I work as a Platform Engineer and have been moonlighting for almost my whole career.
For the past year or so, I've been pulling in close to ₹70L per year from two contracts:
- An Indian startup (contract) – about 4+ hours daily, sometimes weekends.
- A US company (contract, Indian office) – officially 8 hours, but in reality 10+ hours Mon‑Fri.
Both were work‑from‑home, so it was doable, but my social life has basically vanished.
Some recent life updates:
- Probably an arranged marriage by December; my wife will likely be a full‑time homemaker.
- Recently bought a ₹1.3 Cr property (no loans) after pushing myself hard, swapping money with credit cards.
- Car loan will be cleared soon (low ROI, so I didn't prioritize earlier).
- No equity or mutual fund investments yet (yeah, I know...).
- No savings.
Financial planning so far:
- Bought term insurance in 2022.
- Took health insurance in 2024 for myself and parents (ACKO unlimited cover) – the US company reimbursed it, but I'll stop taking reimbursements this month.
Lifestyle reality (because of the workload):
- Set up a home gym, but barely find time to work out.
- Got a gaming laptop a few months back, finally planning to use it.
- Don't drive much – whenever we travel out of town, I usually sleep while my dad drives.
- Social life is almost non‑existent.
I also own a decent property where I could technically retire with my parents, though I'd probably move out later for cleaner air and a better location than West Delhi.
Recently got a hike from the US company to about ₹74.5L alone, so I resigned from the Indian startup.
That was a tough call because:
- I was learning a lot.
- I want to stay under ₹75L to use the 44ADA tax benefits.
- Otherwise I'd need to earn about ₹20L more just to make the extra work financially worthwhile – feels like working extra for Nirmala Tai.
- My tax calculation shows I'll pay around ₹8L annually now. By the way, I do my taxes myself.
Some background:
- 2022 graduate.
- Tier‑3 college – spent barely ₹5L on bachelor's (2016‑19) and master's (2019‑22) including hostel fees. Took an education loan of ₹1.2‑1.5L during bachelor because we weren't well‑off.
- Not a traditional engineering degree holder.
- Tech stack: Python, platform engineering, DevOps, backend frameworks. I'll be working as a backend engineer now.
- Was a GSoC student and later a mentor.
- Worked at an Indian unicorn and also at a lesser‑known startup.
- Did a stint as an Android developer (₹1k‑2k per month) – my first paying job, many sleepless nights during college.
- I've never cleared proper big‑tech style interviews. I don't know DSA (and don't want to learn it).
- Most of my career has been about being at the right place at the right time.
Now that I've dropped one job, I'm:
- Getting some time back once the notice period ends.
- Thinking about life – marriage, health, social life.
- Wondering if I've been over‑optimising for money.
My case is quite extreme. I love software development, but I barely have time to learn new stuff now.
TL;DR Started from ₹1k. Now at ₹6.2L monthly. No BTech.
Curious to hear thoughts.
Your story shows how hard work and a bit of luck can take you places. Great job, OP. Go play that game you've always wanted to. By the way, do you have any openings in your US firm? Just putting it out there.
I need some guidance, can I DM you?
Inspiring! Could you share how to find such contract jobs? Where should I look? I'm a Java backend developer.
How did you land the contract job at the Indian startup? I'm looking for similar gigs with low hours – ideally ≤6 per day even if the pay is lower, as I also want to prepare for competitive exams. Any tips on getting such a role?
Do you ever regret missing out on time with friends and not enjoying life? You're well settled now, no doubt, but I'm curious – if you could start over, would you do anything differently?
Hi, I also don't enjoy DSA, so I'm learning cloud and want to move into cloud roles from development. I think it's less likely to be affected by AI compared to Java devs. I have 1.5 years of experience and earn about ₹7‑8 LPA. What suggestions do you have to land a role in foreign companies and switch to cloud with this limited experience?
Feels like a fictional story.
Legend. Now you can retire, have kids and enjoy life... Respect, OP.
Since you're a contract employee, you're using the 44ADA section as it counts as freelance, right? I earn around ₹35L and pay almost the same tax.
Can you tell me how you got the US contract job from India? Are the benefits and job security similar to a full‑time employee?
I really liked your career approach. You learned skills that are actually useful instead of just chasing DSA. I have a couple of questions – please answer when you're free.
1. Don't you ever dream of working at a FAANG, getting stock options and being in their offices? I'm literally obsessed with that idea and would love your perspective.
2. I was a strong developer about five years ago. Since COVID I've been working from home and get easily distracted, spending around eight hours a day on my phone. I do complete the tasks assigned, but I feel a lot of pressure and get crushed by deadlines. Sometimes I wake up at 3 am to work. I dislike this version of myself. How do you manage to spend so much time on work without getting distracted? I sometimes get scared about my job. I wish I were like you – full of knowledge and accomplishments so I could be confident.
Wow, ₹1.3 Cr property with no loans!