A corporate tech worker earning eight times more than a former classmate shared a sobering realisation about wealth and contentment on Reddit. While the high earner struggles with long working hours, toxic office politics, and zero personal time, his peer lives peacefully on a modest salary. The stark contrast forced the software engineer to question whether chasing a massive paycheck is truly worth sacrificing happiness and peace of mind.
“My friend earns 8x less than me, yet somehow, he has more,” a Reddit user wrote. He continued, “Let's call my friend Rakesh.”
The man continued that though they were classmates, they weren’t friends. However, they reconnected after 4-5 years, and that’s when the OP learned that Rakesh works at an “unknown company” and earns around ₹3 LPA.
The Redditor continued, “He told me job is not stressful. Every weekend they [Rakesh and his wife] go outside, loan on subsidized home will come to end next year. After ending loan, he is thinking about buying small kirana store and want to leave software engineering. His wife have teaching government job in rural area school.”
{{/usCountry}}The Redditor continued, “He told me job is not stressful. Every weekend they [Rakesh and his wife] go outside, loan on subsidized home will come to end next year. After ending loan, he is thinking about buying small kirana store and want to leave software engineering. His wife have teaching government job in rural area school.”
{{/usCountry}}The man realised that his friend had “achieved peace without earning crores or FIRE.” He continued that Rakesh loves reading books, gets treated at the government hospital, and takes public transportation to save money.
Comparing his with Rakesh’s life, the OP wrote, “And here I'm stuck with dumb manager telling me to memorize the codebase, toxic co-workers, full of politics. I'm not getting even time for my hobbies.”
What did social media say?
An individual expressed, “This sounds amazing until you have a major medical emergency and need tons of money for a private hospital.” Another posted, “Maybe you can try being in their shoes once and feel the difference. Like using public transport, no eating outside, maybe no movies. Do exactly what he does. Same lifestyle.”
A third commented, “It looks to me like this is less about how good the life of your friend is, and more about you not feeling good about your job.”
A fourth wrote, “Lol if you were in his place, you would say that my Kamwali has a better life than me. She doesn’t care about managers, because she does the work and goes home. You are truly delusional. Dude, everyone has their own problems. And these government programs or awas yojna aren’t even comparable to a private residence or making your own money.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustantimes.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)