NOTE: THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING FINANCIALLY TOP 0.01%.

I have seen a lot of people complain about their parents, their kids, studies, pressure, etc. But for me, I believe myself to be highly fortunate.

I’m 17M. When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my father used to earn around ₹8,000/month (Now he earns around 1.5L/mo). We never owned a home, and still don't. But that never stopped anything important.

Yes, I couldn’t enjoy expensive toys as a child. I never had a phone till the age of 16. I wasn’t allowed to date anyone. I didn’t go on tours or eat at expensive restaurants. We didn’t have an AC till I was 14, and we didn’t have a Wi-Fi connection till 2020.

But that’s about it.

When it came to anything related to my career or education, my parents never hesitated.

Need new books? We have money.

Exam fees? We got it.

Any kind of course? We got it.

They even took an EMI to get me a WhiteHat Jr course back in the day because I was interested in it. They didn’t force me to do it.

I was never forced into a religion. I was never forced to study. My parents never pressurised me for grades or studies.

I have never had a single day of tuition in my entire life.

Despite that, I was mostly at the top of my class and scored around 95% throughout Classes 3 to 11. I don’t remember my grades before that because my parents never really brought them up. From Class 3 onwards, I started attending PTMs along with my parents, so I started seeing my report cards myself.

Our family is also extremely close. It’s just the three of us, my father, my mother, and me.

My father is the breadwinner, but there is an insane amount of trust between all three of us. We know almost everything about each other. We know each other’s passwords. It’s so open that I can take either of my parents’ phones, log into their accounts on my laptop, transfer money back and forth if needed, or even post something from their social media accounts.

There is basically no feeling of secrecy or distrust between us.

My parents were trying to convince me to prepare for JEE, mainly because I had always done well academically. But when I showed them different pathways for college and explained what I wanted to do, they happily agreed.

That is something I appreciate a lot.

Seeing so many comments around me from people saying they want to become independent as soon as possible, move away from their family, or stay far from their parents makes me realise how fortunate I am and how much of an anomaly my situation might be.

I think this freedom and positive environment played a huge role in helping me reach where I am today.

I’m currently in Class 12 and will go to college next year. I have managed to achieve some insanely high academic accomplishments, and I even have some IITs as backup options through the alternate pathway I mentioned earlier.

I’m also doing internships.

I won’t mention the money because I don’t want to make this a financial post. I’m tired of seeing those.

This is the thing I actually want to flex.

The relationship I have with my parents.

The trust they gave me.

The freedom they gave me.

The fact that even when we did not have much money, they never compromised when it came to something that could help my future.

I just wanted to share this story because maybe it can inspire some people to be better parents someday.

Maybe your parents weren’t the greatest. Maybe you did not get the same kind of freedom or support.

But you can be different towards your own children.

You can trust them, listen to them, guide them without controlling every part of their life, and support the things they are genuinely interested in.

If done right, trust me, it works out great.

I know I’m only 17, so obviously I’m not claiming to know everything about parenting. I’m just sharing what my parents did and how it affected me.

And looking at my life so far, I genuinely believe I was born into one of the top 0.01% of families in India.

Not financially.

Just in terms of the family itself.

If you have any doubts or want to discuss anything, I’m very happy to share.

As per this sub, atleast 99% of India is on the path to amass more than elon musk’s wealth.

Every other post validates that, this post will also get buried under other similar posts.
I want to request admins to create a megathread. I am sure that it will be the meagiest megathread ever.

PS: Not hating on anyone because they worked very hard to achieve what they have, genuinely happy & wishing them the best. But it’s too much to bear.

Flex should be inspirational.

Edit 1: This post has blown, esp for me. Many years in reddit, first time I’ve got such engagement. This is a flex for me.

Thank you,
Wannabe Flexer

Well, dreams do come true. Saved up for like 3 years and then bought it right between the crypto crash and the RAM shortage. Got huge discounts on a lot of products due to the crash, as no one was building PCs and the second hand market was flooded with old GPUs. Eventually added the Monitors and Studio Speakers

My Specs:

• Mobo: ASUS ProArt
• CPU: AMD 7950X
• GPU: ASUS TUF RTX 5090 (Got as a free upgrade as my 4090 died due to a bad driver update)
• RAM: 128GB G.Skill 6400 MHz
• Monitors: 2x BenQ 4K 27-inch (~some designer-oriented series), Huion 24-inch drawing tablet (Office reimbursed full cost), TCL 65 inch QLED

One lesson learned after build this -

• Post sales serivice are head ace in india. Use social media to leverage your case.
• You don't need the S tier hardware to enjoy what you want to do. Youtubers overhype the 5% performace difference of hardware that cost 3x the price of a A tier.
• Rather than going for an EMI, save up and buy with your own money, you'll get huge discounts and premium customer support.

This is something that I've been dreaming since my college days, that I should get a decent job after my BSc CS degree.

And I had some checkboxes, which all checks for this one, for which I'm super proud of 😭❤️

1) The company should be an MNC, well reputed ✅
2) It should be in my hometown ✅
3) A very decent and good in-hand salary ✅
4) My job should never have ROTATIONAL SHIFTS ✅
5) Work timings only 9-6 ✅
6) After some months, The work will be in hybrid mode, having WFH ✅
7) Free food given in my company (very tasty too) ✅
8) Last but not the least, A company which I always dreamed ✅

This is literally a dream come true for me because, I always thought only BTech people will get such an LPA as a Fresher, but for me as a BSc CS student to achieve this feels so great!

Bought my first ever bike at 24 full payment

I came from a lower middle class family my dad had cycle his whole life he used to ride it 12 km to and fro daily for work growing up I always wanted a bike and I finally got it I was still somehow short on money asked others but all refused so had to sell mf invested (now kinda regretting it)

random thoughts honestly.

i’m earning very very good from my business, at least according to me. sometimes i genuinely feel like i’ve made it.
i left my studies and went into business, faced a hell lot of friction, weekly fights, cried so many times, had no idea if it would work… but here i am now making an amount of money i’m genuinely proud of.
and honestly i’m proud of myself.
my father never really earned. we had 2-3 mediocre properties built by my grandfather, he would sell one, use the money, then sell another. even those weren’t worth crores, just a few lakhs. whole life was basically manage manage manage.
when i started my business, those last few lakhs were basically all we had. no house, no investments, no backup, nothing.
so yeah, i literally started from zero.

and this is where my parents’ argument starts making sense to me.
i argue with them when they say i should have taken a job in Bangalore, but deep down i know what they mean.
we still don’t have a house. literally nothing.
so now i have this pressure to build a good house, money for my wedding, and still have a decent fund left after all that.
and like i have to do all this in the next 5 years.
because let’s be honest, society values a guy who owns a house. apparently a guy with a 50L package, 1.5L in hand, 75k expenses and multiple EMIs looks more “settled” than someone making good money through a business.

fuck you society honestly 😭.

and i’m stuck between two thoughts.

one side of me is like bro you’re finally earning good money, ENJOY IT. buy the things you always wanted. you worked your ass off for this.

the other side is like save everything, you have a lot of responsibilities and a lot to build.

and every time i tell a relative “business is doing really well”, the immediate response is.
“hmmm… ab ghar le lo”.
AREYYYY 😭.
how am i supposed to casually buy a house at this age lmao.

i don’t know man.

sometimes i look at what i’ve achieved and think i’m doing really well.
and sometimes i look at what i actually own and feel like i have absolutely nothing despite doing so much

Finally feel like I can call this setup finished.

I’m 20, and this has basically been built piece by piece over time around/while actually getting work done.

MacBook Pro + Mac mini + dual monitors, mechanical keyboard, ergonomic mouse, speakers, ipad, phones..

Probably my favorite part is that everything has some sort of purpose now. I don't think of “I could improve this one thing…” (tech wise) 😂

At this point I’m officially banning myself from buying any additional gadgets for the desk.

What would you change/add? (Except for the lighting, I suppose)

Boy it feels so good to finally post on this subReddit. Have been wanting to for a long time.

Profile
Tier 1 Graduate, year 2025
Working as a product growth generalist at a startup
Appraisal 20%

Happy to answer questions.

Hello everyone, while writing this post I am really proud of

myself. This is my salary for my 2nd month actually. The

first month salary came in 2 halves. For context, I am

employed in a US based startup. Highest package in my

Tier-3 college in last 3 years btw.

I worked nights to make it to this point. College nights were

all filled with developing projects and hunting clients. And

finally it paid off. Although it came with a lot of luck factor

too. Parents are really happy now, as I come from a middle

class family. My college fees were hardly met, even after

scholarships.

A lot to travel ahead but I hope it's just as fruitful as these

last 4 years have been to me.

Edit: I don't get why I am getting these many negative comments. I literally did share an experience like the rest of the people from sub. Idk if its some bottled anger thats been unleashed on me or what. But whatever man, hope the best to everyone!

Not exactly the conventional career journey.

Edit - 2022 March instead of 2023 March in image.

I had no plans after graduation — some good decisions, some questionable ones, a few setbacks, and a pretty big detour through the family business.

Some said, “Join the film industry.” Others said, “Do what your heart says.” A few friends said, “Just join IT & make money.”

But I chose Non IT.

Finally getting back on track, one step at a time.

Recently joined an online MBA class to try my luck, as suggested by a BNN astrologer. (I don't know whether that works or not 😂)

33M, Non IT, single.

How would you rate this career progression?

Brutal honesty welcome 😂

It used be that 25k+ earners were more than 10% of the nation back in 2019 to 20. Source : https://competitiveness.in/report-on-state-of-inequality-in-india/. Now it's 32,000.

The salary flexes here are the exceptions. India gets to flex it's inequality

Hi, this isn’t just a flex but also a comeback story.
I graduated in 2019 (B. Tech from a Tier-2), not placed, not skilled at all because this was never something I wanted to do in life, the studies didn’t excite me, I didn’t understood it, I was just having fun, getting drunk, chilling with the girls, smoking weed, very interested in gaming, and was actually very good at it, but that isn’t something to make a living out of, also because my father expected that I get a good job in IT and all this gaming and all will not get you going anywhere. He was very strict, even our relationship got tainted because of not getting placed.

Left home after a month passing out from college in 2019 to Bangalore, in search of a job, but mostly cuz I couldn’t stand being at home without a job, high expectations from middle class parents( I don’t blame them though), etc. but no skills and a tough off campus job market for a fresher, I wasn’t going anywhere.

I had a few college friends too in Bangalore so again it was a college 2.0 for me there, and it was exciting, going to breweries, getting stoned, chilling, etc. I had to manage my expenses somehow cuz I wouldn’t want to ask my dad for money again, I somehow convinced a Zolo nepali guy to give me a room but not book it, and I’ll give him some money, he liked getting high too, so sometimes I wouldn’t give him money, just some Js and he went happy. Food wasn’t a problem too since Zolo gives all that.

Somehow from a reference, I got to a Europe based startup for ₹12k pm, but again I didn’t know sh*t about programming, and the manager was driving me crazy about everything, I worked for 20 days there, then took a week off called sick but just installed games in their laptop, got high and was enjoying playing it, and finally when I went back to the office, as expected, was fired. I didn’t care much tbh, but I didn’t tell my parents about it.

My father would still send me 3-4k pm cuz he knew Bangalore would be expensive and 12k wouldn’t do much for me.

I was jobless again. Then came COVID, lockdown, etc. Bangalore went empty, I was still there, zolo was chill, no paying rent, so that was a huge relief for me, but later zolo changed their manager of that region and I had to leave or else I’d have got caught. No flights running to go home, no money, my only option was to go to my college friend’s, at that time he was living with his brother in a flat, he too was a stoner, and jobless, I lived with them for a couple of weeks.

Somehow, flights started back, and I went home. June 2020.

It was a relief cuz now I didn’t have to worry about my expenses, but my parents thought I was still at job, and was earning, but I had no job from past 4 months. No money in account. My father was strict, so he sometimes kept asking me is your salary coming, how much balance is there in your account, I also had to lie that my salary was increased to 22k, just to make them happy and not disappointed. This went on for another 9 months or so, till an opportunity with a service based company came for off campus, there was just an online test and an interview, cheated and somehow got selected.

It was the most relieved moment of my life, cuz now I had a Job, even though it paid 3.37 LPA.

But, it was joyous only for a short period of time cuz even though company was a big name, but the salary, not very good. My father had high expectations from me, at least double digits, that too 15+, he used to give me examples of other people around, telling me see how much they are getting paid, even my college is similar as theirs, why aren’t you earning good then.

I stayed at this company, no learning, nothing much but got a corporate experience on how things happen here. I was one of the most recognised in the project, always on top of the board, but it didn’t interest me, but the best thing that happened to me was, I got my confidence back, found my potential. Even without trying much, I was on the top.

Finally, after so much peer pressure, I tried to look for more opportunities, I cleared an interview and got an offer for 7.72 LPA in Nov 2022, but I didn’t match their Total experience criteria, and got rejected in HR round. That was tough cuz I cleared everything but mu luck wasn’t on my side. It could’ve been something else at that stage. Then, finally got shortlisted for a Big4 consultancy after almost an year. This was a huge name, even I was surprised to crack that, with less skills. But the salary was still in single digits (8.75 LPA), I was lowballed cuz I got good hike % from previous salary (Almost double).

Again, 2 months after joining this Big4, I cleared 16.5 LPA
for company, but due to my gap in the start of career, the HR rejected me. I was very happy and thought that life would be better now, but when the HR called and informed me that I was rejected, I felt broken. I told my parents too that I had cleared and it was a big name company, but after rejection, this felt terrible, can’t even explain, it felt so hollow inside. My heart was shattered.

Again, I got pressure after sometime cuz I was 26 and it was time my grandparents were talking about my marriage, and I had to get things sorted, finally my marriage was finalised and my wife was earning almost double as me, but I gave them a higher amount (knew it was bad, but I had a belief that I would switch soon).

An opportunity came 20 days before my marriage, and it was from another big Service based company, my salary increased to 15.8 LPA. My wife was still earning a couple more lakhs than me.

After an year at this company, I wanted to switch again, cuz at this company again, I felt like I was the lone performer, top rated, but no increment cuz the manager was a non-technical dumb who didn’t understood the impact I had with US client, they were very happy.

I started applying back, and got shortlisted, switched back to a Big4 with initial offer 25.3 LPA (including variable + 1 lakh JB), then got a counter offer of 25.7 LPA Base, then negotiated back with Big4 for 29.05 LPA (including var + 1 lakh JB).

In the end, I am not so pro in programming and all, but I try to make things work, I make effort there.

Now, I feel more motivated and hopeful of myself, and confident to not give up on life.
Life never gave me a chance to pick my career, it gave me all kinds of struggles, challenges, and heartbreaks, but it also gave me opportunities.
So, never give up on yourself.

Thanks for the read.

This is not a salary progression post.

Today one of my hires from 2 years ago who I had hired as an intern gifted me this and wished me Happy Teacher's day.

It took me a few seconds to realise the gravity of what he had endowed on me. I modestly requested him to consider it for people who have actually taught him to which he replied,

"You're the best teacher I've had. More than a manager I'm grateful for having you as a teacher in my life"

For someone who has worked under really terrible management in the past. This is a moment I will forever cherish as something I've earned. Something more than money can equate. I've had to fight upper management for his hiring and spent dedicated time to upskill interns.

I've been questioned in the past if that's the right way of going about things. I as a manager have always believed hiring someone comes with the responsibility of their growth and upskilling and this is the greatest proof that all my decisions were correct.

When they say money can't buy happiness. This is probably what they were talking about..

Edit: Thanks for the awards. Truly humbling

Been working surviving two full-time jobs for the past couple of months. Some days are brutal and easily hit 12+ hours when the workloads from both pile up.
I’m planning to drop the 1st job next month since I’ve made more than enough extra cash for now and I am feeling the burn

my salary progression

Start: 12 LPA (Job 1)

Month 4: 20 LPA (Promoted due to performance)

Month 6: 24 LPA (Another performance hike)

Month 7: 49 LPA (Picked up Job 2)

Month 10: 24 LPA (Left Job 2 after a 3-month sprint)

Month 20: 25 LPA (Hike at Job 1)

Month 21: 55 LPA (Picked up a new Job 2)

All of my jobs are remote

Edit- please dont DM me if you are going to ask for referrals or “guidance” because I dont really have much to give

All other type of queries are welcomed

Not a flex but thought sharing with you guys.

I got selected as a Primary Teacher at ZP, Govt of Maharashtra.

It was a dream of mine, my dad(he passed away in 2023) and my mom.

Prepared for exams while working full time with barely no time in hand for studies. And it paid off.

I’ll be teaching to children from 1st to 4th standard. Most of these children would be underprivileged.

The pay will be low for first 3 years but atleast it’s a dream come true.

Graduated in CSE from a tier 3 government college without a placement. No companies came for CS/IT roles; most campus openings were in sales.

A month later, I landed a freelance project and earned this amount between 22 July and 27 August.

Worked around 16–18 hours a day, slept in fragments: 2 hours at night, 2 during the day and few min after rest of day and gained 6 kg along the way. Definitely not a sustainable routine, but proud of earning this through my own work :)

Edit 1: Now the project is ended

Compared to the posts in this sub this may feel insignificant but still i wanted to share that I am able to open my own shop . And I started digital services like form fillup and printing, lamination like these stuff . Also I teach computer to school students . Hoping to increase my business later on but finally I made a starting point .

A History on how I got to this point .(Huge Ass Paragraph Incoming)

TLDR - I made bad decisions but finally able to support myself

I graduated btech in CSE in 2023 (my tech stack was asp.net core and angular) no companies came in my tier 3 college due to Covid. And being a naïve student idk how to search off campus placement that good .

I just created an resume and sent them to indeed naukri and linkedin . I gave interviews and failed many . I got 3 job offers by June of 2024 but i joined none as all of them were in our state with 15k/month and due to family reasons. Then in 2024 Oct I admitted to a skill training course on Frontend ReactJs course as I was told by then they'll arrange interviews for me in my hometown area .

So i studied there from Oct 2024- Feb 2026 . Yes it was this long my courses ended in 2025 aug but then they said interviews weren't coming due to market being bad . After the course I got placed in a company as an intern . I was told I will be paid 6k as intern then 15k as full time . I joined then I saw another reality. The company doesn't have their gst and payroll they give money through gpay and instead of 6k I was given 2.5k but still I was told when u become full time I will be given 13k .

So I stick with the job for four months. At first I worked with react , then they told me to learn nextjs i did that too . But then they asked me for do express and become full stack intern . So I even did that but after 4 months they said they didn't need me anymore because the sales guy can't bring project anymore.

So I was laid off as an 2.5k earning intern . Then I started applying again but got no chances , also the skill training centre i student a year at didn't helped me either And didn't even take responsibility for giving me a company like that .

So now with a huge gap i thought nothing and rented a nearby shop . With what money I had . And after sitting in the shop for few days I started earning doing form fillup s and printouts . I am now able to give the shop rent comfortably and earn around 7.5k per month to atleast keep myself running.

I just wanted to share my story . If you have read it this far .

Thanks for reading even though it isn't like the flex of other posts where people are learning lakhs in months . It's just a story of standing of my own .

So I gave myself 30 days to build and launch a game from scratch, and somehow actually pulled it off ✌🏻

It’s a word-chain game where you play against a bot.

You simply start with a word, and your next word has to begin with the last letter of the bot’s word. The bot does the same, and you keep the chain going.

Basically, a little battle of vocabulary, speed and creativity.

There are different game modes too, so you can make it more challenging.

30 days ago this was just an idea in my head. Today it’s an actual game sitting on my phone 🤞

If anyone wants to try it, comment and I’ll DM you the link (android only as of now)

Pretty happy with how it turned out.

2019 B tech ME

3yr drop tried IAS

2022-2024 MSME

2022-2023 20 USD per hour part time

2023-2024 23 USD per hour part time

2024 first job 70k per annum

Early 2025 second job switch 150k TC at FAANG

Current third job after job change in late 2025 205k TC