Wasted 8 years of my career working in startups in Bangalore, India. RSUs/options offered by Indian startups are scam. None of them paid off. Then came to the USA and I saved 20 times more than what I did in India in just 5 yrs in USA. Tc 500k Nw 700k
Could have chilled and gotten a better tc in faang
Amazon != Chill
Chilling may end up in PIP , Amazonian should not used “chill” words
Same. Thought I was soaking in the knowledge and learning a lot. While I did do that, took a major hit to NW
But was it a deliberate choice? Not everyone one can be at faang whenever they want.
Well it was both. I had convinced myself that being in startups and grinding is the best way to build a strong foundation for a great career in tech. Because of this conviction, never bothered training myself or applying for FANG even mid-sized companies for that matter. When I finally did decide to join, I solved about 100LC. Sys design and behavioral came to me naturally at that point due to my experience thus far. In hindsight, I could have moved to fang, 5-6 years ago, NW would be at least double my current value by now.
Is there startup in India? How’s their quality? No worth investing time and energy not alone money ?
It makes sense to scam people with startups in India. Many startups are scams with zero regulations from government. They can exploit their employees in work conditions/payments, the customers with bad trade practices and finally scam the regular people when they do their IPO with booked valuation.
I can relate to some extent but can't say I regret. We all overrate ourselves to make right decision. If any of those startup had became big, you would have had totally different opinion about it. There are plenty of non startups where you would have got nothing working for last 10 yrs. Think Yahoo, Intel or IBM. Regarding US vs India, yes pay in India is shit and this is not something unique about startup that's us coloniolized Indians who year after year are happy working for peanuts even for providing same value as someone with his ass in US. I am also sure that so far startup has no to given me any alpha but I am yet again jumping to a new possibly overvalued startup.
So, Are you advising to join startups in India?
No. All I am saying, right or wrong is realised only in hindsight. It's tough to make right choice and predict future. There will be few startups which can take you years ahead in your career, and then there will be more which may feel like time wasted in hindsight
Companies in india are offering 1cr salaries now for mid roles- you can earn the same there
Wrong, I am still earning similar to WITCH working 60hr/week
1 Cr as base is still big deal. Startup only offer base for cash. So it is rare to get 1 Cr as base even for staff/Principal levels. 1 Cr is sort of ceiling for most IC roles in terms of base.
Idk why people over hype the wearing many hats at startups as their usp ..Lot of those hats are shit and not valuable for long term growth unless you want to be an entrepreneur..
Can you elaborate? Not everything has to be about growth. Sometimes it's about learning about the overall system, having fun, etc.
I understand where Google is coming from. I spent several years in startups in my early career and wore many hats, worked across different technologies. This has given me a lot of breadth in technological systems. This skill is suited for other startups. However, in a FANG, I find myself outclassed compared to others who focused on depth and did one thing. While my skillset is wide enough to find myself a job anywhere it limits my growth potential in a FANG. Now I wish I had focused on a specific area earlier in my career. In the end it’s situational I guess. Because I was never worried during the layoffs since I knew I’ll land on my feet. But now I feel like I am quite behind my peer group.
Most startups don't have huge exits. This doesn't change in the US either. You're comparison 2 different types of companies. What are you talking about?
You are much more likely to end up in a better position in US startup, be it superior market, or whatever their upside is anyways much more than Indian cos.
Do you have any metrics to prove so? Most employees of most startups in the US don't have any upside as very few ever have an exit.
Following
You saved 20x because of higher level & TC than the previous years and earning in $. Not because every start up is bad and every big company is great. Almost everyone I know has made a disproportionately high % of their NW in the last few years. That's just how compounding and career growth works.
Indian startups don’t do well as frequently as some of the west ones tbh. I see OP’s point.
Maybe those 8 yrs gave you the experience you needed to get that 500k tc over here
nah, many of us got that tc without working at startups or anything special
My point is that those 8 years weren’t a total waste if they did help him land a high tc later on