A techie recently turned to Reddit for advice after finding himself caught between a ₹57 LPA fully remote role and an ₹84 lakh compensation package that requires weekly travel to Bengaluru. The engineer, who said he is currently a Senior Software Engineer at a profitable US-based Series F startup, laid out the details of his situation, saying that he is looking for “brutally honest advice” from the community.
In his post, the techie explained that his existing role offers a ₹57 lakh base salary with no bonus. He works completely remotely from Madurai and takes home around ₹3.24 lakh a month.
He shared that the new offer is for a Staff Software Engineer position at a major public US SaaS company. It includes a ₹62 lakh base salary, a target bonus of ₹6.2 lakh and around $50,000 (approximately ₹48 lakh) worth of RSUs over three years. The techie revealed that his monthly take-home would be around ₹3.76 lakh.
However, he said that “the catch” is that the new role requires him to work from the company’s Bengaluru office in Bellandur two days a week.
Techie plans weekly train commute
{{/usCountry}}Techie plans weekly train commute
{{/usCountry}}The techie said that rather than relocating to Bengaluru, he is considering keeping his family base in Madurai and travelling between the two cities every week. His plan involves taking an overnight train to Bengaluru on Monday night, working from the office on Tuesday and Wednesday, and taking an overnight train back to Madurai on Wednesday night. He estimated that the arrangement would involve around 40 round trips a year and nearly 20 hours of train travel every week.
Seeking advice on Reddit, he asked whether such a commute for one or two years would affect his health and productivity. “Will the sleep fragmentation completely destroy my health/productivity?” he asked.
The techie also said that he is considering using the Bengaluru offer to negotiate with his current employer. "I could leverage this offer to ask my current employer for a Staff promotion at a ₹65L- ₹68L base + a heavy ESOP refresher to stay fully remote," the post said.
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What did social media say?
Reddit users were divided over the decision.
One user wrote, “Hey, I have a similar requirement to go to the office twice a week. I’ll tell you this - it’s exhausting. On Thursday, I drive for 4h and then work for 9h. And on Friday, I work for 9h and then drive for 4h. I’d happily do this if it was an occasional requirement since full WFH could get boring at times. But every week will feel like a chore. I have no energy or time to upskill.”
“The train option will impact your physical and mental health!! I would not recommend that,” commented another.
“Why do you want to suffer for barely any increase from your current pay? Who is going to pay for the accommodation in Bangalore? That’s 4 trips a month that you need to pay for at least 2 days of stay, outside food, and hectic travel. It’s simply not worth it,” wrote a third user.
However, one user suggested, “The salary difference is too much to even consider the remote work. Definitely go for the Banglore Hybrid offer, at that payscale the commute is indeed worth it.”
“I had 5 days office in Bangalore, I used to come to Hyderabad (my hometown) 2-3 times a month on weekends, it is definitely doable. It gets very tiring and annoying at a point, but I did it for close to a year. I had no mental/physical health issues in that time period,” said another.
(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.)