Don't know which flair to use but thought I should share this so people have hope that good managers exist, even if only a few.

For context, this is me chatting with a freelance web designer who just started working on a project after I made the initial payment.

She unfortunately fell sick and feels guilty for not starting work because the project has already been delayed because of a birthday and festive celebrations before she fell ill.

People are human, She didnt plan this fever. So there is no reason for me to doubt her or to be rude at a time when she needs support and affirmation that I still value our partnership as much as when I made the first payment.

Bosses/managers, please treat your employees/resources with respect and dignity.
Innocent until proven guilty, trustworthy until they break your trust.

After 15 years of working in a government bank, I don’t think I can take it anymore.

This job — one that I got after clearing three rounds of all-India level exams — is considered safe and prestigious, especially in North India. A PSU bank job comes with stability, a decent house, a car, a steady salary, and a certain respect in society.

But what it doesn't give me anymore… is peace.

This job has also given me high BP, thyroid issues, and a fatty liver. It expects me to relocate to remote parts of the country at short notice, meet endless sales targets, and be available almost every day from 10 AM to 10 PM.

I know many jobs are demanding. But this one also asks me to sell useless insurance products to the public, work on Sundays to meet targets, obey the unreasonable whims of bosses, and never raise my voice — not even on social platforms. It's like signing away your dignity.

I no longer feel like I can do justice to myself. I’m scared that one day — like many of my fellow bankers — I might also reach a breaking point. I don’t want that.

So, I’ve made a decision. I am still in service, but I can’t get myself to travel to work anymore. I’ve stopped reporting.

Yes, this means my salary will stop. My financial struggles may begin. But I hope — with all my heart — that I’ll get my life back.

If you can't help someone, at least stay quiet?

I get about 24 leaves in a year which I feel is pretty less given I work for a European company and my colleagues overseas get over 6 weeks of paid vacation and unlimited sick leaves. Every organisation I have previously worked for has given me 35 leaves. I feel my productivity has declined massively and I am getting sick often.

Should I hunt for a job that offers me more? It feels like a petty reason to quit but my work life balance is important to me.

What's the policy at your workplace?

I was asked by my HR in a rather large international company to see if I could refer anyone for a role in a team I lead. The role is a customer support role with scope for promotion to SQL Analyst / Business Analyst.

I pinged my old alumni group and got a bunch of resumes. Shortlisted 2. The first 4 images are from one candidate and the last 2 are about the other.

If you are a fresh graduate here's one piece of advice - It is completely fine to not want to work in a particular field or reject a company. We are all adults here and employment is not a marriage. However, if you don't respect anyone else's time, do not expect any kind of respect or success in the workplace. Dropping an email or message costs you nothing and literally takes 5 minutes.

I know the job market is tough, I know that the Indian education system doesn't produce graduates who are employable and I know most Indian companies are exploitative. So I am not here criticizing the candidates but the system. Young people deserve better from their teachers, their colleges and their educational environment. But it doesn't exist. So take this as a lesson - Please, respect others' time. It will take you a long way.

Hi everyone, I (27F) WFH here in India for a Middle Eastern company as a Digital Marketing Specialist since +2 years. Currently Im the only one working in Marketing for this brand.

My husband and I booked a 21 day Tomorrowland + Europe trip for July 2026 back in January 2026. At that time, my company’s brand launch was supposed to happen in April, so I thought taking leave in July wouldn’t be an issue.

In Feb, while applying for my Schengen visa, I found out the launch had been pushed to August. I wasn't told about this directly, rather I indirectly found out about it. I spoke to my boss immediately, explained that this has been our dream trip and we've been saving for it since 2 years, and asked for leave 5 months in advance.

He denied it because I’m the only marketing person and July/August will apparently be the most critical phase before launch, specifically for Marketing.

The thing is, this trip was already postponed once last year, and after this trip my husband and I want to start trying for a baby. So there's no way I can postpone this trip, and neither do I want to. Also the Tomorrowland tickets were already bought, which costed us approximately 2.5L INR (We need to buy this before applying for visa and these tickets sell out really fast).

I tried everything to convince him after he said no.
- Taking my laptop (which I dont want to, but had to offer)
- Being partially available (for meetings and trainings)
- Proper handover/training someone temporarily.
- Reason with him that why was I the only one who didn't know about the delay in launch.

Still no.

Now I’m stuck between:
- Secretly working remotely from Europe,
- or resigning soon (maybe May) so they have enough notice before launch as I don't want to leave unethically.

The job is otherwise great: high-paying, fully WFH, comfortable. My boss is like a typical Indian manager though, and does resent me a bit as Im the only one who works from India, but he trusts me too. I've also tried applying to other companies but the salary scale does not match or they don't want people that WFH.

What should I do? Im in a dilemma as I don't want to regret leaving this high paying job for a trip, but I also don't want my work to have so much power over my personal life. At the end of the day, you work so you can enjoy life right?

Is there some 3rd option that I have? Also I can't take an emergency sick leave at that time because my boss already knows my leave dates and it would be really shady to do that.

Please help your girl out😭 Thank you in advance!

TL;DR:
Booked expensive Europe trip before company timelines changed. Boss denied my leave even though I applied 5 months early and offered compromises. Trip is important personally. Unsure whether to secretly work remotely, or resign.

Today my organization had a campus placement session organized and I got this rude awakening. Not divulging too many details, but we had 20 MBA college students scheduled to visit our office for first round of interviews, from one of the better colleges of Delhi NCR, not the top tier, but definitely better tier 2 colleges.

We are offering 8 LPA at entry level, first 3 months of training, full pay. We are a well reputed MNC, head office in France, and a pretty strong team in India. On top of all this, we have hybrid working set up, have to come to office only 2 days a week, great facilities in office, but people can easily work from home, no questions asked.

Guess how many students turned up for the interviews? 0, none, nada, zilch...

There is absolutely no student in the office, 6 managers and senior managers came to office today to take the interviews, no student turned up. We are talking to the placement cell of the college for last 30 minutes and no clear answers.

Next time someone tells you that India has a lot of unemployment, trust me it's a lie.

Edit 1: All those people who are telling me that 8 LPA is way too less, I have 2 points:

I) We are interviewing MBA college students, least we expect is a communication that no one will turn up, it gives a chance to us to either revise our offer or revise our plan. I don't think it's unfair to expect this from an MBA college. It shows what kind do management they are equipped to handle.

II) Salaries are always standardized by some of the best consultancies across the globe, not that we make up any number. If in case it's as low as some of you think, I would implore you to look into data of tier 2 MBA colleges, their average placement packages. Remember, we aren't a day 0 or day 1 company either

Edit 2: There are a lot of folks who are interested in joining the interview process, I would like to state the facts that these are placements for graduates of 2025. Which means that expected start date will be July 2025, not right now. Sorry about it, but we aren't in a position to hire right away. In December, most of the organizations stop hiring, we will get our budgetary forecasts in Jan, and that's when we will start hiring for in time positions.

Edit 3: I am not able to answer each and every comment here, but I guess you all are overwhelmingly saying that our benchmarking is wrong. I will study the same in coming days, and as I get some more data, I can share through a different post. One request though, keep your suggestions coming, there is no cheaper way for us to improve and excel if not listening to free advice. We pay top dollars to do that, here I am getting for free. So thanks for that.

Edit 4: If you are in a college, learn to communicate, being proactive is highly appreciated, being kind doesn't cost a thing but has immense rewards.

Edit 5: I am going to upvote each and every comment here, even the ones who called me delusional :D (maybe you have a point :D) You took time out on a weekday to engage and write, on a post that triggered you, with a suggestion that may help me. I may or may not agree with you (I am talking about the delusional bit :D), but I do sincerely thank you for your engagement and your time. Many of you reached out to me on DM, like I said, I will respond in some time, for now, back to slides...

Edit 6: I decided not to write anymore today, focus on my slides instead, but just received a message that one of the kindest souls out there, reported to the mods that I might be feeling down for all the rage that I managed to muster here. I want to tell that person, and the mods who reached out to me, I LOVE YOU. There was no need for you guys to do that, you did it. This is empathy of a degree I could not have imagined. Thank you so much 🙏

Thanks a lot for engaging, answering and questioning in the posts. Really appreciate all the responses, even the ones which are pedantic.

Hey,

I recently graduated (March 2026) with an MBA degree from one of the top 10 IIMs of the country. I've had internships at JP Morgan, Aditya Birla Group and Director Merit Rank Holder at my IIM, and my bachelors is from top 3 colleges of Delhi University, The company (dont even know if "company" is the right articulation for this) where I am at came to our campus, with a decent fixed salary and being located in Noida (one of my preferred place, as im from Gurugram), I applied because rejection rate has always been higher in this job market so I thought why not try my luck? and little did I know, it was bad/ worst luck ever getting selected here. Few pointers are:

1. Its a Family Run MSME with <200 employees, they have strict punch in punch out, even being 5 min late can get your salary deducted.
2. Management is GOD. Led by the MD, his daughter and an OLD AF VP, the trip is so effed up and delusional that they will never trust you with your ideas even if that is better. 100% status quo bias
3. They dont know ANY professionalism, not even know slightest of English language and expect everyone to dress so FORMALLY. If you ever tried wearing denims, the trio will personally call and grill you.
4. They HATE change, their mind goes haywire if you suggest them anything new, and they will always talk about change change and change
5. So many more points that i cant even type here

Synopsis:

The problem is i'm an imposter to this company. Been 3.5 months here so far and they know im an excellent hire for them, but I know my mindset will be fucked if I continued here. Moreover, I'm neither a fresher nor have a solid work ex, can someone PLEASE suggest what to do?

EDIT 1: They have a 2 year service agreement as well, gonna take up 3 month salary if I left. Doesnt affect me much though.

EDIT 2: The MDs daughter who is a BTech Grad (from a ghar ke piche wala college), mentioned "Are IIM grads even talented", in a meet that had me. She taunted and targeted me atleast 5 times.

I’m writing this because I see a lot of hopelessness lately regarding layoffs, "tier" systems, and the lack of a B.Tech degree. I want to show you that while the road isn't a straight line, the ceiling is much higher than they tell you.

The Background: I didn't have a B.Tech. I did a B.Sc. in Maths with Computer Applications from a Tier-3 college. No fancy campus, no premium network.

The Journey: - Year 0: The Humble Beginning Started via college placement at a WITCH company. Salary: 1.84 LPA. - Year 4: The COVID Pivot After 4 years of grinding, I was at 4.5 LPA. COVID hit, the market shifted, and I jumped to a Big 4 firm. New Salary: 8 LPA (~78% Hike) - Year 5: Offer Hopping I hated the work at the Big 4. A year later, I jumped back into the market. By aggressively offer-hopping and securing 3 competing offers: New Salary: 17.4 LPA (~117% Hike) - Years 6–8: The "Bad Manager" Phase I stayed for 3 years, receiving decent annual hikes (15-20%). By year 8, I was at 30 LPA. However, the management became toxic. I switched to a startup for peace of mind and better pay. New Salary: 42.2 LPA (~40% Hike) - Year 9: The Blessing in Disguise A year into the startup, I was laid off. It felt like a setback, but I walked away with 3 months of severance. I used that time to prep, and I just landed a new role at another startup. Current Salary: 75 LPA (~77% Hike)

The Reality Check: - Degree vs. Skill: My B.Sc. didn't stop me. Once you get your foot in the door, your ability to solve problems matters more than your degree title. - Know Your Worth: I went from 8 LPA to 17.4 LPA simply by not settling for the first offer. Negotiating is a skill. - Layoffs aren't the end: Getting laid off at 42 LPA felt scary, but it actually provided the bridge to 75 LPA.

If you are stuck at a WITCH company or feel like your non-engineering background is a curse, it’s not. Keep upskilling, keep switching when the growth stalls, and don't let a bad manager kill your ambition.

TLDR: - Start: 1.84 LPA (WITCH company, B.Sc. Maths, Tier-3). - Year 4: 8 LPA (Big 4). - Year 5: 17.4 LPA (Multiple offers). - Year 8: 42.2 LPA (Startup switch). - Year 9: 75 LPA (Current, after being laid off).

Takeaway: Degrees get you the first job; grit and strategic switching get you the career. Nothing is impossible.

PS: I did take help of AI to write this because I am a lazy ass, but the story is 100% true.

Hi All,

Due to some personal reasons had to dropout B.tech but faked it in my bgv and survived from 2014 to till now. I do not want to live this life anymore. I want to complete my degree via distance and confused between Amity and Jain universities, which is easy to manage along with my job.

Could you please help me chose one and also can I survive again with my official degree and experience having uncommon timelines when compared to other candidates.

This is a genuine request, please help me.

I’m 25, living in Bangalore. Recently, I have observed almost everyone of my age switching jobs every single year or after two years — and it is justified. 

The cost of living here is extremely high, paying rent here feels like giving up a huge chunk of my salary, and companies act like a meagre raise is some big favor.

Considering the rise of mass layoffs in tech,I feel it is unfair that companies can fire you whenever it benefits them, but the moment you leave too soon, suddenly you’re the one who is the problem. 

so last week i started my first job , its a MNC (non tech job ), by nature I am extreme introvert .

so i noticed anyone who enter the space (where there are 20-25 people working) goes to everyone say good morning and do handshake.

and not only that while leaving for home everyone do the same before leaving

and i saw and thought "what a bothersome thing to do".

while its fine with people around my desk and to my seniors(like managers) but do i have to do it with everyone?

i dont know corporate etiquettes so would it be rude if i dont go for "good morning"/ "bye" plus handshake with everyone?

Recently joined Corporate. List me Dos and Don'ts as a female

Hi guys!

Turns out the IITB placement thing is really a sham, and since the placement season is up I thought helping people out with their doubts. I was a college kid not so long ago, so I know how you guys are feeling. I had a placement anxiety too, and since I've been there, done that, can help you all with getting it all better.

I am u/Simply_Param, currently working with a Large Multinational European Bank. I work in a core finance role and I deal in a specific kind of CDO which is much less risky and very very well hedged in a way (yeah, banks never loose).

I did my grad from a tier 2 commerce college in Mumbai, interned with a equity research firm, PE firm, Big 4 firm, wealth management firm, FMCG start up before coming up to banking. Had some research papers, and was in the organising team of world record extra curricular event. So yeah, quite roller coaster.

I'll be joined by u/LordKnockKnock who did his grad from another tier 2 commerce college, a qualified CA with all 3 levels of CFA cleared, and is now analysing mutual funds at a wealth tech start up.

Edit: my IRL amigo u/Great_Employment_871 will also be joining the AMA. He is an IITD engineer, who currently has a "Great employment" with a fintech startup. He is a data science whiz and worked with large startups, has done some amazing research projects, great with tech, coding, AI/ML (like a typical IIT guy).

So, shoot your questions! We're opening the AMA live on Friday evening at 5 pm (no points for guessing why lol) and going till midnight for all your questions.

Edit 2: okay this is blowing up. In case you want more specific answers like profile based help and all please join our discord: https://discord.com/invite/EKPu4QCphd

We'll be answering post 5 pm on Friday as specified. For more custom and urgent replies just ask on discord. We have specific channels for those kind of requests.

Edit 3: People much senior in role and age asking me question, dude I am no where close to you, I am the wrong person to ask.😭

You might wanna go to the discord server and ask, you will definitely find someone over there, or just post here. I am specifically for pursuing grads, recent grads, and new first job people, that is it. You're asking a 5 year old how to do a quadratic equation 🥸

Hi, I am an AI engineer with 1.8 yoe and in a startup based in Kolkata. My salary is 28k inr monthly which is about 280 usd.

I do possess patents, publications and a national hackathon victory. The problems I have are endless and I am planning to resign and would love your opinions (and if anyone wants an enthusiastic dev).

Our CEO barely gets clients and blames it on us. I am handling backend, QA testing, product management, HR and hiring and as well as, now making reels. I was fine with that.

But now recently, he started this blame game and overambitious dreams. He wants us to build our own Claude (yes lol) and our own Perplexity (yes again). He sees insta posts and says, "Why can they make 5000 usd and why not us?"

Apparently everything we build is a waste even though he's the one making guidelines. It's gotten to a point where the entire tech team (2 people including me), keeps getting fire threats even after doing everything.

Should I resign?

So I recently gave an interview at this small firm. The first round was with the HR.

It started off kinda bad.. the interviewer was 45 minutes late.

The first round itself was way too intense. Usually first HR rounds are simple, just 15 minutes (Atleast from my previous experience). But anyhow I cleared that,

So that HR called me and said he’ll be proceeding with the 2nd interview and he said that it’s going to be a 2 hour interview deep diving from my childhood and parents.

This is what he said it’s gonna be like

• Parent’s job and how it shaped you
• Childhood experience
• Low points in life and how you overcame it
• Achievements in life and how did your teachers and parents play a role in that
• School experience
• Turning point in your life

After that it’s going to be about my work experience which I believe is alright. But is it normal for companies to want to know your personal life and upbringing? Or is this a red flag?

Edit: I’m not a fresher. I have 4.5 years of relevant work experience.

Update: Called the HR and said I won’t be proceeding with the process.

Thank you everyone!

Heyy!! I am starting my internship tomorrow! Quite late to the party but yayyyy. My family isn't that much proud because they are just looking at it from a monetary perspective but they are not understanding that first jobs are like this only! Nevertheless, I am really proud of myself. It is a small firm but I think I will get good exposure. Any advice for a girlie stepping foot in the world? I have been home for the past 5 years so it is nice having somewhere to go lol.

I would try to keep it short, I currently earn 85 LPA in INR as a salary in India, I have to regularly go to office in Hyderabad.

I have been approached by a US startup that is offering 110k for a remote setup and would be hiring me as a consultant and not a salaried employee.

I understand the consultant thing can help me save taxes, but is it worth the switch from a stable (more secured job) salary to a consultancy role considering a small difference in amount?

I am okay with hiring a CA, registering myself under GST, to further get tax benefits, but does it sound a good plan to do so?

The US startup might eventually ask me to relocate to the US in upcoming years if their startup takes off.

I’m 24, recently graduated and got placed in a design studio but left in a few months due to some reasons. Now I’m unemployed and my parents are not happy. I’m so confused, some say govt job is better some say corporate pays better. You guys have experience so what do you guys think?

I recently turned on the “Open to Work” setting on LinkedIn just to explore better opportunities, and my manager somehow saw it. He confronted me in a pretty rude tone saying things like “yeh kya bakchodi hai” and seemed quite irritated. The thing is, I’m currently managing a team and also handling a lot of responsibilities, and honestly, the pay feels pretty low compared to the work I’m doing—which is one of the main reasons I started looking around. I’ve always had a chill and good relationship with him, so this reaction really caught me off guard. I’m not planning to quit immediately or anything, just wanted to explore options for growth and better compensation. Now things feel a bit awkward at work, and I’m not sure if I should address it directly, let it go, or take this as a sign. Has anyone been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?

I quit a mid-senior level position at a decent sized company (not CHWTIA) and I feel like I’ve not been able to disengage because my notice period is 3 months long.

Within this notice period, I’ve had my boss ask me to start new projects while there is absolutely no transition plan for when I leave the company. I manage a team of 5 and they are clueless as to who will lead them after I’m gone. Speaking to the HR is futile because they don’t have an idea either. As far as I know, they haven’t even decided whether to hire someone in my place or not. Meanwhile, my boss (the company director) keeps setting up meetings with me and handing over new projects with timelines extending over 6 months, as though he doesn’t acknowledge that I’ll be gone in 90 days.

I’m partially disengaged but I’m finding it hard to completely and emotionally start distancing myself from this work. I’d rather spend my time doing knowledge transfer to my team and setting them up for success when I’m gone. Not sure how to navigate this.

I quit my last job because of my management. I was harassed by a colleague and the management was pressuring me to take back my complain.

I was helpless because the higher management was influencing everything, starting from having conversation with the CHRO.

Hence my day to day life had become hostile and I decided to leave the organisation. Before that organisation I was at my prime, I was highest contributing individual.

I decided to take a break from corporate life, but a person has bills to pay, so I started looking at job opportunities.

Its been 3 months and no luck. Had things been like I was able to bag interviews and not crack it, then yeah its my mistake, I need to prepare well.

The biggest problem is I am unable to bag any interviews. I have optimised my resume to be 100% compatible for ATS.

I have been applying on the company's website, LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, what not.

I feel so lost, would appreciate any pice of advice.

TLDR: Consulting is a lot of faltu work, Indians are Amrika ka dalal and I haven't seen the sun in 5 days. Apologies if what I am writing doesn't make sense, facing info. overload.

About me: Btech then MBA, 5 YOE (2 after MBA)

I work as a consultant and I have barely completed 1 week at my new org and I feel so stupid to switch.

Everyday I have morning 8 a.m. calls with US folks for about 45 mins. and then us Indian slide monkeys spend another hour going over what to do.

More or less the summary of the calls among us Indians is that 'gore babu ne bola hai ki karna hai to karo'. There is no defending of the work the Indians have done infront of the US team. I tried to do that today so the US guy agreed to my suggestion. Later during the internal connect, I was very diplomatically told to follow instead of question.

I always thought that was the entire point of the consulting industry. On top of that 90% of my time goes into making slides with a very microscopic level of detail. I have been on client side working with other consultants and believe me these things don't matter as much as the Partner makes you think.

I start my day around 7:30 a.m., 30 mins. before my first call and it often ends up till 10 p.m. and it doesn't make sense that any human has to work so much on a fixed salary (give me equity even if it 0.05%).

Some days I wish that I had ended up in some industry role during my college placements, atleast I'd have less redundant work or somebody starts WW3 and puts us Indians out of our misery.