To people who choose to stay in India, what made you stay? 🪷
Question came up because it’s Independence Day 🇮🇳 A lot of us have had the privilege to be able to go abroad, but ended up choosing not to. For me, it was just believing there’s enough growth here in the coming few decades + friends/family Looking to hear if the reduced brain drain is actually true, and what makes people stay.
For me it was the army and followed by my corporate job. I never felt like leaving the country. It’s always better to live like a first class citizen in a 3rd world country than a third class citizen in a first world country.
In addition to this, family is what defines us as Indians and that kept me hinged back home
@Cheetah92 you were in the Army? 😮
Would love to know more about your journey from army to startups 🫡
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Reduced brain drain is not true at all. Record number of students are leaving India. Not just to US / UK as in the past, but to literally any developed country.
I think most of the people returning would be from US, after they became tired of waiting for a green card. If the US citizenship / PR could be done in 5-10 years, no one would leave there at all.
Maybe the quality of students that leaves now is worse? I’ll write a rant about this somewhere soon
Not sure what the stats say
It’s just seeing people around me in college
Went to a good college, almost everybody who did well in college remained here. This wasn’t true a few years ago, most good scholars would go for a foreign MS or MBA
Numbers might be increasing, but I feel a lot of top students choose to stay back now
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Whackamole
Stealth
a year ago
Might seem absurd, but one of the reasons was
Have seen majority of the companies driving their least profitable work from India cost centre’s and when something becomes profitable or may have a potential of growing big, the work is shifted back to the core R&D offices.
Wanted to prove that this can change, and create opportunities for myself and others who are working from India offices.
Worked on making sure our team drives high velocity, high impact projects and have them going on end to end. The basic idea was to stay in India, build opportunities being here, because that scales the best in longer term.
Super interesting
What kind of company is this at?
Can one person really do that much? (Unless they’re leading everything)
Whackamole
Stealth
a year ago
A medium sized US company.
It’s definitely not a one person work. I have had some really strong managers, senior management who made sure that the opinions are heard loud and clear.
It is also strongly driven by a strong engineering teams which has excelled at delivering when timelines were really tight and sometimes when requirements changed last minute.
I just have had the opportunity to lead a number of projects with this team, helping with hiring some really driven people and ensuring the team can deliver on high stake efforts
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PoshSorbet84
Student
a year ago
Eklauta beta hu, mumy bahar ny jaane degi 🥲
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CorpGulaam
Stealth
a year ago
Cannot get out, if i get an opportunity I will jump away from India ASAP. Only reason I am here is because No Choice
CorpGulaam
Stealth
a year ago
Honestly I am not good enough, cannot crack good product companies in India also. Plus not in software engineering so the roles are more limited and more difficult to crack outside. Not from tier 1 universities as well
I am trying to improve my skills 💪, improving communication skills have , also tried to learn software engineering but cannot go beyond basics. For brain drain to happen you need to have lots of brain, I am low or mid IQ Indian, so doomed to stay in this nation.
But I am trying, I will surely escape some day sooner or later.
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Didn't realise until I went abroad for work - I hate the feeling of being an outsider. Felt like I would never fit in. I couldn't really blend in with natives and always ended up hanging out with Indian friends.
Family is another big reason. It didn't feel right to be earning in dollars yet my parents had to take themselves to the hospital and spend the festivals alone.
THIS
It truly feels different to be in a place where people don’t look at you weird, and to not have the fear of being said something off
Has happened a couple of times on trips abroad.
The worst was being called “ISIS” by somebody in Amsterdam 😓
That left a kind of a mark.
Damn! I understand, but what if you feel this while being in this country? Like you have no friends say. What's your take on that? Have seen far too many posts here with people who feel exactly that
I’m quite certain india is the best country to be in this century. China maybe a close one but they’re too opaque
Sapthinker
Stealth
a year ago
The record numbers throwing away their Indian citizenship in recent years don’t think so.
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I had an offer to relocate to Zurich, but had to stay here because:
- My father is a government employee and I cannot afford to see my parents living alone, after all they have done for me.
- I would have made almost same at both places with minor differences (due to taxes), and I would end up saving more in India (due to friendly policies for remote workers)
- The country is going through interesting times, and I am optimistic that staying rich over here is much better than living in the near-bankrupt grinder mode in west.
- I work on impactful projects from here, and I have the most supportive manager and leadership I have ever seen. I believe I am more effective staying at home and giving my best.
This is all what transpired when I graduated last year. Fast forward one year, I am in a good and stable relationship now, and building a house for myself in the hills. Glad I stayed :)
Mrwick
Stealth
a year ago
I worked for a few years in Geneva before moving back to India. During that time, I was able to save a lot more than my friends who were working in India. @PushyCourt What kind of offer did you get from Zurich? Also, you mentioned that you got a better remote offer. Is that a remote job from Switzerland?
Yes — We have location-independent pay structure, so expect for a few things the offer was similar to what I would have got in Switzerland and India.
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I was kinda adamant in my early career that my taxes should go only for the benefit of my nation. I was patriotic. I still am (Not the social media RW nationalist keyboard warrior patriot). But somehow after a decade of toiling hard I have realised nothing really is going to change. The Governments cannot do anything until the people change. The problem is us! A massive mindset shift needs to happen, and I see that not happening in the near future. Given a chance I might move out for a few years. Want to experience better standards of living for the taxes we pay, and get back to India later maybe.
I am extremely introverted. Moving out and settling in another country involves communicating/engaging with a lot of unknown people and hence is too much of a hassle.
All I just need is a room, high speed internet, xbox, a big ass TV and swiggy to survive and be happy. All of these are in India so I have the quality of life i need. Just get a job away from your hometown and one can avoid intrusive relatives too.
I come from a family background with almost 0 money and now somehow spending money just induces guilt. I end up saving almost 75% of my salary and have quickly entered the top 1% networth club. I will soon have saved enough to even FIRE. My FIRE calculations say that I need to be in India to do that soon.
Summing up, life is as good as it gets in India so no reason to leave.
Wanted to move abroad during college days, couldn't go due to lack of funds.
Then luckily with some efforts I got good opportunities here and now don’t want to leave, as the quality of life is better here, mainly friends and family
Amazing stuff!
Glad it worked out well @EveryMarsh34
This might just be the Indian dream? (Growing up with not the best means and then doing well enough to realize you know have a very comfortable life in India)
SaveBugs
Stealth
a year ago
Family!
I came back after 8yrs, many others also I know. In this (almost) a flat world, talent will keep moving from one place to another. In fact, even in pre-historic times humans kept moving. Brain drain or not is difficult to quantify, you need to figure out your priorities and define life accordingly.
Ooh interesting @ElonMast
What made you come back?
Hows the move back to India been?
mrityu
Stealth
a year ago
Poverty
Learningmind
Stealth
a year ago
One and only one thing parents
Apne log apne desh
Gus
Stealth
a year ago
Family.
satan
Stealth
a year ago
I’m going for couple of years, but in a long run, I’ll have to come back obv.
Do masters there, get a job. Understand the corporate, print money, come back, and join political party!
Multiple reasons over the years -
1. H1B could not be filed to USICS due to lack of funds.
2. L1 rejected because the consulate guy thought I will not return back to India
3. Client had limited visa sponsorship per year.
4. Not selected in lottery.
Still waiting for all the 9 planets to align in one straight line 🤣🤣
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