[Part-I] : https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-experience/1464918/Journey-from-4L-to-40L-Life-is-marathon-not-sprint.

First, I would like to congratulate all the folks (90+ in count) who, despite starting as below average in their careers (with WITCH or similar organizations), got inspired by the above post, took action, and secured a good offer. This post is targeted at experienced professionals who are willing to switch.

I am continuing this as many of you requested for an update on my journey. It has been 3+ years since Part 1, and here I am with the second edition, now with a total of 6 years and a few months of experience.

Sept 2021: Joined a new organization with a 40L salary. It was relatively a startup, so I had to grind for long hours. Since my past experience wasn’t very strong, I used to dedicate 12+ hours to work almost daily. It was remote due to COVID, so I could invest significant time in my work.

Dec 2021: Tried for Google and Microsoft. I cleared Microsoft technical rounds, but the manager declined due to my frequent switches. Google feedback was mixed: 2 strong hire, 1 lean hire, and 1 no-hire. I wasn’t able to practice alongside work and got bored of DSA that year.

June 2022: Received a 10% increment, bringing my current salary to around 44L. I started considering a switch as remote work was about to end, and I was feeling homesick. I was tired of the poor work-life balance (WLB). Over the next 4-5 months, I interviewed at many places and received offers from Adobe, PhonePe, Deliveroo, Ethos, LendingKart, and others. I declined Adobe (though it offered good money) as they wanted me to work on a desktop app in C++.

Dec 2022: Took a 15-day break and joined a new remote job with 52L in the new year. It was another startup but much better than the last one. Pay wasn’t the main factor; remote work was. To be honest, I was scared of the culture.

I continued working there for 2 years and got a promotion, though it didn’t come with a significant hike (only 10%). The work was awesome—I delivered ~50 features, improved on-call processes, and learned many great things. This was the first time I experienced how you can be efficient even without daily standup meetings. This restored my faith that corporate people can be technically sound and humble at the same time.

Nov 2024: Finally left the remote job and moved to a hybrid role with a bigger brand and a tempting & whopping offer of 88-90L. I received an offer from Blinkit for 70-75L but declined it due to its horrible culture and 5-day office policy. Switching out of remote work was a tough choice but necessary as I was falling behind in terms of learning and networking.

[FAQ]:

1. Did I face challenges switching so many times in my short career?
Yes, of course. I faced a lot of rejections in screening rounds because of my unstable profile, which gets highlighted at the first glance. I even faced rejection at Microsoft for the same reason, with the manager stating it directly.

2. How did I get so many interview calls? Where did I apply?
I did everything to get interview calls: Naukri, Instahyre, LinkedIn DMs, referrals, LinkedIn jobs. It was a mix of all these efforts. I don’t have any magic portals. The remote job was also a coincidence. Influencer posts claiming "Top 10 sites for remote jobs" were of no use to me—don’t fall for that trap.

3. How did I learn DSA?
The most frequent question I get is how I learned DSA: I learned during COVID, as shared in my last post. Since 2021, I haven’t practiced much. Posting without anonymity so you can see how little I’ve practiced in the last 4 years. Contests helped me retain my logical thinking for new problems in interviews. My practice tapered off in 2021 and decreased further in 2022-23-24. I plan to improve in 2025.

4. Resources for System Design?
I believe everyone knows the resources—ask ChatGPT, and it’ll tell you the same. There are free and paid resources; choose one and stick with it. Don’t switch midway.
For me, as I mentioned in my last post, I prefer books for better concentration. I learned concepts through books (still a work in progress). I fell in love with technical books. I learned system design mostly on the job through code reviews and feedback on architectures I designed.

5. How did I find time to prepare?
I used to code early in the morning. That’s why my username reflects this habit—it’s tough for me to work after office hours, as my mind doesn’t function well then. For the 2024 switch, I casually interviewed without specific preparation.

6. Did I take any academy or paid training?
Never. I’m not a fan of paid training. You can use them for discipline, but free resources are also sufficient.

7. Do I mentor people or give paid training to engineers?
No, I’ve never done personal paid training. I tried a few academies but didn’t like their curriculums (not student-friendly), so I didn’t continue. I’ve helped a few individuals who were proactive but stuck, usually over weekends to solve their coding issues.

8. Can I reveal my personal info, LinkedIn, or company names?
No, sorry. I’m uncomfortable sharing these details. Please don’t ask. Maintaining anonymity is tough for me, especially when not posting anonymously. Feel free to ask questions; I’ll answer them.

9. Is it recommended to switch jobs this frequently?
No, never. Frequent switches are not good for your profile, it portrays you as unstable. Unfortunately, your next salary is decided by your previous salary. I started with such a low salary that switching was the only way to step-up. Had I started with 6-9L, I would not have switched so often.

10. My tech stack and years of experience?
I have 6.5 years of experience. My tech stack has been primarily Java microservices backend with Kafka, REST, and gRPC. I’m open to other backend systems as well (tech-agnostic).

11. What’s the significance of this post?
Some might call this show-off, but I’m not an influencer or trying to sell courses. I’m sharing this because I’m one of you, believing 30-40L is the end goal. My earning target in college was 30-35L, but life took threw in some surprises. The harder you work, the luckier you get!

12. When should you look at the solution to a coding problem?
There are two phases for every topic: learning and practice. During the learning phase, feel free to look at solutions and understand them (try brute force if you can). In the practice phase, avoid looking at solutions immediately. If you have a clue, try coding or dry running your solution. Don’t jump to solutions directly.

Clearing misconceptions from my DMs:

• This journey was smooth and easy. No, it was tough Even today, if I apply to 40-50 companies on LinkedIn/Naukri, I get one recruiter call, which often ends with ghosting. It’s a devastating feeling. Rejections from big companies were significant disappointments.
• You must be living a great life. Not really. My in-hand salary is much less after taxes and other deductions. I gained weight, lost touch with friends, and barely traveled.
• Hopefully, in 2025, I’ll get back in shape and find someone to move to the next phase of life with Bhagwan ji’s blessings.
• There are folks earning far better than me, with deeper knowledge. I’m still a beginner, not an expert.
• I’m not familiar with front-end, data science, or AI roles, so I can’t share opinions on them. My experience is limited to QA manual, support, and backend dev positions.

It’s never too late to hit a few sixes in life!

Discipline beats motivation. If you’re motivated, start solving one question daily in 2025, and share your offers with me—I love seeing dreams fulfilled.
Wish you all a very happy 2025 !!