Are Indian corporate employees really overpaid?
Seeing a lots of discussion about people complaining about inflated salary, it's quite sad to see such discussions. Take SWE for example, so an swe is expected to move to an expensive city with high travel and food expenses, scant housing options with landlords hiking the price 40-80%, work 8 hrs a day and sometimes even 12. And if he's drawing 20-30LPA he's considered overpaid?! Not to mention the guy has to pay a huge chunk to the government and we're not americans who don't care about their family and have to take care of them as well. We're all overworked and underpaid (if you consider the amount of hrs one work and how much they are paidpaid in abroad) and considering the situation still underpaid. There may be people who might be drawing a high salary and barely do any work (considering they take a lot of leaves and don't put time and effort in work) but that should be the discussion of the inadequate framework for calculating better metrics for productivity and how companies fail to do their due diligence, instead of complaining about high salary. This affects us all and if we all think that salaries are inflated it only hurts us more.
I’m sorry if this offends people, but I think a lot of us here think in a very privileged manner.
Moving to a big city, working 8 hours, paying high rent??? This is stuff that LITERALLY everybody in the past has had to do, across BFSI, Telecom, IT Services and all other industries.
A lot of us are overpaid purely because there was a stupid bubble in 2021, directed by VCs and ZIRP. A lot of us have already been laid off, not given hikes, and stuff like that.
We need to understand that unless we are actually deeply skilled, in the absence of bull markets, we may not continue to see our CTCs rise the way they did in 2021-2022
would love to learn more of your mindset, what role are you in and if you're overpaid too or not
I think your perspective of looking at the payscale is incorrect. In my previous org, one year after I joined, I was working on projects that would earn more than my annual salary in one day. That's how you justify your salary. If the business is making a huge profit from your work, they shouldn't hesitate to pay you more. Nor should you feel that you're overpaid.
Man. You are living in a bubble. There's a world outside software.
I was working in construction for 6 years as a civil engineer/manager. I have seen the breadth of society. From labourers who built buildings to HNI clients who bought and lived in them.
I moved to IT last year. Let me respond to a couple of your points.
"so an swe is expected to move to an expensive city with high travel and food expenses, scant housing options with landlords hiking the price 40-80%, work 8 hrs a day and sometimes even 12." --> really bruh? A civil engineer has to not only move to an expensive city but has to live in an overcrowded 1bhk house with 4 other colleagues to not go broke. He has to work 12 to 14 hours a day. 6 days a week. And if he works for a contractor, half a day on a Sunday too. This is the usual. And if there's a lot of work, you gotta work 16 hours a day. And no, you don't work in an office with AC. You work in the fkin 35 to 40 degree sun during the day and 15 degree nights with huge fkin mosquitoes trying to suck all your blood. And get paid 12. No not 12 lpa but 12k per month. And that's with one year experience. Of course, you still have to send money home.
I was lucky enough to not have to start with some of these as I had family in a city and a salary among the highest in my class. And that salary was 4.35 lpa. I still worked in the conditions I mentioned above.
To give you some more context on career growth, with 6 years of experience, I was paid 8.5 lpa. Which is considered decent in Bangalore. And you have freshers coming out of college earning fkin 20lpa. Or 50lpa if you look at this platform.
Remember I said I moved to IT? I started out in a fresher's role. For a pay of 10lpa. I was thrilled. It's been a year and I am making my first IT switch. I got an offer for 20 fixed plus 20 profit share mechanism.
I couldn't even dream of something like this in construction. The best you can hope for is a role of a project manager with 20 lpa after 15 yoe.
I have some good context of how much work is done in software and in construction. I can tell you the pressure is much higher in construction as you have to deal with not so civilized hooligans on a day to day basis.
Just so you know, I have even come across people asking for 20 with 20 years of experience. Again, 20k. Not 20lpa. Of course, these aren't high quality engineers but they do exist in plenty. So yeah. You get paid a shit ton. 20 lpa is a lot. 30 lpa is a lot.
If you are still not convinced, get in touch with me and I will help you talk to some more people from diverse people. That should help you get out of your bubble.
