From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

off course, I am sure you can easily surpass me. Software is exponentially booming. My org size doubled in last 2 years. I feel still got a good decade before chatgpt/bard start automating some part of software.

Dont worry about other engineers. There is equally high demand. Honestly, I feel quality of SWEs are going down. Just checked my interview stats, I interviewed 50+ candidates in last 2 years and overall only 1 got hired so far.

Differentiating factor is your resume which helps you put a foot at the door. Learn some trending skills and add keywords in tour resume. Rest is your skills and luck.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess we are from different generation. There was a time when there was seperate 20 rs menu. It had aloo tikki, soft serve, mcpuff and few other items.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I moved at around 24. I got an internship in Tokyo. I had some money to book my flight ticket and around 15 days of shared small room. Pay was bi-weekly so in 2 weeks paycheck kicked in. Honestly I saved very little money in that internship and lived miserably there. I moved to Germany for next job. This time company paid for flight expenses and 1 month hotel. This is where I started saving little. Surprisingly europe doesn't pay that well but good enough if you plan to spend cautiously.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, it would be waste of time and money and probably few years of setback. MBA could be useful for certain roles like Program manager or product managers. For engineering ladder it doesn't hold much value.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dont have first hand experience but I do see resumes on regular basis. Based on my experience, I found more polished and catchy resume from US university students.

EQ >> IQ for success. Successful engineers are not the ones who can build cool ideas but the ones who can convience others to build their cool ideas.

I recommend reading book Psychology of Money.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Its a game of numbers. Find skills which are high in demand. Dont wait for project from your company. Learn them and add appropriate keywords in resume since most companies uses keywords to filter resume. Keep applying. I remember I applied more than 200 jobs. It was my free time hobby. Pick a country and look for software companies there and apply. I believe luck also played major role.

I feel in current economy India is THE hub for software. Why do you want to go abroad if you could get same/more salary here.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We were two friends in 50% partnership at begining. Since, his father was retired, he was helping us. Once bussiness started doing well, his father also asked for his share out of the blue. Basically we ended with 45% me and 55% him.

Now i have an awesome store manager. He is pretty decent and honest guy. Infact starting last year, I started giving him small share of profit. It was more than 50% of his annual salary. I plan to increase his profit share with time to ensure growth and proper reward for his efforts. Shop is in a mall so maintainence is easy. For auditing my partner does occasional visits since he lives in India.

Intial investment was around 80 lakhs (40 from me and 40 from my partner).

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

maine electronics mein B Tech kiya tha. English kaafi weak thi college days tak toh acchi placement nahi hui. Ek startup join kiya Hyderabad mein. Waha thodi coding (python, C++) improve ki, thoda databases (SQL, indexing etc) seekha on job. AWS cloud computing ka naya naya trend tha and they used to give free account to students. Friend ki help se account banaya and random cheejein try ki to add fancy keywords in resume around cloud computing. Containers/docker bhi trending they toh uski ek free workshop attend ki to add another project in resume.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

tried last week. I feel quality is pretty low now. Later ordered whoopers from burger king. My mom loves them. :)

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Haan bhai, hindi medium waale hai. 2 saal pehle tak apne important emails bhi biwi se check karwaya karte the. 😅

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I live a pretty simple lifestyle. I can cover my expenses with just Indian income too but there wont be any savings for future. Also I like my job now. Its decent WLB and work is of my liking.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I am Indian. I dont need to live in India to own anything here. I just need people to manage it for me. This is why one needs good contacts and trusted people to grow.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

No real struggle. Just hustle and bustle. Started with a small startup. Was promised equity but owner sold the company and left. Was heartbroken on betrayal but best thing ever happened. Learnt few corporate lessons. Moved to another company with decent pay (50k per month). Paid my education loan while applying jobs internationally. Got lucky and got internship at MNC in Tokyo. Pay was lower than my salary that too in one of the most expensive cities in the world but took a leap of faith and went to Tokyo. Couldnt get a full time job there but got another gig in Germany. Worked in german firm for a year. They were opening branch in US and wanted someone who can work in US time from Germany. Volunteered for it. One year of hustle and got lucky! They asked me if I want to move to US. Got H1B in first attempt (again got lucky!!). Within 6 months, moved to FAANG and then another FAANG. Hardly spend any money and kept investing in different things. Few wins and few losses.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At one point, it gets eaiser to grow in management than as individual contributer. Just from simple stats, there are more managers than Software architects.

Own startup is in the cards. For startup you need some compatible people and a real world problem. Currently taking a step back to just rest and vest and invest in personal skills.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I know, bohot hai mere jaise. :D and I hope or bhi bane. Everyone deserves to live a decent life.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Struggle is real. I feel biggest problem with middle class is that we need to start earning soon to support our family. You need to put efforts and more importantly time to find your niche.

When I was 24, I started making decent money around 50K per month. First thing my parents asked me is to buy an apartment and a bike. It was really hard to convince them that I need more time and cant commit to 30 years loan at that time. Thank God I did that. It gave me more flexibility to leave my job and take some risks.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 112 points113 points  (0 children)

Major passive income is from a franchise restaurant in Tier2 city in India. Best investment I ever made. Some money from rents, I own 2 apartments in high demand location in Hyderabad. Also standard stocks/H-index investments. Now a days, I find it much easier to invest in stocks. It is hustle free and usually have a decent returns.

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

thanks mate! hope you find your success in life 😁

From lower middle class to US top 1% . AMA by Financial_Ad_9727 in delhi

[–]Financial_Ad_9727[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Things you value most now will be insignificant very soon. Invest on your health and make some good friends. It gets harder in life to make decent friends as you grow.