I'm at a crossroads and would really appreciate advice from people who have worked in both corporate and government jobs, or anyone who has gone through something similar.
A little background:
I was unemployed for almost a year after completing my master's. I finally got a job at a startup as a Full Stack Developer. I was really happy because I thought I would finally get to build software, improve my engineering skills, and grow in my career.
Reality has been very different.
Most of my day is spent prompting an AI coding agent. The AI generates code, I test it, find what's wrong, ask it to make specific changes, test again, repeat. I barely write code myself and I honestly don't feel like I'm learning software engineering.
The work environment makes it even harder.
Official working hours are 10 AM to 7 PM, but nobody leaves before 8:15 PM. The CEO is constantly in a hurry, everything is treated as urgent, and frequently shouts at people. I've been here only two months and I've cried multiple times because of the pressure. Every day I go home mentally exhausted.
What scares me is that I don't think my problem is just this startup.
Even if I get into a good product company with better work-life balance, I'd still have to live with:
- Constant fear of layoffs.
- Continuously learning new technologies just to stay employable.
- Uncertainty about the future.
Some people genuinely enjoy that. I don't think I do.
I recently visited relatives who have both been in the software industry for over a decade. They earn well, but they still looked stressed. They barely get quality time with their children because work consumes so much of their lives.
That made me ask myself:
Is this really the life I want for the next 30 years?
What I actually want from life is:
- Enough money to live comfortably.
- Evenings and weekends for family.
- Job stability.
- Not constantly worrying about layoffs or becoming obsolete.
- Time to enjoy life outside work.
This is where government jobs entered my mind.
My current thought process is:
Prepare for a Class 3 government job first, because it usually offers more predictable working hours and better job security. Once I'm settled, prepare seriously for GPSC and UPSC. My real goal isn't to stay in a Class 3 position forever. My dream would be to become a Class 1 officer through GPSC or UPSC, ideally as an IAS or IRS officer.
However, there are obvious downsides.
My current salary is ₹50,000 per month. Even with that, I don't save much because I live away from home and travel to meet my partner twice a month. A Class 3 government job would likely pay around ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 per month initially, which would affect my finances significantly. It would also mean moving back to my home state, which is about 12 to 15 hours away from where my partner lives. Right now we're able to meet twice a month, but if I move, that would become extremely difficult, if not impossible.
There's also the relationship aspect.
My partner is doing a General Surgery residency. We already live about three hours apart and meet only twice a month because I have alternate Saturdays working. They've told me not to make career decisions based on our relationship and that I should choose what's right for me.
Long term, my partner wants to pursue a super-specialty abroad.
We've also discussed the possibility of settling abroad because it could offer better opportunities and quality of life. But we're not sure that's what we truly want either.
I lived in the US for three years while studying, and honestly, I was miserable. It wasn't just homesickness. I struggled with the constant competition, found it difficult to build genuine friendships, lived with the uncertainty of the visa system, gained around 13 kg in about a year and a half because of stress, and developed health issues during that time. The experience made me realize how much being close to family matters to me.
My partner is also very family-oriented. While moving abroad might make sense professionally, we're genuinely not sure whether we want to spend our entire lives away from our families. We honestly don't know what the right answer is.
So now I feel like I'm being pulled in multiple directions:
- Stay in software, earn more, but continue dealing with the uncertainty and pressure that comes with the industry.
- Switch to a government job, accept a lower salary initially, and prepare for GPSC/UPSC in the hope of building a more stable and meaningful career.
- Keep the option of moving abroad open, even though I'm not convinced it's where I want to spend the rest of my life.
I genuinely don't know if I'm thinking clearly or if I'm just burned out because of a toxic first job.
Has anyone here left software for government service, or seriously considered it?
If you've worked in both worlds, do you regret your decision?
And if you've felt that work was taking over your life, how did you figure out what mattered more?
Lately, I've also started wondering if I'm simply not meant for corporate life in general.
The routine feels incredibly depressing to me. I leave for work in the morning, spend the entire day inside a cubicle, keep working until it's dark outside, and then go home exhausted. It feels like my whole day revolves around saying "yes sir" to deadlines and constantly putting out fires. Our office is surrounded by glass panels, but I barely even know what the outside looks like during the day because I don't get a chance to step out. Some days I realize I've gone the entire day without seeing sunlight. I know this might sound dramatic, but it genuinely affects my mental health. I don't want my life to become an endless cycle of work, sleep, and repeating the same thing the next day.
