A techie earning over Rs 70 lakh a year revealed he had been moonlighting for years, sacrificing his social life and savings in pursuit of financial success
A young techie’s now-viral Reddit confession about earning over Rs 70 lakh a year while balancing two remote jobs has struck a chord online, highlighting the hidden emotional cost of India’s hustle culture. Despite the impressive salary, the engineer said the long hours left him burnt out, socially isolated and constantly prioritising work over personal life.
In a now-deleted post titled “Been moonlighting as a Platform Engineer — earning -70L/year — now stepping back,” the Reddit user explained that he had been working two jobs at the same time for more than a year.
One role was with an Indian startup on a contract basis, which took up more than four hours every day. The second job was with the Indian arm of a US-based company. Although that role was officially structured as an eight-hour workday, he said it frequently extended beyond 10 hours on weekdays.
Since both positions were remote, he was able to manage the workload for a while. However, the long hours eventually took a toll on his personal life.
“Both were WFH, so it was manageable — but my social life has basically been zero,” he wrote.
The engineer, who graduated in 2022 from a tier-3 college and came from a non-traditional engineering background, said moonlighting had been a part of his career for years. He revealed that he began working while still in college, initially taking up Android development jobs that paid between Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 a month.
Over time, he expanded his skills into Python, backend systems and platform engineering. He also contributed to Google Summer of Code both as a student and later as a mentor, and eventually landed roles at startups and a unicorn company despite not following the traditional big-tech path focused heavily on DSA interviews.
The Redditor said he recently decided to quit the Indian startup role after receiving a salary hike from the US-based company, which took his annual compensation there to around Rs 74.5 lakh.
The decision, he explained, was not only about reducing stress and reclaiming time for himself, but also about taxes. By staying below Rs 75 lakh in annual income, he said he would remain eligible for presumptive taxation under Section 44ADA, which would significantly reduce his tax liability.
“Otherwise, I’d need to earn Rs 20 lakh more just to make the extra work worth it,” he wrote, adding that it would otherwise feel like “working extra for taxes.”
Despite earning a substantial income, the engineer admitted that he has not built up traditional savings or investments in mutual funds or equities. Instead, he used his earnings to buy a Rs 1.3 crore property outright without taking a loan. He also said he is close to paying off a low-interest car loan.
Apart from that, he has purchased a gaming laptop and built a home gym, though he admitted that he has barely had time to use either. He added that he has taken a term insurance policy and health insurance for both himself and his parents.
Now that he has stepped back from one of the roles, he said he finally has time to think about other priorities in life, including health, relationships, and marriage.
“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 is over, and thinking about life (marriage, health, social life),” he wrote.
The post triggered a flood of reactions online, with many users praising his hard work and others reflecting on the personal cost of such an intense lifestyle. One user wrote, “Example of how hard work and luck combined together can take you places. Great job OP. Go play that game you always wanted to play.”
“It’s like a fictional story😂😂” said another.
“Legend. Now retire brother – make kids and enjoy your life… Respect OP”, commented another.
“How did you get a contract job at the Indian startup. I am looking for such jobs where the working hours are low ideally <=6 even if it pays less am I want to prepare for competitive exam beside it is there any way to get such type of a gig,” asked one user.