Techie shares journey from ₹3.6 LPA to ₹65 LPA in 4 years: ‘Call me corporate slave, I don’t care’

A techie’s story about going from a starting salary of ₹3.5 LPA to landing a ₹65 LPA offer within 4 years has caught the internet’s attention, with many calling the journey inspiring. In a Reddit post, the techie detailed their career progression after graduating in 2021 from a small private college and starting their first job through bulk campus hiring at Cognizant.The techie detailed their career progression after graduating in 2021. (Unsplash/Representational Image)The techie shared that in the early months of the job, they were not particularly focused on work. “For the first few months, I was just watching movies and anime all day, not even trying to work,” the Redditor wrote.However, things changed after they realised their family’s financial struggles could not be managed with the starting salary. They said that the family often had monthly debts of ₹5,000 – ₹10,000 and struggled to keep up with college fees and travel expenses. “I realised ₹26k per month would never be enough to cover the debts plus the interest,” the user wrote, adding that this became a wake-up call to take their career more seriously.The techie said that the first major step came in 2022 when they switched jobs to IBM with a salary of ₹8 LPA. But instead of chasing quick salary hikes, they said that they focused on gaining experience and building a long-term plan to eventually move into top product companies.The strategy gradually paid off. In 2023, the engineer said that they received a 45% salary hike, followed another 28% increase in 2024. Later that year, they joined a new company offering ₹19 LPA – their first time earning a monthly salary of over ₹1 lakh. “I felt really proud of myself,” they wrote.Then, once they completed 3 years of experience, the techie said they began intense preparation for product-company interviews. “I created a new LeetCode account to track my progress and started a heavy preparation plan for LLD and HLD. I grinded like crazy no weekends, no outings. I went all in. At first, I actually failed a few interviews that should have been ‘easy’ and I wasn’t sure how I messed them up,” the OP wrote.But their effort eventually paid off as the techie received offers from companies including ServiceNow, PayPal and Cisco before eventually landing an offer of ₹65 LPA from a top product company. “That’s ₹4 lakhs+ in a single month. It’s a crazy amount that no one in my entire family tree has ever seen,” they wrote, adding that they felt proud to be able to improve their family’s financial situation.(Also Read: Techie fired in 3 days IITian employer says she now makes 8 times more money)Social media reactionsThe post drew numerous reactions from other users who shared similar career journeys or praised the dedication behind the achievement.One user wrote, “Not exactly similar story but I had lots of family responsibilities even before I went to college. Started my career at 6.5L/annum. 12 years forward making 2.4 cr/annum. I was able to fulfill wishes of all family and myself. I’m so lucky to be in tech right now.”“Congratulations for your achievement, it’s not a small thing you have achieved big with proper planning. I also want to caution about unwanted things and attention that will come with this kind of money. Keep your earnings private don’t ever disclose your monthly income to anyone,” commented another.“This is really inspiring and scary in someway that how much efforts it goes into learning all that and be proficient enough to get hired into product based companies with 4+ years experience. Really amazed the dedication that goes into this,” wrote a third user.(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.)