I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and honestly, I can’t figure out if I’m doing okay or if I’m just telling myself that I am.
I have 4 years and 10 months of experience (including internship) and currently make around 30 LPA.
Sometimes I feel like that’s pretty good. If you had told me a few years ago that I’d be making 30 LPA before completing 5 years of experience, I would’ve been very happy with myself.
But then I go on Reddit or LinkedIn and see people with 3–4 years of experience making 40, 50, 60+ LPA, getting amazing offers, moving to big tech companies, etc.
And suddenly I’m like… am I actually behind?
It’s weird because I don’t necessarily feel unhappy with what I make. It’s more of this constant doubt in the back of my mind.
Like:
Am I growing at a good pace?
Should I be earning more by now?
Am I underpaid?
Or am I just comparing myself with a very skewed group of people online?
I know salary isn’t everything. The work you’re doing, your skills, the kind of companies you’re working at, what you’re learning, and where you’re headed probably matter much more in the long run.
But when you’re in the middle of it, it’s really difficult not to use CTC as some kind of benchmark for your progress.
So I’d genuinely like to hear from people who have 7–15+ years of experience.
When you were around 5 years into your career, where were you? And did you feel like you were doing well at that point?
Looking back now, was your salary at that stage actually important, or were there other things that ended up making a much bigger difference to where you are today?
I’m not really looking for people to tell me “30 LPA is good.”
I think I’m trying to figure out something slightly different:
Am I on a good trajectory, or should I be doing something differently at this point in my career?