don’t join NCR based companies

TLDR; Did B.Tech in ECE from a tier 3 college. In college, explored different avenues and finally found deep learning and computer vision to be the most interesting. Did lots of projects, research paper etc. However, being from a tier 3 college, making a career in this domain wasn’t easy. Graduated in 2020, joined a startup as an intern with a stipend of 35k per month. 6 months later, the internship didn’t convert, although I worked really hard and my manager liked my work. Joined another startup with a salary of 6.5LPA. Although I had better offers, I decided to go with this one ad they were providing WFH (it was peak covid time). A few months into this startup, I realised the founder had no goal, no vision, was given random vague projects, founders would pick up any project that their client would somehow talk about, assign it to me without doing any market research, and few months later scratch that. I realised, there was no future here, and for no reason, one of the founder kept micromanaging me (although the colleagues and seniors were great). And by that time, I also realised I was severely underpaid, as one of my close friend, who was a year junior to me was paid higher. I decided to leave that place, during a time of mass resignations in 2022 (the founders did try to retain me, but I was adamant as I didn’t see any vision and founder was too rigid to listen to anyone). I worked there for 1.3 years, at the same salary. Later on in August 2022, I joined a series C funded startup, with a base pay of 14.5LPA, at nearly 2 YOE. While the hike was well above 120%, in some time I realised that this was the salary that they paid to IIT campus hires. Felt a little demotivated, Also, the culture here isn’t exactly good and sometimes gets quite toxic. However, I kept commited to my work, and come March 2023, I got a 10% appraisal, for which the VP personally had a conversation, I conveyed that I had higher expectations considering I joined at lower pay (1/n)

I completed education from tier 1 colleges (MBA and Engineering both from coveted IIM and IIT). After MBA, I joined Wall Street bank and life was really good. Was enjoying the perks of a MNC although the work was also excruciating but was an overall good experience. Left it for a startup (fast growth kida in me led this decision). Worked in the startup across multiple roles, learned a lot of new things. Tried staying away from office politics and earned a good name in the circle. But growth (read pay) was not that enticing and was not growing hence decided to leave. Was naive enough to quote this reason to business head and HR as well. Obviously it didn't go well with anyone. Joined startup2, changed cities and joined it. The role was similar, although my manager was an epitome of a toxic manager. Was doing good but he always was able to find some or the other mistake in my work. If he would not find any mistake then he would suggest some tangential hypothesis and then reprimand me for not thinking about it. Was so toxic that I didn't take leave when my wife was hospitalized and giving birth to our child. Tried doing everything possible but couldn't save the job and got laid off in the 1st lay off wave. Was shattered. Confidence was at rock bottom. Tried searching for roles. Luckily I got into startup3 who had remote work at that time. Although I joined the marketing team (which was not at all related to my previous work) thus creating a mess of my profile. Worked hard but in a "restructuring" exercise got laid off again. Within a year 2 lay offs with random work and no concrete direction in work. Now searching for roles but not able to find anything suitable as I was in non-core roles and in this difficult time everyone is looking for cheap resources with 1-3 yoe and not looking for 7+ yoe with generalist profile. Contemplating starting from zero in Marketing or learning coding/Data science so that can start my career again with right basics.

Company name - Chat360 It's pretty small and inconspicuous, but if I save even one person from joining this organisation, I will consider it worth it. Based on first hand accounts from 3 very reliable sources who are confirmed employees. A very basic chatbot platform, being marketed as a Gen AI first product. They don't even have basic NLP and claim to be Gen AI.  The founder & ceo is completely directionless. This is his side hustle, but while interviewing new hires he claims that he is the full time CEO (this is not true, he is barely available and always busy in his main business which is a car dealership)  The co-founder is an IIT-grad, and due to the Founder's absence is basically running the show though he has zero business acumen. He constantly bitches about the founder to senior employees. Of course, with such a toxic back story, it is hell to work here. No unity in the team, lot of back biting and bitching, public humiliation on WhatsApp groups, constant blame game. Basically, a shitshow.  Do not, do not, do not join this place. Avoid it like the plague.

A generic name for family-run businesses in India, 'lala companies' have unique attributes—great rewards…and greater punishment, if the lala stops liking your face! What are the key differences between MNCs and Lala companies? One main difference will be the management. MNC's are likely to have more stress on the performance (at least for the selection process) while the management in the other companies (mostly) may be guided by relationships (to the owners) or loyalty. What are some Top Lala companies to avoid in India? Do share your experiences if you had the misfortune of working in one.

It’s not unheard of that most good companies in India are based in BLR or now HYD. But what are some of the few good companies in NCR (Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida)? Considering that they’re an upgrade over my current employer i.e. Blinkit / Zomato. I know there’s FAANG but are the teams based here good? And can you selectively interview for those teams? TIA.

hey guys, I'm interviewing at a startup currently and they are asking me if I can work 6 days a week for a couple of months initially till the Product goes live. how do I respond to this? I want to take the offer but the 6 day work week is what pulling me back from accepting the offer.

I have applied to a lot of companies directly and through referrals. I have a top tier college and a FANG in my resume. I am currently working in a decent sized startup. I am not getting any callbacks from recruiters. Is it happening only with me?

Hey guys Got Piped and laid off by my toxic manager giving bullshit reason. The manager was giving random excuses when i asked in details. Anyways toxic people will do toxic things only. On the top of that phonepe was giving PIP to reduce experienced people and was hiring junior engineers to reduce costs. Finally got a job after few months of efforts. Not that great but I am feeling great to get out of that toxicity. I am feeling better since I left phonepe. When I call my friends back at phonepe, I see them casually mentioning there is too much work I will do on weekend, will sit at night. That's how overworking in normalized. I was also doing the same before and didn't think twice how much I am working. I Will keep on preparing and would not leave my future in hands of my future or any manager from now on.

A thread: 1. Over the last 2 months, the Chief Business Officer, Head of Marketing, and Head of Enterprise have been laid off. 2. CEO has surrounded himself with 3-4 Yes Men/Women who have no expertise in the respective domains that they are currently looking at (being called as Founder’s Office staff – but are basically playing the role of glorified postmen/women) 3. Rest of the senior leadership has been demoted for all practical purposes and all business decisions are taken in weekend meetings between the CEO, and his close friend (who is also acting as the CBO currently) 4. Work culture has become so toxic that employees across levels are either looking out or jumping ship or even resigning without offers in hand 5. There is a ton of investor pressure on the CEO to start showing tangible revenue – classic case of raising money at bloated valuations with no business model in place

Recently seeing alot many posts on LinkedIn about companies and startups are hiring interns in large numbers for core functions like tech, product, biz etc. Am I the only one who is thinking that companies simply want to get the work done using these interns and avoiding hiring full time employees? Signs of not to good days. Also winter internships were not these common or were they? 🫤