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Techie earning ₹11 LPA questions pay after new hire gets ₹18 LPA: 'Feel like I’ve been taken for granted'
Despite consistently performing well, the techie said that recently discovered a new hire with three years of experience had joined at ₹18 LPA.
A Reddit post is going viral after a techie shared their frustration over being underpaid compared to a new hire with similar experience. The post, titled “Joined at 8.5 LPA, now at 11 LPA after 2 years… new hire with 3 YOE joined at 18 LPA. Am I being underpaid?”, was shared by a 2023 graduate with two years of experience at their current company.
The employee explained that they joined as a fresher through campus placements at ₹8.5 lakh per annum and recently received a promotion to ₹11 lakh per annum. Despite consistently performing well, they discovered a new hire with three years of experience had joined at ₹18 LPA.
“From what I’ve seen over the last 4 months, he hasn’t contributed a single line to the codebase yet, honestly, I don’t even know what he does most of the time,” the Redditor wrote.
“This has made me wonder if I’m being underpaid just because I came in as a fresher through campus placements. I’ve been performing well ,solving customer tickets, taking on complex tasks, context switching across topics, and even leading team workshops. My manager recently told me in my annual review that I’m “doing great,” have holistic knowledge of the application and processes, and take complete ownership rather than just closing topics,” he continued.
However, the user went on to express frustration at the apparent pay gap. “when I subtly asked about my hike %, he said I’ll know once HR sends out the mail. I’ve always trusted my manager and never worried much about hikes, but now after hearing about new hires with more or less the same experience making so much more, I feel like I’ve been taken for granted,” they wrote.
Concluding the post, the user raised questions about fairness. “Is this normal? Am I being underpaid? And how do I even bring this up with my manager I’m honestly very shy when it comes to discussing hikes,” the original poster wrote.
Social media reactions
Since being shared, the post has sparked a discussion online, with many users suggesting the user to switch jobs.
“Unfortunately this is very common in the IT industry. If you switch to a new company, you will endup on the higher pay grade than an existing employee with similar experience. If you like the work culture and good scopr to learn, have an open conversation with your manager. If the outcome is not meeting your expectations, start looking out for a new job,” one user suggested.
“If you are not happy with what you're earning or if you feel you can get more elsewhere then try to switch. There will always be someone who is getting paid more than you,” commented another.
“You might be getting underpaid compared to him. But compensation goes through cycle of you work hard get underpaid and then after sometime you get over paid. You both are on different cycles. If you want to earn more quickly switch is the only way,” said a third user.
