good gear. Along the dream to have a girl riding behind me. Sab Aukat ke bahar.

As one does, I started looking out into startups. The problem - 0 relevant work ex.

So here it goes,
I had interned at a startup in college and knew what their documents looked like. Filled the 6 empty months in my CV with a job as a “SDE-I Android” working with the founder directly.
I spiced up my CV with claims of 2x load time, reducing costs, international team collaboration, and an award.
Some college awards to boot too!

I made a detailed fake job story, read interview books, solved questions and watched salary negotiation videos. Eventually, I got into a Series A startup with only having to make 1 fake certificate.
They never checked with my previous employers, and now I earn eight times what I would have.

The guilt and imposter syndrome haunted me until I started performing well. I still feel guilty, like last Holi when my family praised my achievements.

Just excused myself and went for a smoke and a ride out. The bike is here and it is a custom painted beauty.

Guilty thoughts still go by occasionally but I am becoming more and more comfortably numb to it every passing year.

I have since stopped outright lying and just partake in the standard resume inflation.

Had to let this out.

I am a resume liar

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

I just need a little break. Want to introspect on what I want in life. Have not travelled a lot, want to do that. 

I have a good enough run way to sustain for 4-5 months. 

Do you think it's a good idea? 
Has anyone taken a break for a quarter or more?

Is it a good idea to resign without an offer?

Software Engineer

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

I have 4 years of total experience(2 years prior MBA then an year gap, I was preparing for MBA entrance during this time and 2 years post MBA). 

Now I’m looking for jobs, can I show an year of work at my friends startup? To fill the gap?  

Can you tell me how can it impact during BGV, can they check via UAN on PF? Or I can go ahead and do this, it will be a game changer for me if I can add an year more of work-ex. Please Help!!

Background Verification

Senior Product Manager

Hello grapeviners,

I was thrilled to be hired by XYZ Company during campus placements with a CTC of 8.5 LPA. However, after waiting for almost a year to get onboarded, I started my journey with them and completed three months of training. Unfortunately, due to a lack of projects and requirements, I have been put on bench and my job is at risk.

During my time at XYZ Company and through my academic journey, I have gained knowledge and skills in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, JUnit, Spring, Spring Boot, Microservices, and MySQL. Despite this setback, I am more determined than ever to continue growing and learning.

As freshers, we need opportunities to prove ourselves and learn. I am actively looking for new opportunities where I can contribute, gain valuable experience, and further develop my skills as a fresher. If you know of any openings or have any advice, I would greatly appreciate your support.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Your help and guidance mean a lot to me during this challenging time.

Looking for Support and New Opportunities During a Challenging Time

Software Developer

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Hey everyone, happy to answer any questions around Data Science/ML/AI and making a career within it

A brief about me, I work currently as a Sr. ML Engineer at an Indian unicorn startup 
I graduated 5+ years ago and have since worked as a Data Scientist / ML Engineer at an ecommerce company and social media company. My designations have changed based on the industry requirements and work too changed based on that.

Would love to take questions on what it means to be an ML Engineer, my early learnings from a career in data science, and thoughts on AI.

Look forward to all questions :)

AMA 🎙️: Hi, I am diffusedbandit, Senior ML Engineer at an Indian Unicorn

Data Scientist

I'm a 3rd year student looking for internship opportunities in December. I'm looking for potential full stack roles. I tend to work on scalable backend stuff and on the frontend side, I've worked on decent projects (mostly integrating ml models with a frontend). 

The thing is, I'm confused right now. I feel like it's better to start working in a startup as I don't have practical industry experience. My main issue right now is not knowing how to find startups or how to email them, what to include in the email and so on. I'm completely blank and new to applying for jobs and I'm looking for some input here on how to approach this.

Tips on finding startups for internship

Hello, all i have a gap of  6 months, will it affect me to find jobs as i carry 1.5 year of experience causing me a lot of diffculties while getting shortlisted ? What should i do , feeling stressed ? 
I need your advice and if there is any opportunity for me i am open up for that, my tech tack is frontend development with using react, redux, vue js.

Layoff, employment gaps

Hi, Grapeviners


Can anybody tell me where can I find /apply to remote jobs of startups based out of US.

I'm an Ex-founder with 4+ years of experience, just closed down operations of my company , looking for a full time role in product roles 


If Anybody can help , suggest, guide, that would be great.

Thank you so much

Remote jobs

Project Manager

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Sorry if I am posting something off topic 

Just needed some suggestions on what to do with my career

I have worked across 2 MNCs so far and I am a 2022 passout 

Although my tenure with one of the MNCs is ending on 30th October this month what should I do feeling lost, helpless and very bad for myself 

I feel I have always made bad choices and luck never ever favours me in my life 

I AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS Please

Contractual position getting over on 30th October and not getting any jobs

Hello Everyone, 

I am a 2022 MBA pass out from an Old IIM, and I have a total work experience of 2 years & 4 months(1.2 years post-MBA as an APM). I resigned from my position as an 'Associate Product Manager' in June 2023 because I found the role unfulfilling, I was totally not enjoying it, and I aspired to transition into roles related to the Strategy and Growth domain.  

(Link to my previous post on Grapevine regarding my Job Role Switch: https://share.gvine.app/EmMbJcfW4pCcEsZW9)

I'm currently having an offer to join the Strategy Team at a Series B-funded startup, with Y Combinator being one of the investors. However, this opportunity is a 6-month internship ( Designation: Strategy and Ops Intern), with the potential for conversion to a full-time role based on performance. I'm seeking advice on whether or not I should pursue this opportunity.

Additional Information: Over the past 3-4 months, I've actively applied to numerous Strategy and Growth roles. Unfortunately, I didn't receive any shortlists for these positions since they typically required a minimum of 2 years of experience in Strategy Consulting, which I currently lack, on the other side, I was only getting shortlists for APM/PM roles which I was accepting as I was not having any other option at that point in time. 

My Take: I consider this as a great opportunity to kickstart my career in the Strategy domain and I am confident about the conversion of a full-time opportunity. I am extremely interested in building my career in this strategy domain and this was the major reason to left my previous jobs. The organization also explicitly mentioned that they were also looking for a long-term association with me.

I would greatly appreciate your insights on this matter. Thank you so much for your time

Urgent: Need Advice on Job Offer Acceptance

Urgent: Need Advice regarding Job Offer Acceptance.

In 2022, I worked in company A for less than 2 weeks and then left to join my current company B. 

I don't want to show that less than 2 weeks on my resume for future opportunities because I was still in onboarding process, no codebase access and no project was allocated . I realized joining company A was a mistake. 

Reason why I left was at the start of interview process I confirmed that I will get to work on React and they confirmed. But when I joined company A, I got to know they have 0 active React projects and all are in Aurelia (not even Vue/Angular). It was the 1st time I heard about Aurelia framework and decided to resign as I was already getting other better offers. I had discussion with Company A HR and manager and explained them reason of my resignation, they accepted and at the end of month I got salary of those 7 days in my bank.

Is it ok if I don't mention these 7 days in my resume because I did nothing there and was still going through onboarding?

I don't want to show it on my resume because it might indicate to my future employer that I am unreliable and can leave quickly after joining but actually it was not my mistake. They lied and I was lucky to have other offer. I fear future employers might not even shortlist my resume due to those 7 days.

Suggestions?

Need suggestion on hiding irrelevant experience

I have ~4 yrs of experience. I have worked for 2 big unicorn brands to begin with. Then i have joined a smaller and not much known startup. I am looking to switch from this startup to a better and bigger brand. Will my last work experience become a roadblock?

Please share opinion folks. Would be helpful to understand how the hiring game works 🙏

Impact of past companies?

Welcome to Data Scientists's Private Community

Hi guys, i am looking for a 2+ year workex person skilled in tools like Google Analytics, tableau atleast for my team.
We are a eCommerce organization based out of NYC with big chunk of team in Bangalore.
Good point for many - we have been doing wfh for the last 2 years and still continuing and i don't foresee going to office anytime soon.

Hit me up on priyabrat.31@gmail.com for a conversation (only if you have relevant experience)

Hiring for a web analyst role

Product Marketing Manager

How much stipend in a startup one can expect being in final year undergrad from top government college in B.Tech and have done an internship of 100k form a top tech firm in past.

Expected Salary

Hi Guys,

I am currently working at a startup and was previously working at an IT MNC for 3 months. I was put on the bench and laptops/assets were not even delivered for 2 months of requesting. When the assets arrived there was 3 weeks of compliance and regulatory training before which my position was eliminated as a result of business restructuring and downsizing. I got my startup offer (strategy type role)by then and I resigned from the IT firm with proper reliving letter and fnf settlement. I have now got an offer from a boutique consulting firm(after working in my startup for around 6 months) . I have however not mentioned this IT mnc in my resume at all since I did not gain any kind of work experience at this firm and it was not adding any value to my resume in terms of the types of roles I am looking for, I wanted to keep my other internships and startup tenure as they were more valuable. Is this going to cause an issue if I undergo a bgv process in my new firm? I have all the proper exit documents and there is no overlap of employment anywhere. Please advise. I am a 2022 pass out.

Business Analyst

I wanted to know from fellow grapeviners, how are you guys looking to switch jobs or have done so already in recent few weeks/months. What is your go to strategy that you follow to get your next job offer, also how do you verify if the role would be a good fit for you?

Since the market is inclined towards folks with 5years or more experience for jobs in West/remote. Even in Bangalore many are looking mostly for 3+yrs experience.

If you are early in career(<3 years exp) then do tell. Experienced folks can also suggest.

Full time role to contract role

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