being yelled at is very triggering for me. I would never let that go unaddressed.

Yep. You are right @perpetualfernweh but Learning something comes at a cost and I am paying it.

Data Scientist

It's not like your clients won't yell at you or your employees won't bad mouth you behind your back.

Yes. @Elon_Musk that's also the point but sometimes it feels bad. No issues, I am growing and that means everything for me.

Precisely 
 Thinking of becoming a crypto trader 😐😐

Lawyer

Founder

Sales Manager

Facing a similar situation today and I'd say - even at your own agency you'll have to deal with egoistic megalomaniac clients and customers 🙃🙃

No matter what you do there’s no guarantee people won’t yell at you.

Digital Accessibility Technologist

Working for someone is a mess and I fucking hate when someone shouts or yells at me.   Again I remember the sentence told by Naval Ravikant " It's better to run a 10 people agency than working in a...

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Working for someone is a mess and I fucking hate when someone shouts or yells at me. 

Again I remember the sentence told by Naval Ravikant " It's better to run a 10 people agency than working in a million people company.

Unpopular Opinion

Unpopular Opinion- Grapevine

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Majority of Indian startups has toxic work culture and the same is not true for any US or Europe based startup. Indian startups just copy paste ideas from the west and apply it to Indian context. We don't have original product barring few such as Postman and all. Why is it so and how we can improve the situation?

Majority of Indian startups are shit.

I know this is not what majority of people like to listen, but for people coming from other cities with no friends and poor social skills, working remote or hybrid starts taking a toll on your mental health. 

The isolation it brings is so overwhelming. You feel trapped and frustrated, when there's no one to talk to.

Sometimes, I feel the quality of life of our kind of lower than street vendors at least they have people they can talk to. I just hate the way we are wired to be social animals yet find it overly difficult to connect with people.

Unpopular Opinion: I prefer Work from Office

If you are early stage of your career if you don't have responsibility at home you should come to office it's a healthy approach but for people like me who has already spend more than a decade in office life and has a small child at home working for home is like a saviour for me and my wife

Senior Engineer

Software Developer

I worked in an Indian startup closely with CXO for last few years. 

They are pathetic in any way possible. Tech is limited to crud, that too doesn't work. The pay amongst their inner circle is in no way justifiable. For reference, I know people getting US pay remotely and that too doesn't come close to some of them.

They hired a guy from a service based company with completely different tech stack and no product experience for 60lpa+ (I know this number because he drunk boasted about this once) as VP just because he was acquaintance. Now, this guy lacked basic human decency and tech skills. He didn't know things as basic as how to use git cli or how to talk to people. Every non-tech person that ever had to work with him called it quit. Even 4-5 year old employees (juniors being exploited mostly) that were there from inspection. He would ruthlessly "harass" them for his own shortcomings.

The head of sales gets paid more than what their profit after margin is.

They just keep on raising based on their IIT/IIM creds and connections and there's no business or problem that they are solving. Even the contracts they seem to winning is rather by pulling the strings, because the product or tech doesn't solve or do anything. Yet they're able to raise more again and again.

It kinda kills me and fills me with so much rage that there are so many of them similar ones out there. I could go on and on about all the things that I had to see working here for years.

My pathetic experience working for years closely with CXO in a startup

Software Engineer

Kya dikat hai bhai, udane do paisa. Tumhare thodi hai. 

Good firms genuinely perform well and return money. The ecosystem is not forgiving -- you don't survive very long if you don't create any big wins. It's an extremely high stress job with very little WLB. You do make money but it comes at a cost.

Layoffs are sad but at least those jobs existed in the first place? They wouldn't without VC money. India's VC scene is extremely young and it'll take time before we produce a Google. Entrepreneurs are not always right, they are not always nice either; but they definitely are courageous.

Unpopular Opinion: VCs get a lot of crap for no reason

VCs kill many startups with unrealistic targets that the main problem. Not every business is designed to give ultra quick returns VCs want . They ruin well potential startups

Product Manager

Hello people, 

Monday it is.

Welcome to the watercooler: the place for any conversations that feel a bit small to create a dedicated post. Manager acting weird today? Ended up being really late to a meeting and got bad looks? Need show recommendations? This is probably the place for it. 

Look forward to hearing from you all :) 

- The Unpaid Intern (I am actually paid though)

Daily Watercooler - 16th October

Intern

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Finding it difficult to get permanent WFH now. Can you guys please mention the name of your company if they offer permanent WFH. 
I'm currently working at swiggy and they offer WFH.

List of remote companies

Raftlab. Pay may be less 
  
 I am planning to create an entire list of remote Indian companies by going through all the posts available but not getting time.

Engineering Manager

I have been talking to a few companies, across different size bands.
Only Indian startups seem to obsessed with full week WFO/Micromanagement.

A few years back, startups were known for being more flexible, now it just seems to be the reverse.

Why are Indian startups so obsessed with Micromanagement? i.e. WFO

I know a lot of folks will not agree, but when it comes to accountability (+ some integrity), the vast majority are really really behind. Those who show some are stomped up on as well.  
  
 The only way to get over this might be to micromanage. I'm not in support of it, but I myself have been seeing a change around me because of some people, a few others will also have to suffer from micro-management. Yes, it's not easy on me/my mind, but the work is moving a bit more.  
  
 I've seen this at a lot of places. I usually trust others with things, but the results have more often disappointed me. Now, I just delegate only of it's really required.

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Someone told me that it is an issue that can be solved by having high agency but it is exactly the thing that is penalized first. You can only affect the locus of your influence but when you need to get work done collaboratively it is mind numbing work.

You need to sell, sell and sell. Not the right ideas always win but the loudest guy who is really chummy with the founders. Most founders can't do any better because it serves their ego. Doing things right means accepting that your throughput of ideas based in gut call is bad for the company. Having a system where meritocratic ideas win while "smart" show-sha people who are all talk and no show are fired straight up.

I have myself witnessed the death of culture when the inner circle does as what they want to, and soon the it turns very toxic for everyone involved. I can tell you that right now I am pretty much sure that 4 people will leave within 1 year, even if they were offered a 100% hike.

High agency means that you can only do the best with the cards that have been dealt to you. But even with high agency you cannot expect to solve big problems that extend beyond your scope of responsibilities.

PM RANT: Launching anything in a big company is an "impossible task"...

They have no life
They have nowhere to go
They have no one to be with
They have no passions outside work either

And they make your life hell as they become the baseline for comparison for all sorts of management from appraisal to work distribution.

Feel free to disagree with me, but I’m genuinely pissed today. How do you deal with them? I have a decent life outside work but lose most of it while trying to catchup to such people so that I don’t get fired.

Sorry for the title.

How the F do I deal with overworkers?

I'm also like this brother. But why I work like this? 
 I come from a small village in India . Haven't got proper education or exposure. Not born with silver spoon and this is the only way to feed our family. We too have emotions like you, but sacrificing everything for our future and family. I strongly disagree with @Elon_Musk. Usually, only people who don't work hard do like that.

Product Designer

I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but I’m briefly sharing my experience! I have around 3YOE in software development. Previously, I worked at a large product-based company, where everything was fine except for the salary and hikes, which didn't meet my expectations. So, I decided to switch jobs and ended up at a consulting start-up-like firm with a small product development team (about 15 people inc myself), receiving a decent 50% raise. This is my first job switch. The working style between the two companies is significantly different (5 days WFO, only formal attire, 10 hr working as the norm, etc.). I've noticed a few odd things.

->It’s my third month in this company, and I admit I’m a bit of a slow performer. It’s taking me time to understand their applications, pick up the pace, and get up to speed. My assigned tasks are falling behind deadlines, while my co-workers are able to complete theirs on time. I acknowledge this, and I’m working on improving and catching up.

->In meetings and scrum calls, I’m getting yelled at when my tasks don't progress. If I hit a roadblock and ask my manager or the lead for help, instead of getting the support I need, I’m hit with questions like, "We've implemented the same feature in other applications without any issues—why are you the only one facing these doubts or blockers?" or "If xyz (a colleague who joined with me but has less experience) is getting their tasks done, why are you the only one struggling with these doubts or blockers?"

->Frequent UI-UX changes and sudden shifts in implementation, whenever they feel like it, are quite confusing for me and result in a lot of rework. However, these ad-hoc changes are never acknowledged, and the effort spent on reworking isn't captured anywhere. When I mention that I've worked on these changes, they respond by questioning why I need time for them, as if my code will magically handle everything on its own,apne ap hojayega!

-> I am questioning my abilities after coming to this team, whether I am the right fit or not. Very harsh comments are passed right in front of my face: Other team mates say to me that "You are Lucky in this team! This much leverage the management has never given to me or others, they are baring you even if your tasks are not moving ahead!", In 1-on-1 my manager is saying ki "I don't know, this much leverage and patience we have never shown to anyone"(its hardly 2.5m after joining), "I don't know what to say, other team mates are asking me(to my manager) if he(ie me) can do lesser work ,we are performing way higher why do you have problems with us! This creates problems in teams". He further added "Comparison shouldn't be made, but xyz is also newly joined but he picked up, but I don't have confidence in you to give any task and feel you will accomplish it!"

->When I ask my co-workers casual questions or try to have a small interaction, their responses are things like, "Oh, do we really have to explain all this?" or "What do you want this time? Why are you eating my head?" It's a small team of 14-15 people, and they all sit together and go for coffee or lunch, but no one includes me or talks to me. I know this isn't directly related to work, and it shouldn't matter, but I just wanted to express how uncomfortable the air is around me.

-> Even though xyz’s work has several bugs and coding standard mismatches, it’s brushed off as normal. But when it comes to my work, it’s heavily scrutinized. My manager even created a group with a tester where, every day, I have to update what feature I implemented and log the hours I spent on it. The tester then immediately tests it and flags bugs on the same day. This testing happens alongside my development, even before my code is pushed to production. It feels like my manager has completely lost trust in me, and now, every hour of my work is under a microscope.

Some of you might be managers—how do you handle folks in their first few months of joining? How do you handle someone who performs slow? I’m constantly improving, and compared to previous sprints, my tasks are getting better, but before I can even take a breath, I’m hit with these comments that make me feel dumb. The phrases I’ve included in quotes are actual words I hear daily, and I've only mentioned a few of them. Is this how corporate life works? Is it normal to be treated like this, or should I feel privileged that I haven't been fired yet? Should I be setting boundaries when it comes to receiving such intense criticism? I’m not sure what to do. No matter how much I push myself to improve, it feels like they expect me to perform at 200kph, and I just can’t keep up. I feel completely inadequate and dumb.

Thanks for reading all the way through...

Can I get scolded in corporate? Or set boundaries. Long post but if you read till end i would be happy!

fck this culture. this is a definition of a toxic startup, which most Indian startups are

Anyone here working remotely as a data engineer?  How did you do it ? 
Is it good or bad ? Whats your opinion? 
Really want to know more about this .

Remote work good or bad?

Data engineer

I thought I was the only one frustrated with meetings until my colleagues also mentioned they were not able to get work done because most of the day was spent on meetings

Plus our boss (CEO) loves talking, anyway the meetings are agenda-less. He stretches 30 min calls to 2 hours and then has the audacity to question the productivity.

Cannot tell me this, he gets very touchy when feedback is negative for him. And then writes sarcastic messages.
Also, who wants to take up fights with person who pays your salary

What to do in this case? I'm tired of working 12 hours each day

Too many meetings, and our boss is one yapper

1. Try sending invites with an agenda 
 2. Drop off the call and leave a message that you gotta attend another meeting or you're working on something that's a priority or any personal reasons  
 3. After every meeting send an MOM 
 4. Do everything for you to escape any meaningless meetings except telling your boss. That's the safest option. 
  
 If there's one thing that TCS taught me...it is to PRETEND like every manager is nice and always right. If not you'll definitely lose your mind.

What is the most toxic thing u encountered at work?

Take this work a pinch of salt, not to be triggered. 

I work in a company with a good number of folks working in product, growth/ strategy. Many of which are from tier 1 Indian business schools or some even from abroad. 

Paid hefty, I just don't see them being that smart. Putting way too much time into presenting something instead of getting work done. Jugaad method of calculating target metrics, ever changing requirements (low on clarity) is just the norm. 

I was someone who looked upto these colleges and wanted to be in one after having a good 5 yoe. Now I'm not sure. Hoping to be proved wrong, so there's no need to fire your guns at me :)

ISB, IIM Rant

Data Analyst

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.

Working at startups is terrible

The companies and founders that boast about how good the work life balance of their org is or how amazing people are doing because of the WFA policies are actually doing nothing, and are pretty useless companies.

So after building my venture for over six years, in January,22 I decided to move on and in Sept,22 I joined an early stage startup led by ex-CXO of a small vertical of Indian IT giant. 

i joined as early employee to lead product, but over time I have been moved across multiple things without my consent, but I continued doing in and out across as pre-sales, customer success and blah blah. 
Over the last 1 and half year, the company just got few clients with around total revenue of 15 Lakhs annual. 

On the sides, I started building my venture as well and built a small team of 4 people, launcjed the product and is doing good in terms of revenue. With the limited time I am able to give after spending 10+ hours doing nothing at my job, at my startup we have  scaled well and are doong decent enough monthly revenue of around 6.5 Lakhs and are growing as well. 

Now, at the place where I work, few people including founder come and give me some gyaan but I don’t like it. Not because I don’t want to learns but because I feel these gyaans are one-sides and comes with limited view. 

IRL, I have executed better than what they are doing with a better capital efficiency and with very small team. I don’t like what they say. Am I getting arrigant or am I being selective to who do I want to learn from and what? 

I don’t want to turn arrogant and someone who miss staying grounded. In my venture I listen to my team, my people, my users and stay as much humble as possible, but when it come to my job place, I don’t like them. 

PS: I am not leaving the job because for the next 2-3 months, I don’t want to burden my company with my salary expense and also my marriage is scheduled so don’t want to eat my savings.

Am I getting arrogant or thinking right?

With appraisal conversations round the corner, wanted to know the most absurb feedback you’ve received from your manager?

Appraisal/feedback nonsense

Head Of Marketing

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

Okay, this is from my past experiences in 3 companies.

Last two companies had people from lower tier colleges, polytechnics (upper and lower hierarchy). If MBA too, from local colleges

Cut to current company, almost every other person is IIT or IIM or IIT + IIM 

I am handing over my role as I'm transitioning out.
In the current one, I have given the same handover to multiple people, multiple times to each one. Going over each order, each account, each customer - despite everything documented over excel, folders, mails, WhatsApp 

Previously it was just, this is handover folder let me know if you have questions. And they would say, you don't worry we'll manage from here.

Why is it so difficult with people from top education institutions?

Consultant

The project I am in right now sucks. It ends a month from now but the managers are very annoying. There is this one guy who cannot shut up and keeps telling you what to do and I really cannot focus or work with him. I'm just angry most of the time.

I've told this to my company and for all the obvious reasons they're taking the clients side.

I do feel like the company I am working for isn't worth it anymore. They also said that they haven't got a new client in a couple of months, so that's another reason for them to keep sticking up their existing clients.

I don't feel like applying for jobs at the moment. I kinda need a break after this project is over but they're already adding me to another project.

Any ideas suggestions on how to deal with this. How do you deal with office stress? Need some motivation to shut the hell up and start looking for jobs.

Unpopular Opinion

Discover More

Indian Startups on

by Kalan Lee

Student

Majority of Indian startups are shit.

Bangalore on

by Karilyn Carmden

Stealth

Unpopular Opinion: I prefer Work from Office

Indian Startups on

by Isaiah Vernon

Stealth

My pathetic experience working for years closely with CXO in a startup

Indian Startups on

by Kendall Vernon

Stealth

Unpopular Opinion: VCs get a lot of crap for no reason

Office Gossip on

by Matilda Carmden

Grapevine

Daily Watercooler - 16th October

Software Engineers on

by Karilyn Taye

Swiggy

List of remote companies

Indian Startups on

by Kalan Lee

Slice

Why are Indian startups so obsessed with Micromanagement? i.e. WFO

Product Managers on

by Karilyn Lee

Gojek

PM RANT: Launching anything in a big company is an "impossible task"...

Software Engineers on

by Blair Hyrum

Cred

How the F do I deal with overworkers?

Software Engineers on

by Coy Vernon

Stealth

Can I get scolded in corporate? Or set boundaries. Long post but if you read till end i would be happy!

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Gabriel

PWC

Remote work good or bad?

Office Gossip on

by Coy Carmden

Nothing

Too many meetings, and our boss is one yapper

Office Gossip on

by Karilyn Lee

HCL

What is the most toxic thing u encountered at work?

Misc on

by Karilyn Carmden

Stealth

ISB, IIM Rant

Indian Startups on

by Aaron Taye

Self Employed

Working at startups is terrible

Office Gossip on

by Dezi Carmden

Stealth

Unpopular Opinion

Indian Startups on

by Kendall Dean

Stealth

Am I getting arrogant or thinking right?

Office Gossip on

by Isaiah Carmden

Stealth

Appraisal/feedback nonsense

Business Roles on

by Aaron Lee

Stealth

Unpopular Opinion

Office Gossip on

by Kendall Carmden