Growing up in Mumbai’s Dharavi in a household where no one spoke English or had studied past the 7th standard, Sumit Gupta faced an uphill battle from the start. Today, he works for an American company, earning a staggering salary of over ₹2 crore. In an exclusive conversation with Hindustantimes.com, Gupta opened up about his journey. He recalled being mocked for his English and having to rely on loans from relatives to fund his US education. Now a green card holder, he recently bought his parents a house in Kandivali.
“I grew up in Dharavi. The highest level of education anyone in my family had before me was 7th standard. Nobody spoke English. Nobody had ever left the country. We moved to Jogeshwari in the early 2000s,” Gupta said.
What are the hurdles he faced?
“I had nobody to lean on at home or outside. I didn’t start speaking English until my third year of engineering — before that, people mocked me every time I tried. After graduating, I couldn’t get a job. I took an unpaid web developer position just to get started. When I finally applied to a university in the US, I funded my first semester with personal loans from my grandfather, my mom’s sister, my own sisters, my dad’s sisters, and my dad’s brother. For later semesters, I worked part-time, and my parents saved whatever they could. During the fee due dates, we didn’t have an extra 500 rupees at home. Everything had already gone toward tuition,” Gupta told Hindustantimes.com.
Instead of letting these immense hardships deter him, he doubled down on his studies, maintained an unshakeable sense of resilience, and kept aggressively pursuing new professional opportunities.
His relentless grit and determination ultimately paid off in a massive way when he successfully landed the role of staff analytics engineer at Superhuman, the parent company of Grammarly.
What does he do?
“I’m a data engineer. I’m also the lead author of The Tableau Workshop and an international speaker — I presented at the IoA Annual Conference in London earlier this year,” Gupta explained.
What is his salary?
He revealed that he earns “above $200K/ ₹2 Cr” and also holds stock options. He also gave a quick breakdown of his monthly expenses.
Gupta mentioned that he allocates around $3,500 (over ₹3 lakh) for rent. His monthly budget for groceries and eating out comes to $2,000 (nearly ₹2 lakh). After setting aside a small portion for miscellaneous costs, he directs the remainder of his salary into savings.
What are his future plans?
Gupta told Hindustantimes.com, “I just got my EB-1A approved and my green card. Now the goal is to help people stuck on H1B visas build their own extraordinary ability case and get to the other side. I also want to help people break into data roles as the industry goes AI-native.”
“I don’t gatekeep. If someone needs help and I can give it, I will — whether that’s a DM, a call, or pointing them to the right resource.”
Gupta completed his studies at Thakur College of Engineering, Kandivali, Mumbai.