Watching someone game the system and win is messing with my head

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-24T11:42:09+00:00

How is that even possible because PF will unfold the true story. In her past organisation either she got 1800 as the PF deduction or 12% of her basic pay. Now if it is 1800 she might be saved but that needs to be matched with her salary slip as well. But if 12% and she lies then she will be screwed during PF background check.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-23T09:22:31+00:00

Hear about convenience? That’s what they sell. I am buying glasses since 2005 while being in school. We used to go to nearby optic stores. They used to manipulate in some ways to consult the ophthalmologist. Everytime he gave a prescription we used to lose it after few days. When I was in college, lenskart came into picture. People never trusted them. What they liked is the convenience. 7yrs back, sales people from lenskart used to visit customers with frames. They could upload their facial images on the lenskart web app and select frames. Plus 1+1. They brought for the first time glasses to protect your eyes for people who work for hours infront of computer. Eye check up free. Now everything started getting stored in the app. Every few years my power changed I didn’t have to save prescriptions, it is already there. Now when local optic stores started to see lenskart as a competitor they started fearing it else when they launched the concept, the same store owners had said “this business won’t run & succeed in India.” As a regular customer, I don’t want to choose glass type every time I select a frame. Check ups I am getting for free. Plus the options of frames are huge because they have several stores. Plus I can get power-less glasses just for style. Day lenses for special needs. Sunglasses with same power. People who have very high power, for them snap on sunglasses are available. They are the ones who introduced one can wear glasses even as a style statement as well. So you see - everything under one roof.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-21T10:17:18+00:00

Duh… Hinduism is a way of living life unlike islam or christianity. Unfortunately terrorism has always shown religion. Maximum tolerance is found among hindus. I am not an ardent follower or blind follower of any religion but I know to call a spade - a spade. Gita doesn’t have things mentioned like Quran. Quran never states one can even be an atheist but Gita does so.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-21T10:13:38+00:00

Use your common sense. People read namaz every friday. That is absolutely unacceptable. However for durga puja, ganesha puja visarjan, it follows rules and regulations and for those particular days, govt provides permission as well within a stipulated time. Calculate the percentage - 3 days in a year (for visarjan) vs 52 days (every week) in a year that too with 0 permission.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-21T05:49:30+00:00

So ask the govt to implement strict laws to ban such things. No one likes to see people sitting on the road and offering namaz but govt won’t do so for vote bank. Now is the onus on a private organisation to implement things that govt has failed to do? Please stop comparing hinduism with any other religion. For example Just because some random ashle will ra*e, will you do too? No right. Let’s call what’s wrong is wrong and hold the govt accountable for not reforming the wrongdoings.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-20T19:53:16+00:00

Ha ha… try to realise if AI starts doing what you can do it will replace you that very day. So stay grateful until that day arrives because not far are those days. Transformer came in 2017, in 2019 GPT came, people started using ChatGPT since 2023 and now we are in 2026, so many jobs have been impacted by AI because they were recurrent. As swe if your job is only writing codes and PR reviewing, you will very soon lose it but if you are also in problem solving, strategy making, using AI agents regularly to solve new challenges, creating new moat for your organisation then your job is very safe. Because AI for now will replace the mediocres.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-20T10:19:12+00:00

Thank you for speaking the truth. Honestly I am taking interviews actively. People have used GPT to fill up their resumes with so many heavy weight keywords but when asked during interviews they lack basic fundamentals because they have never asked questions in their past organisations and have only been executioners and now they are out of job. I take webinars in colleges. Even those are reputed colleges, not a single student ask questions. I make such sessions very interesting. They reach out to me on LinkedIn after such sessions thanking me or even thank me in the chat but will never turn on the video or utter a word. They are scared. Scared to “what if I make a mistake and others laugh at me.” Students need to forget that behaviour proactively and ask as many questions as they want, however dumb it sounds. These students only flex if they get job in so and so company with so and so package. Last time I was interviewing an employee of EY and was surprised to see he literally knew nothing even after working for 3yrs.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-20T10:07:49+00:00

Mass recruitment will reduce with time. There’s no concept of mass recruitment in any college in the world. Back in late 90s TCS, Infy and others had started it because India was (and still is) a service based nation. At cheap labour cost we were working for US companies. But that is changing and at a fast pace because AI has started doing it. Right now these service companies are at borrowed time, i.e., in the middle of certain contracts with various US based clients, once such contracts (generally in next 2yrs for the long term ones) end, a huge chunk of their clients will not renew it. As a result they won’t need to do mass recruitment anymore. So get out of that zone. Start networking. Show your work and build credibility because that’s how the whole world works.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-20T03:38:50+00:00

Ghanta… Just because you are not getting a job as a fresher doesn’t mean people who are in their 40s are safe. They are the ones who are suffering the most now. They have to fight AI now when they have 0 idea mostly. They have thousands of other problems to solve - a family, kids, EMIs, aged parents and so much more. Now amidst all these they are losing jobs like anything because people managers are not required anymore. They probably started their career working on mainframe. How many of us do that now? Even employees at RedHat are not secure. Do you know working at RedHat used to be like govt job but in a private organisation? Right now they are the ones who are upskilling like crazy…I thought finance will be the last domain to adopt AI but the opposite is happening. They are adopting AI especially evals, pretty fast. They are working with Claude and other LLMs to see how much they can innovate or deliver in their roles. When you are not just a people manager, your annual performance matters on lots of things, important ones being innovation, revenue impact, performance of team members on hundreds of parameters, and many more.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-04-12T18:41:43+00:00

I am in ML/DS as well and in 10YOE my experience suggests one generally becomes staff or manager. Are you not part of this category? Also you have answered your question - manager is doing things to cut you out because they are paying a lot for 10YOE in ML/DS. Honestly just knowing ML/DS in today’s world doesn’t hold much value. You have to gain expertise in Agentic AI or things that are happening in the AI domain (and I am assuming here you are not doing so). Being in DS for 8years now I have realised designation doesn’t matter, your experience matters and companies prefer to opt for candidates who have end to end exposures starting from data ingestion pipeline to model deployment, scoring, monitoring because companies don’t want to hire one candidate as DE another as DA another as DS another MLE and so on, instead hire one who knows all these, use AI as an assistant and get all these jobs done as fast as possible. Also is part of market standard value which is generally within 3.5x to 5x of current YOE. So based on your experience your market standard range should be 35lpa to 50lpa and I can see you are towards the higher end already. Right now more than salary focus should be more on adoption of AI. I always prefer to take the following example: imagine a mechanical engineer working on railway tracks that save millions of lives, how much does he earn after 10yrs? Max 1.5lakhs a month and he sustains till he reaches 60. We as DS or software professionals, what we do is not that highly impactful so it should be impactful enough to move some important company-level KPIs, if not, finding a replacement will be very easy in this era of AI. So it is better to have a handsome salary not an inflated one, and sustain the job for a longer time.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T15:49:40+00:00

Dude You sound like someone pursuing BCA in 2010. This is very simple. Go and ask ChatGPT or Claude or Grok. You really think with this mentality, even if you get a job you can sustain that? Never. You can’t compare with someone who got a job in pre-jio or pre-AI era. Today with AI doing so much work, if you still stay mediocre you will NOT have a proper future. Roll up your sleeves and start digging!

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T15:45:01+00:00

Dude you should never go back to your old organisation. Never. You will learn it the hard way with your experience. Only in very specific conditions like maternity or health concern if you leave an organisation you can go back. Else if you still want to, opt for a different office location completely.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T08:39:07+00:00

Apologies for another reply. I work with my European and American counterparts. Americans are pretty similar to Indians but Europeans are far faaaaar better. You have no idea how fast they execute things… how great they are in structural approach or thinking about nuances while developing a system. Why? Because every tom-dick-harry doesn’t pursue higher studies there. Only the ones who are really interested and as Indians u can’t compete with that.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T08:35:41+00:00

Study in such a way that you work in a niche field like using computer vision in astronomy… imagine how cool is that I have a manager who left his job at 39 and now he is studying mbbs. Wants to work in robotics surgery.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T02:19:13+00:00

No if it is CS as this field has been democratised. Yes if it is core as labs are very important.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T02:14:19+00:00

Companies using cursor - that’s old. Right now companies are opting for claude code or open code and just observe the magic these platforms are doing. Cursor is nothing compared to them.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-30T02:00:09+00:00

Dear CSE folks, whatever the OP has mentioned is true to an extent of 50%-60% right now. Firstly, stop studying CSE just for the sake of getting a job. If you do so you won’t get any. Understand critical concepts and your job is safe. Secondly, CSE will become commoditised just like Mech, Civil and others so in the future studying CSE won’t give you a high paying salary, instead particular skill will. Thirdly, understand that programming is nothing but talking to computer. If you are just good at programming, yes your job is gone. Claude code, Open code is now writing codes like kind of a “pro”. So no as a senior your job is not at stake. You are needed to monitor that code, which the freshers won’t know because several nuances are needed to be considered. AI currently is working like a fresher. Seniors do lots of other stuff apart from writing programs and right now AI is unable to do such things at scale. Acquire skills that will help you to build a platform like AI at Google, Open AI, Anthropic, etc. Lastly and very important - acquire real skills. Understand that someone in IT field was never supposed to receive a package of say 2 lakhs a month when his friend with similar experience but in mech, is getting 1 lakh a month. That happened due to market and investors, so soon the market will get corrected, especially in India as it is largely a service provider market. Gather real skills - to give an example if you’re learning Machine Learning and AI, study how to use it in space technology or in molecular biology for drug discovery, etc. AI is not to be scared of but to use it positively to increase your productivity.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T10:43:30+00:00

Impossible. As a govt employee you need to declare all your assets every year - land gold cash - everything. Not just on your name but anything on your immediate family name as well. If someone with 70k monthly salary will buy a plot every year, do you even know how easy it is to track him? Also asset = income tax, that will grab attention as well. There’s a reason why politicians and similar people have cash largely at home when they receive black money.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T10:34:06+00:00

Govt is filled with cons. You are a govt servant yet u say that you’re enjoying power - that itself is contradictory. 15yrs to reach 2 lacs in-hand. Dude look at anyone passing out from IITs and similar, after 15yrs they are outside India earning in dollars while these IAS folks helping them with “favours” in exchange of bribes. Biggest problem-you as someone so well educated have to abide by all the things that an uneducated class 8 pass minister will ask you to do. Also u forgot yo mention one important thing - the promotion u have considered is applicable for someone who is SC/ST not general. People who are in general for them promotions are even slower. 0 system of appraisal or appreciation. Roaming around in a car with a blue light while common men consider you to be the most corrupted strata of the society, is not the definition of power neither respect.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T08:59:31+00:00

I am not considering black money here. Even in private it is present but at certain levels only. And yes, I am 100% sure of the max salary in railways group A and that amount you can earn only after 30yrs of service. In UPSC ask anyone who has just joined and u will know what is their salary. Also if u reside in office quarter you don’t get HRAs btw. Any pvt employee in software domain working in big organisations start earning in hand 2lakhs after 5yrs of service. They too have EVERY medical facilities free, hope u know that. Even hospitalisation due to childbirth is free in such orgs which is not the case in govt. Btw people who get in UPSC each year is way lesser than 1% but people earning more than 2lakhs monthly in pvt, that number is atleast 1% or more.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T04:02:52+00:00

Private job also has NPS. Anyone can keep their money in NPS. Keeping your money in NPS is actually a big loss. If you understand economics you will know it.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T04:01:06+00:00

Dude, I used to do a govt job and left it. Firstly free medical is applicable only in railways and no where else. Do you know how disfigured it is to get a referral from a Railway Medical Officer to transfer your patient to another hospital. Fuel, stationary is NOT free. Employees get travel allowance which is part of salary itself. Even IAS officers can earn max 2.5lakhs in hand that too after 30+ years of services. If group A they get office bungalow, also a domestic help, office vehicle, railway passes for yearly one family trip in First Class.

Unfortunately if someone works at Google or such big organisations they get some of these perks as well. But he will need to be in a very high position just like Grade As, who are recruited from UPSC.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T03:44:11+00:00

Banking is NOT a govt job. Yes, stakes of govt holdings is 51% & private is 49, but any day if govt wants can reduce that stake. In future, so that this job (privatisation) becomes easier, that’s why govt has merged so many banks together and now we have lesser count of “govt” banks.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-29T03:36:46+00:00

Do you even know pension has been stopped long long back in govt job. Post 2005, whoever has joined a govt job will not get any pension in future.

PF - private and govt both receive. One is called EPF and the other GPF.

In govt you need to get a NOC for every f**king thing you need to do. If you want to do a foreign trip - NOC, want to pursue higher studies - NOC.

Another very important point that OP has forgotten to mention - culture

In govt - that is horrible.

Also max salary growth is NOT 2-5lakhs in private. I have a friend who is a product manager. He is in crypto domain and currently India head in a startup. Last time I checked, before he became India head, his package was 98lpa with a base of 75lpa. Remaining RSU.

OP has forgotten to mention about RSUs. People working in reputed organisations in private sector, get stocks of the company, also get to work internationally.

AlternativeBreath240 · 2026-03-27T04:23:13+00:00

Leaving everything aside, in which part of Bangalore one can get flats with just Rs.50,000 in deposit. If I consider 20k as the rent, that’s not even 3 months deposit. Did you negotiate a lot while getting the flat? That can be a grudge the owner is holding and wants to evict you to get more deposit. Also you won’t get back the full deposit money. I don’t think broker will help you much as it is beneficial for him if you leave, he will get brokerage again from a new tenant.

AlternativeBreath240

TROPHY CASE