Last week I read an interesting question on Quora which was related to salary & growth of income of experienced IT professionals. The question is mentioned below:
Question:
Is there any software engineer who started at very less salary and now earns huge?
There were multiple answers to this question & few of them were really helpful & full of motivation. So if you are also looking for an answer to this question & need some motivation read the below answer & you will feel good.
Answer:
Intro & Occupation: Started off as a software engineer. Got into the entrepreneurship bandwagon. Currently owning two companies. Part of service industry as well as manufacturing health care products.
Education: Post graduate in computers.
Starting salary: Rs.3000/month (2001). Then to 4.25 CTC (2003). Doubled to a CTC of 9.5 (2009). Started off business ventures.
Current salary: Now having multiple incomes from different business ventures. Not sure about the real worth of companies.
Now the story line …
I guess I've taken a slightly different path than most of the people around here. I did a post graduation in computers. I flunked it and was in the league of least 10% of sixty students from a famous university.
2001 Dec - 2002 June
An intern with no salary working on simple MS Visual Basic applications. A time of regret for not performing well during post graduation.
2002 July - 2002 Nov
Software Developer earning Rs.3000/- per month which too they never paid on time. Left this job when it was too poisoning.
1 month I worked for a telemarketing company for daily wages of Rs.500/- thru an event management firm. I bought jeans for Rs.390/- and bought myself a chicken Biriyani after the first day of work. It was very satisfying. The food tasted so good. My boss was very happy about my work. I was happy too because it paid me money for having proper food. My boss hugged me once and said she had never met someone like me. She was very uncomfortable as I was over qualified for the job. I had not told them about my educational background as I wanted to earn. Later, after joining I had to tell them. But it helped me to realize I was different. I was welcomed at their home. Her family helped me out when I started a venture later.
3 months worked as a project coordinator for computer science students for their semester projects for a famous IT training institute in Bangalore. Handling 8 small projects but earning a bare minimum living. Had to fight with the owner of the company as he was not keen on giving me the salary. Finally, after helping the students finishing with their projects, I left the job. Two of them spoke to their parents and they gifted me Rs.5000/-.
I promised myself I would never work for a small place. I had no clue on how to handle the situation as I was jobless.
I was praying for a good job. After 9/11 & dot com burst world was still in a shock and Bangalore had very fewer chances for less experienced.
I was very unlucky too…
I managed all rounds of interviews for a famous IT company thru an employee referral scheme. But because of linguistical favoritism, the recruiting manager gave an opportunity to someone else. I came to know it thru the HR itself. I went to collect offer letter that day, where the HR itself was found upset over the issue as they had given a verbal confirmation including CTC. I just came out of that place and walked till the place of my stay (approx 10 km) because I had nothing else to do. I reached my place very tired and slept. Didn't eat for a day.
Another time, my college mates managed an opportunity with a company where there was a requirement for 4 people. They couldn't reach me on time as mobiles were not so common those days. All the three of them got thru. I was loosing hope….
I was trying hard for interviews and finally God’s grace, managed it at Dell.
2003 Dell - CTC of 4.25. My parents cried when they heard the news. My grandma was overjoyed. I was relaxed. Slept well.
2005 - Saved around 5 lakhs and started a side business and worked on it in the evenings and weekends.
2006 - business started returning the effort. Earned around 12 lakhs per year from my venture and 6 lakhs from Dell.
2008 - left the venture due to partnership issues.
2009 - joined Sun micro systems. CTC 9.5 lakhs
2009 - started off another business venture while working at Sun. Invested 30 lakhs taking personal loans and managing from savings. I used to shiver in fear because the amount was so huge for me. Everyone around me wanted me to buy a home and I was like putting all that I've into a business.
Worked day & night. My days used to start at 7 am at the office. I was awarded multiple times for performance. Business flourished. Used to go home only for sleeping. Got married and had our first baby too.
2010 - Rejected offers to travel abroad and decided to stay back in India for growing the businesses venture. Refused to travel after getting a US visa :). Yes, I did that. In 2001, I wanted to work abroad so badly. I used to go near departure of Bangalore airport (currently HAL airport) to see people traveling.
2010 - Left IT industry after a role change. I was unable to manage both job and the business venture.
2011 - Bought 50% partnership in a firm which required investment. Investment amount was 20 lakhs. My other venture was still growing but I was taking a salary of only 50k per month.
So a dip in monthly income but my capital left to grow at a good pace.
It was tough to meet household expenses during starting of these years. People around me started feeling unhappy about me leaving the IT industry. I had a hard time convincing everyone.
2012 - 2015
Great three years. God is so great. God provides me with everything I need.
I decided I would please my family too. Bought our first Mercedes. An upgrade from a very noble car. Bought a house for ourselves. An upgrade from a rented house.
I'm happy to contribute to my society too. I found that to be more satisfying than earning money. Did help individuals for food, medical expenses, and education. Helped in the revival of a Christian institution. They are able to sustain themselves now. Yes, our financial help is getting multiplied for people unknown to me. It is known to very fewer people.
I couldn’ write this without tears. Now I work hard to sustain the growth. It's really tough. I really wish if I had not spent too much raising the standard of my lifestyle.
I never feel bad for those days for working hard towards saving money. We used to avoid travel. No hotel visits. No vacations. It is all paid back.
I have watched the movie “the pursuits of happiness” over 10 times. I can easily relate myself to it. I cry watching it every time.
I'm almost 40 now. Because of the lifestyle, I feel old. Became more of a spiritual person because everything happened in my life was beyond my imagination. I'm not tired. Currently working on 5 startup ideas. Hope at least one will get to launch.
Above all, I'm sure God loves me as His child.
By Anonyms,
PS: If you are reading this post & this is your story do share your details with me I would love to give the credits to you. Your story is a hell of inspiration for all new freshers in IT industry those who are looking for some motivation.
Source: Quora
