An engineer recently revealed how he went from Rs 3.5 lakh per annum job to a whopping Rs 35 lakh per annum job in just three years with no guidance or mentors. Taking to the subreddit Developers India, the Reddit user revealed how he managed to upscale his career.
He said that he completed his BTech just three years ago and tarted his career with a modest Rs 3.5 LPA job at a service based company. Three switches later, he has landed a lucrative Rs 35 LPA job at a product company.
In the first stage, he switched from service company to a mid product based company for a Rs 12 LPA offer.
At this stage, recruiters mainly focused on whether candidates could solve medium-level coding problems while clearly explaining their reasoning during interviews. Advanced concepts mattered far less than consistency and communication.
The techie solved one easy coding problem daily for six months. He also completed NeetCode 150 problem set, and maintained a pattern notebook containing nearly forty commonly recurring algorithmic patterns along with representative questions for each concept.
14 months later, he switched to a big product based company for a Rs 22 LPA job. At this stage, the hiring standards became considerably tougher. Companies expected candidates to solve multiple medium-level problems and occasionally one difficult problem within strict time limits.
The engineer decided to participate in weekly LeetCode contests. Although his performance was weak initially, his problem-solving, speed and decision-making skills improved gradually.
14 months later, at last he landed a job that paid Rs 35 lakh per year.
At this level, interviews became far more open-ended. Candidates were expected to independently lead system design discussions, make architectural trade-offs, and stay calm when faced with highly difficult coding challenges. Behavioral rounds also became longer and far more detailed. The techie began to conduct weekly mock system design interviews with colleagues/friends who have passed through similar hiring rounds.
He now solved hard-level coding problems. Additionally, he prepared six-to-eight leadership stories having measurable outcomes.
He also revealed the habits that made him fastrack his career.
“Daily LeetCode streak. 1750 days now. Most useful on the days I didn’t want to do it. Those are the days the habit gets stress-tested.
Pattern doc, not problem list. 300 solved is a vanity number; 300 patterns recognised is the real one.
Switched every 12-18 months. Waiting for an internal hike is how you stay at 8 LPA for six years. The market clears comp better than your manager does.”