A tech employee has shared his experience of leaving a high-paying startup job after months of delayed salaries, increasing workload and burnout. The employee said he joined the Hyderabad-based startup hoping to gain experience and improve his skills, but eventually decided to resign.
Sharing his story on Reddit, the employee opened up about his journey from joining as an intern to becoming a full-time employee with a ₹20 LPA package. He also spoke about using AI coding tools at work, the challenges of learning in a fast-paced environment and the financial difficulties that led to his resignation.
The post was shared with the caption, “Resigned at a toxic startup, still holding my pending salary.”
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The employee wrote, “Hey guys, I joined a startup in Hyderabad in June 2025 as an intern. I did my internship for seven months and got converted to full time from January 2026, with a 20 LPA salary.”
He said that despite knowing the company had revenue and funding issues, he accepted the role because he wanted a high-paying job and the opportunity to learn. He added that he took on more responsibilities and often worked beyond regular hours to deliver projects.
Employee says workload and AI tools affected his learning
{{/usCountry}}He said that despite knowing the company had revenue and funding issues, he accepted the role because he wanted a high-paying job and the opportunity to learn. He added that he took on more responsibilities and often worked beyond regular hours to deliver projects.
Employee says workload and AI tools affected his learning
{{/usCountry}}The employee explained that as his workload increased, he started using coding tools such as Copilot, Cursor and Claude Code to make his work easier. While these tools helped him complete tasks faster, he felt they also affected the depth of his learning.
He wrote, “This gave a fatigue, but since at least on a system design level, I am learning how we can build backend systems from scratch, and the corresponding frontend, and deploy them in VMs with the Docker image we create.”
However, the situation became more difficult when salary payments started getting delayed. He claimed that at one point, employees had pending salaries for nearly two and a half months while they were still expected to work longer hours and meet deadlines.
“I got burnt out and decided to resign without serving the notice period and resigned on June 15th. They told me they will cut one month’s salary. And I said ok,” he wrote.
The employee shared details of delayed payments, claiming that his February salary, which was expected in the first week of March, was received only on April 22. He said his March salary was paid in parts, with the remaining amount arriving on June 18.
He added that after his resignation, he was still waiting for one and a half months’ salary, but received only half a month’s payment. He said he had been trying to contact the CEO regarding the pending amount but had not received a response.
After leaving the company, the employee said he returned home, started revising data structures and algorithms, worked on projects and began applying for new jobs. However, he admitted feeling frustrated after not receiving many responses.
“I know ‘This too shall Pass’. I will keep on working on my skills. Just wanted to share my experience here. Feel free to give any advice,” he wrote.
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The post sparked discussions among Reddit users, with many sharing advice on handling startup uncertainty, delayed salaries and career transitions.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)