Quora (https://www.quora.com/How-does-it-feel-to-earn-INR-3-5-LPA-after-completing-engineering-from-one-of-the-best-colleges-of-India/answer/Keshav-Thakur-197?ch=10&share=a2947c92&srid=IRslC)
It was one of the worst time of my life.
I graduated from college in 2018 and started my first job in a startup based in Noida. They offered me INR 3.2 LPA from which I was getting around INR 23k every month after deduction. I am going to share with you my experience and how earning less money changed my life.
Due to some circumstances, I wasn’t able to secure a job during college placements. I also didn’t want to join those companies because all of them were not able to provide a good career path and they had a bond of at least 2 years. I always think about long term gains so, I realised that joining these companies won’t help me in achieving my goals.
After completing my internship I got a job offer of INR 2.8 LPA from the company. I didn’t want to do such a low paying job so, I interviewed and got a job in a DevOps company based in Noida. I was offered INR 3.2 LPA and I knew that I can earn up to INR 5 LPA so, I told my parents that I didn’t want to join. My parents became worried and after a lot of altercation, I decided to join the startup because I knew that parents won’t let me live in peace. My home is in Delhi so I had to move to a pg in Noida to start my first job.
Living in that pg is one of the worst things happened to me. The TDP of water in Noida is around 1500 ppm and in my pg, the water purifier wasn’t working at all. Most of the guys were drinking this hard water but I decided to buy bottled water rather than drinking this hazard. The water bottle cost me Rs 30 and I was also carrying a litre of water from office to pg to save some money.
After completing a month I moved to another pg. During this time I had some arguments with my mother regarding money problems. After this, I had decided to live on my own and do not take any help from my parents. My rent and electricity bill was around INR 10k, after food and other expenses I was left with only INR 3k to 4k. During October sale I bought some products from Amazon and had to pay INR 2k every month for the next 9 months from my savings.
I was living with my roommate but after some time he left to another city for a new job. I was alone and depressed, I was staying at the office all the time and only came to pg just to sleep. During that time I was only having Rs 200 to 300 at the end of the month. After 3 months new roommate came and for the first time in three months, my room was cleaned by the caretaker. At that time I realised how depressed and delusional I was to not see this.
After completing 8 months in current company I had decided to give some interviews and got some offers of INR 5.5 LPA. I decided not to join new company because raise wasn’t much and I knew that I can earn much more. During summers the electricity bill was so high around INR 4k and we both had to pay INR 2k each. In one of the interview during the final round, the director asked me why are you asking for such a high raise. I replied that I am not even able to pay my electricity bill, he laughed but after some moments he looked at me and realised that I wasn’t joking. The fun fact is that I got the job and they gave me the raise that I wanted.
When I resigned from my company that time I came to know that they will pay my last salary after 30 days from the day of departure. At that time I only had Rs 1k left with me a whole month ahead. Finally, I had to ask my parents for help because I knew that I can’t survive for long with such little money. My sister sent me INR 15k for my monthly expenses and I survived that month. Right now I am earning much more than my previous job and living a happy life. I am able to save, invest and buy some gifts for my family. The best part about all this is that I have friends who are always there with me and never looked down on me whether I was earning less or more.
What did I learn from this experience?
- I learned the value of money and how important it is to live a good life.
- Money can’t buy you happiness but it can solve a lot of problems.
- Money is not the root of all evil, poverty is.
- True friends are those who still treat you nicely irrespective of your income.
