A 30-year-old IIT graduate from Bengaluru has shared a brutally honest account of his career and personal struggles in a viral Reddit post, sparking empathy and advice from thousands online. The user, who has spent the last three years working as a Branding and Program Manager at an IT services firm, says he feels stuck with “no real growth.”
He wrote, “Tried a few initiatives on the side: Financial inclusion for marginalized communities, an AI-based problem-solving platform for tier-2/3 colleges, and a 2-day discussion event for my state. They took off briefly but crashed soon after. Struggled with a breakup too, and it all makes me question if any of it even counts.”
“Lost My Mother as an Infant… Don’t Really Know What Love Feels Like”
The post took a deeply personal turn as he recounted his painful past. “Lost my mother as an infant—don’t really know what love feels like. Abusive adolescence from my father; grandparents took care till I was 10,” he revealed. In college, he says he fell for a girl but “my flickering nature and not valuing her (wanting a gf in college) ruined it. Tried suicide but couldn’t go through; spent years trying to win her back, but she wasn’t having it.”
After graduation, he skipped campus placements and joined a Gurukul NGO in a rural area, setting up communications and co-initiating projects. “Lived there post-college… but jealousy, self-doubt, and negativity took over; couldn’t contribute as deeply as others. Found a girl there but lost her and the org too—doors slammed, ‘not compatible.’”
“Now, I Feel Redundant… What Do I Do?”
Eventually, he moved to Bengaluru and took up a corporate role, but says the spark never returned. “Now, I feel redundant—no random motivation sticks. Confident in nothing; done a bit of everything (design, branding, PR, coordination, event management ~ program management) but no niche,” he admitted.
He quit his job three months ago to pursue his AI initiative, but it failed. “What do I do?” he asked fellow Redditors. “Please advise: How can I turn this around, at least on earning well (aiming 20LPA+)? What skills/jobs should I target? Open to anything practical.”
The post has since become a major talking point on the platform, with users rallying to offer career guidance, mental health resources, and words of encouragement to the struggling IITian.