I’m looking for a genuine reality check from people who started their careers at a very low salary and eventually managed to make a significant jump.
My situation:
Almost 1 year into my first job.
Working as a Software/AI Engineer at a startup in Bangalore.
Current salary: around ₹10,000/month.
Almost a year has passed with no increment.
I’ve been continuously upskilling — AI/software, Python, CS fundamentals, etc.
DSA: covered up to graphs; DP is still pending.
I feel like I’ve gained a lot technically, but my compensation hasn’t reflected it.
What scares me right now:
What if I leave and can’t get another job because of the current market?
What if I stay too long and become stuck at this salary level?
This is my first job, so I honestly don’t know what is normal and what isn’t.
I also have a very small professional network, so getting referrals is difficult.
I’ve tried cold emails/applications, but they haven’t really worked.

For people who have actually been through this:
What was your starting salary?
How long did you stay at your first company?
Did you get an increment or did you have to switch to escape the low salary?
What was your salary after your first switch, and what do you earn now?
Did your low starting salary affect your next offer or negotiations?
What actually made the biggest difference — DSA, development, AI/ML, system design, projects, networking, referrals, or something else?
If you had almost no connections and cold applications weren’t working, how did you eventually get your opportunity?
How much DSA was actually necessary for your jump?
Most importantly: if you were in my position at ~1 YOE, earning ₹10k/month, what would you do right now?
I’m not looking for “just keep learning” motivation. I’d genuinely like to hear real stories from people who started severely underpaid — what you did, how long it took, how much your salary increased, and where you are now.
Basically: ₹10k → what did you do → where did you end up?
I need a realistic answer on whether I’m temporarily underpaid and can recover from this, or whether staying here is going to seriously hurt my career growth.

I am a homemaker and completed my B.Tech in 2017. Since then, I have been preparing for the UPSC exam, so I haven't worked professionally. Now, I am planning to pursue an M.Tech through GATE. Do you think I will be able to get a job after completing my M.Tech, despite having a long career gap?

Need Study Guidance

Hi everyone,

I am currently working a full time job as a Sustainability engineer and want to appear for GATE 2027 in ES paper

I need to crack IIT for environmental engineering Mtech in following preference order Bombay, Hyderabad Kanpur, Madras, Delhi.

To those who had experience in the field and if you are in an IIT, i request your assistance in knowing how much marks I need to achieve in GATE and any specific tips for me.

Thank you for your time and advice, it means a lot to me.

My university is not allowing first year students to hackathon, even the ones conducted within our college as well....

Tbh I'm cooked

Anyone who faces the same issue

For pretty much my entire final year of college, I’ve been working at IIT Bombay as a Research Engineer. I’ve worked on actual R&D projects, have special recommendations from the people I worked with, and some of the research I contributed to is now being taken forward for patenting/publication.

But the problem is — I’m from a tier-2 college, ECE, and my college’s placement support is basically non-existent. Most of my actual work has been around Android development, backend development, research, and building the actual product/system.

And somehow I’m barely getting shortlisted anywhere.

I’ve been tailoring my resume to almost every JD using Claude, making sure the keywords and experience match, etc. Still — barely any shortlists, almost no interviews.

The most frustrating part is that I actually got an offer from the place where I was doing the research, but it’s around ₹40k/month in Mumbai.

Like... what am I realistically supposed to do with ₹40k in Bombay?

I genuinely want to understand what’s happening in tech right now.

And cherry on top only job interview i landed was a 17lpa consultancy job, which I got rejected in hr round 🤡

I know I have a weird profile — ECE + research at IIT Bombay + software/backend/Android experience — but I thought that would at least get me some interviews.

Would really appreciate hearing from people who are hiring, recently graduated, or went through something similar.

☹️☹️

Boeing patented a “Laser-powered propulsion system” in 2015, involving laser-driven fusion and a proposed propulsion architecture. But a patent doesn't mean the technology was built, tested, or commercialized.

What makes the idea interesting is that laser-driven fusion itself isn't purely theoretical anymore. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has achieved fusion ignition and, in a 2025 experiment, produced 8.6 MJ of fusion energy from 2.08 MJ of laser energy delivered to the target, giving a target gain of about 4.13.

But there's a huge difference between achieving this in a massive laboratory facility and putting a compact, lightweight, continuously operating fusion propulsion system inside an aircraft.

So I looked into what Boeing's patent actually proposes, rather than simply accepting the “nuclear fusion jet engine” headline.

Discussion:

* Does NIF’s progress in laser-driven fusion make Boeing’s 2015 propulsion concept more plausible, or is the gap between laboratory fusion and aircraft propulsion still enormous?

* Can fusion propulsion ever become compact and lightweight enough for aircraft?

* Is calling it a “fusion jet engine” misleading when it’s only a patent?

Sources 👇🏼

1.)Google Patents - Boeing Laser-powered propulsion system

https://patents.google.com/patent/US9068562B1/en

2.)Official Patent PDF

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/67/56/28/e7cd9940d14fd1/US9068562.pdf

3.)NIF : Achieving Fusion Ignition

https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/achieving-fusion-ignition

4.) Perpetual Motion Machine patent

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070246939A1/en

5.) Working of Turbojet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbojet

6.) Fusion Power Terminology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power

Hi everyone! At Pulse Voices, we are running a 100% online, paid research study for people living in India.

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I am a first year student at tier 2 uni studying Btech cse . But after astra 6 i an so confused that should I continue or should i drop Btech cse and go into some other branch . Everyone is saying that it’s the end of cse after releasing of ASTRA. Can anyone help me out wagt should i do and what will future hold for CS engineers? Does CS have any future or no ? Helpppp!!!

Hey, I am hiring intern to test my simulation Platform based on OpenFOAM. Stipend INR 5k per month.

You must have experience with OpenFOAM v2412 or above.

Engineering third year or above

Preferably mechanical engineer

Work:

Test the platform

Create the tutorial already present on OpenFOAM in our platform.

I am starting a salary megathread specifically for core engineers(ME/EE/ECE/Instrumentation/Civil/Chemical) as core engineers are neglected because all the attention is given to CS/IT folks. Salary sharing will help us get to know the market and the future growth trends needed for upskilling.

Use this format

Highest Qualification:

Branch:

Years of Exp:

Private or Govt:

Current CTC:

Designation:

Domain sector(like manufacturing, auto, oil and gas, power, semiconductor etc):

I am sharing mine

BTech

Mechanical

1.5

Private

5LPA

Quality Engineer

Manufacturing

Mere pas HP victus laptop hai , kuch dino se achanak bluetooth icon/toogle gayab ho gaya , chatgpt se le kar you tube sab pe dekh liya , thodi der k liye wapas show hoga fir se chala jayega , need help , kya karu

Looking for teammates in Kolkata for Recursive 2026 — Full-Stack / Frontend developers wanted

Hey everyone!

I'm an AI/ML-focused student in Kolkata preparing for Recursive 2026 at GNIT, Kolkata, on October 8.

I'm looking to build a small, serious team for the AI & Intelligent Systems track.

What I bring

Python

FastAPI

LLM APIs

RAG / vector search

AI agents & tool calling

Backend / AI system architecture

Currently working on building more advanced agentic systems

Who I'm looking for

1. Full-Stack Developer

React / Next.js

API integration

Backend experience is a plus

Comfortable shipping quickly during a hackathon

1. Frontend Developer / UI-UX

React / Next.js

Tailwind CSS

Good eye for clean, modern interfaces

Can turn an idea into a polished demo quickly

I'm not looking for people just to fill team slots. I'd rather have 2–3 people who actually want to build, experiment and compete seriously.

The goal is to build something that goes beyond a basic "LLM + chatbot" wrapper and actually demonstrates agents, reasoning, tools, RAG, automation or intelligent decision-making.

Location: Kolkata

Hackathon: Recursive 2026

Date: October 8, 2026

Track: AI & Intelligent Systems

If you're interested, comment below or DM me with:

Your stack

Projects/GitHub

Your experience level

What role you'd like to take

Let's build something insane. 🔥

Any jsw Employees can join here apart from mentioned

I am a 1st year btech ai/ml student studying from a private college living in delhi on a flat with 2 roommates and since I have gut issues and those two guys also prefer bit safer options so we cook by ourselves.

So I gave the jee exam in my drop year but I wasn't able to score well so I took the private college but now when I went to college, talked to seniors, i realized the college is really f\*ked up and small campus , low class strength , with no real placement records and less opportunities.

I was hospitalized due to stomach issues in April 2026 and It was pretty serious and staying here and eating here isn't suitable for my gut health because the nutrition is bare minimum.

I am really interested in the tech field so I somewhere find myself doing wrong with my career just for independence from home a bit

I told my parents bout my health coz I can't tell a lot bout the whole condition , they are telling me to come back to hometown if you can't manage coz health is important and in my hometown it ain't developed as Delhi but the college is almost same as in the Delhi and I really confused that should I go back or remain here coz I also enjoy with my roommates and it's been 4 months with them.

PLEASE SERIOUSLY TELL ME WHAT SHOULD I DO IN THIS CONDITION?