

When hard work isn't enough, and luck doesn't show up
From a tier-3 college, I was placed on Day 0 in Tech Mahindra. but joining delays forced me to go off-campus, where I got into Infosys. Despite being a high performer in my training batch, I was assigned to Networking, a domain I had no interest in. While others with lesser scores got Java, Swift, and C++. I tried adapting, but eventually left post the bond period.
At Amdocs, I joined as a Software Engineer, but my previous experience wasnβt counted, so I took a hit on compensation. Then COVID struck and most seniors quit, and I was left managing massive workloads with new joiners.
I joined Amazon in 2021 as a DevOps Engineer with dreams of transitioning to SDE. But layoffs, org changes, and shifting policies kept moving the goalpost. Promised transitions stalled, promotions delayed, managers changed, and multiple performance cycles passed with no stock grants, minimal ratings, and a falling CTC.
Today, with 7 years of experience, Iβm still stuck, undervalued and underpaid. Iβve never faked experience, always delivered results, and kept showing up. But somehow, just when growth was within reach, something slipped again. Unsure of what to do now!!
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions

Switch from Amazon to mid level company as a dev and start again, use you amazon brand for good. In 2 years you will be pro SDE. Just take any offer with your choice of work. Good luck.

It might be hard for you to hear this but you are someone who doesn't know the rules of game and blames luck constantly for their failures. It's a very well known fact that in tech interviews DSA and system design is the only thing they care about. Why didn't you do enough DSA in 7 years and switched to some big company? You witnessed the period of 2020-2022 where jobs were handed out like crazy and even average people also had 4-5 offers and still only managed to switch only to Devops role in Amazon. And you are writing that after 7 years of "hard work" you still are unsure of what to do. Bro, just start doing DSA right after reading this comment and apply to thousands of roles. Best of luck and sorry if it sounded rude

Thank you for your harshness

I also thought of the same what you said. I mean now at his experience, he will only require LLD,HLD and some experience about team management.

If it makes you feel any better, you have had a better career journey compared to a lot of people stuck in tcs, infy, like companies..
I have had negligible increments in 4 yrs and am unable to switch. I would love to be in your shoes :)

I get your point. The thing is I made the move out early from one such company hoping to achieve something big. And it's disappointing to realise that i haven't been able to achieve what I aspired for!

Keep working hard, but always make sure to live your life to the fullest. No one is truly ever happy.
For example currently if I get a job switch of even 18lpa, I will be over the moon and the happiest I've been in last 5 years. But maybe when I reach there I might still be unhappy and want 30lpa.
That's how human nature is. Also I feel success in this industry is largely dependent on luck and what we get as our first job.

Joined as a ERP consultant didn't get much exposure as i was working on some tools which is not relevant.
Found out and learned cloud. Got into cloud domain but couldn't clear good companies because i don't have any idea about devops and low linux knowledge.
As a cloud engineer, again was unlucky when it comes to projects. Mostly into infra and didn't get chance to get into devops.
Learned myself devops including Kubernetes and cleared certificate. Started applying to prod companies but most of them asking for coding which i tried to learn many times but somehow couldn't learn it.
With 11 yrs, 18 lakhs. Underpaid and undervalued.

Dude IBM is underpaying? For most of us IBM is a dream company.

I have 7 years of experience and am getting 15Lpa
I'm in the same company from the start, I am a full stack React node developer,
I also want to change and hike but due to permanent WFH and comfort zone I am not able to switch.

From tier-3 college to amazon it'sa great achievement mate. You fshiuld not feel undervalued. Why you are taking so much stress? Chill man..

Looks good from the outside. But deep inside I kinda know I could have achieved a lot more. Thanks for your kind words though!!


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