E-Paper
Bengaluru founder reveals leaving ₹1 lakh Yahoo job to be a broke intern in Italy
The Bengaluru founder’s raw account of his early-career struggles and "broke" days in Italy has struck a chord with many.
A Bengaluru founder recently shared how quitting a high-paying job at Yahoo! Bangalore was the best career move he ever made. Despite his manager calling the decision "stupid," the founder moved to Italy for an internship that eventually left him broke. He reflects on the early days of struggle that eventually led him to work with prominent tech leaders.
Bengaluru founder Arjun Jain wrote, “The day I chose curiosity over comfort. August 2007. Yahoo! Bangalore. I'm staring at my resignation draft. ₹1 lakh per month. Stock options. The golden handcuffs every middle-class kid dreams of.”
Also Read: Founder records manager's response to him resigning ₹2 crore Microsoft job to launch startup
The founder recalled that, though high-paying, his tech job was “suffocating”. Hence, he decided to leave it all and relocate to Italy as an intern. Soon after he sent his resignation, his boss said, “Are you stupid? You're leaving Yahoo! for... Italy? Do you know how many people would kill for your job?"
Jain recounted, “Six months later, I'm broke in Florence. Can't get a job - wrong passport. The internship ends. I extend it because... what else? Go back to content pushes?”
However, instead of giving up, he kept pursuing his dream and tried different ways to stay close to the tech world.
“It's not Instagram-pretty. It's coding until 3 AM in a tiny Italian apartment, building computer vision models while others are at aperitivo. It's visa anxiety. It's everyone thinking you've lost your mind while you're grinding harder than ever - just on something that matters.”
His hard work paid off as he slowly started getting closer to his dream. He shared that the choice that his boss called stupid led him to “Saarland Graduate School (they had a program with stipend + PhD without Masters) → Max Planck Institute → Working with Chris Bregler → Yann LeCun becoming my office neighbor at NYU → Being there when deep learning exploded → Papers, patents, Apple, teaching at IIT, IISc.”
“From content pushes to publishing with the godfather of AI,” he continued, adding, “Not because I was smarter. Because I was curious.” He concluded his post by advising people with a dream to take a leap of faith.
What did social media say?
An individual praised, “Amazing story. Thanks for sharing. A great testament to the fact that grit and perseverance pay off over time beyond the pedigree of college or marks.” Another added, “Kudos to you. Hats off for having the courage to go through with the journey.”
A third expressed, “Wonderful. On a similar journey.” A fourth wrote, “Thanks for sharing this!!”
Who is Arjun Jain?
According to his LinkedIn, he is the founder of Fast Code AI. The company website describes it as a “data intelligence platform for automotive”.
According to his profile, he graduated from RV College of Engineering and years later earned his PhD from the Universität des Saarlandes.
His LinkedIn profile suggests that he has held different roles, including serving as an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and working as a senior researcher at Apple.
He launched Fast Code AI in 2018. He also works as the chief scientist at his organisation.
