Techie shares how he went from ₹3.5 LPA to ₹35 LPA in 3 years: ‘No guidance, no mentors’

An Indian software engineer has shared how he increased his salary from ₹3.5 lakh per annum to ₹35 lakh per annum within 3 years of graduating from BTech, saying he achieved it without mentors or guidance.The techie explained that the preparation needed for every switch was different. (Pexels/Representational Image)In a Reddit post titled “How I reached from 3.5 lpa to 35 lpa in 3 years, no guidance, no mentors”, the techie explained how changing his preparation strategy at every stage helped him switch jobs and grow faster in the tech industry.The Redditor said that he started his career at a service-based company with a salary package of ₹3.5 LPA. After 3 job switches in around 3 years, he reached ₹35 LPA at a top product company. He also mentioned maintaining a 1,750-day LeetCode streak during the journey.The techie explained that the preparation needed for every switch was different. For his first switch – from a service company to a mid-sized product company – he said that the main focus was solving medium-level coding problems and explaining solutions clearly during interviews.To prepare, he solved one easy coding problem every day for 6 months, completed the NeetCode 150 l and practised mock interviews every week. He said that he avoided paid courses and system design preparation at that stage because those topics were not important for the interviews he was targeting. ₹12 LPA to ₹35 LPAFor his second switch, where his salary went from ₹12 LPA to ₹22 LPA, the engineer said coding speed and backend knowledge became more important. He shared that he started taking part in weekly LeetCode contests and admitted that he struggled initially. “First 15 contests I bombed. Around contest 20 the speed clicked. No shortcut, just reps under a timer,” he wrote.The techie said that he also prepared for behavioural interview questions using the STAR method and studied system design basics through books and videos.For the third switch, where his salary went from ₹22 LPA to ₹35 LPA, the Reddit user said that interviews had become more focused on system design and open-ended problem-solving. He said that he practised mock system design interviews with peers and revised hard-coding problems he had solved earlier to improve speed and pattern recognition.Apart from interview preparation, he highlighted 3 habits that helped him throughout the journey: maintaining a daily LeetCode streak, focusing on recognising coding patterns instead of simply solving more problems, and switching jobs every 12-18 months.“Waiting for an internal hike is how you stay at 8 LPA for six years. The market clears comp better than your manager does,” he wrote.(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)