Huge career gamble paid off

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

Hey All I graduated in 2021 out of DU and parallely converted my internship with a preseries A fintech startup for a full-time role, pay was less that what I would've got in campus placements, but I prioritised steep learning curve or a 15k per month salary difference. After spending 15 months reporting directly to the ceo in a 150 member team, I resigned. Initially the pace was enjoyable, later on it became toxic. Moved to Bangalore and joined another start-up, didn't take a huge hike since I just wanted to start somewhere. After working here for 7 months, now I have much for focussed idea on what my strengths are and I'm working with experienced folks (avg 8+ years). I'm a 22 year old working in the founding team of pretty good product startup (funded by Kunal and bunch of other angels). Currently I'm at 6LPA, and would reach a 12LPA in thr next 3-4 months subject to fundraise, what I would like an opinion on is if after completing an year and we don't raise a round, do I stay? Or do I go back home and prepare for Gmat or CAT, then do aan expensive MBA by taking a loan? Or do I find another startup asking for a 12LPA? or do I try for a established company role in program management or partnerships or something? I don't have any family money or business to fall back on, but fortunately I didn't take a loan for my education yet, and my parents would be okay to give me another 2 more years to figure things out. Would appreciate help from anyone who've been in a similar journey or just any piece of advice. Thanks!

It's gonna be long thread. I have been working as lead engineer in a early stage startup since last one year. Founder (20 years exp in Product Management) raised some money from friends & family to start it and but company was running negative from February and he put his money to pay employees salary for March & April and We were hoping for some investment in April but that didn't happen. During May & June, he was looking for funding more aggressively and even after having a good background in academics & top tech work experience in product management, no investor got convinced to invest in it. Our salary for March & April was delayed from actual payroll date by 7 days and 21 days respectively and We were expecting our May salary to be delayed by same period and our company was about to complete one year in first week of July so we had some one year benefits associated as well. But Boom, he invited everyone on call and tells that company will shutting it's operation from next day itself. And he will help us find our new jobs and he doesn't any clarity on pending salary. Although we knew, our company is not in good shape so salary cut or something might be happening soon but didn't expect this. Now, we have to find other jobs and also be unemployed while searching for job and also get exploited by other companies because we will be desperate to find jobs to pay our bills. I think, he did this just before 5-6 days of our one year anniversary just because he doesn't get legally bound to pay our one year benefits. I for sure, not gonna join any early stage in future who doesn't have enough funding. Just wanted to put this story out of my mind. Open for any suggestions you have for me Thank you

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.

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

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. 🔥

Overview: Everyone around me, be it old school friends to the people in the bangalore startup ecosystem are planning to or already in the process of doing an MBA. What is happening: Most of the people I know, either are going for a tier 1 MBA in India or colleges like “Carnegie Mellon”/ “INSEAD”/ “NUS” these are really good places. Why am I concerned: I dont have great acade, GEM candidate so I have decided to not pursue CAT at all, and MBA outside India is too expensive. I feel like my job and career are going fine with 4 years of professional experience I am making 25LPA in marketing. I am not keen on doing an MBA but I dont want to regret later. I consider myself to be fairly smart but what happens when I am competing with people who have great brand names on their resume and are actually smart. People on GV with more experience, have you gone through this struggle? Sidenote: I also have friends who have cleared IIM ABC, ISB and not gone, because they just wanted the admit letter. Which is brave lol!

I graduated last year with no job offer from college. And started job hunting, I had 3 internship experiences, still not getting any job. But last December 2022 i got a call from the founder of the early stage startup( bootstrapped), gave a live coding round, and got selected within a day, even in this horrible job market with 7 lpa. Now the amazing part is that the technical co-founder was working as a consultant themself for a company and paying me and 2 other peeps from his own salary and still no expectations of overtime and good flexibility, unlimited paid leave,and then after working there for 9 months, finally the founders got funding but now they decided to move to wfo from wfh(with a considerate increment to employees), with which I was not comfortable because I have to relocate (and I have a medication going on from a very specialized doctor from my city), so decided to part ways. And from the past 3 months, i am job hunting, but not even getting an equal opportunity, those 7 lpa feels like 24 lpa coming from a founder who was working a day job to give me and other that opportunity. This post is an appreciation for all those founders who are working a job or hustling and running a startup in their spare time. Best wishes to you peeps, you may succeed in all pursuits of life. P.s- The founder gave me 6 days salary also which was equal to my first internship stipend.

I will go first. I was kicked out of a company named Coursenator within 22 days of joining because I was using AI to do work.

Hi folks, thinking of writing a regular mini blog here about my learnings being a generalist in the ecosystem. I currently handle growth at an ecom startup and have previously been through 2-3 startups + a large corporate in my 7 year career. #1: Why you should not stay only in startups Recently started reflecting on salaries of many peers who are also startup folks and trying to see where it stands. There are 3 cohorts: a. People who started out in Big 4/Corporate & then became a generalist: They've been underpaid the most. First pay was 4-5L, and when they transitioned to startups, started at 7-9L. Over time, growing from there is difficult without MBA. b. People who have forever been in startups: They earn more than A on average. But here too, there is a delta in their salaries vs. people with same YoE who went to an MBA and are in corporate now. Side note: I've seen this cohort has usually loved what they've done, and being in startups definitely has positively impacted their thought process. c. People who went to a corporate/big tech etc. mid way: This cohort has done the best long term. Their pay got recalibrated when they went to a larger company in the middle through their career, and when they rejoined startups, they were respected more in salary negotiation. This is to anybody out there who is a generalist and sees a similar path. Try to sandwich a proper, large company in your career. It gives you perspective on whether you like it and if startups is really your preferred route. And it also recalibrates your pay. Startups will limit you basis your last salary. Corporates have standards basis bands. Just something to think over. NOTE: Do share feedback, if this makes sense. And if you'd like to read more of these too.