Mumbai-born software engineer Santosh Yadav has shared the remarkable story of his rise from living in a slum for nearly three decades to building an international career in technology and eventually moving to Germany. Yadav today works as the Principal Developer Advocate at CodeRabbit in Germany, and is known in the developer community as an Angular Google Developer Expert (GDE), GitHub Star, open-source contributor and international speaker.
On Monday, he shared a now-viral X post showing two pictures of him and his wife. The first one was taken in 2012, and the second in 2026. The post led to several comments on their transformation and also prompted Yadav to share a blog post about his journey.
Growing up in a Mumbai slum
Yadav said he spent most of his early life in a Mumbai slum and struggled academically during his school years.
“I was born in Mumbai and lived in a slum as long as I can remember,” he wrote.
A self-described cricket enthusiast, he performed poorly in his Class 10 examinations and was unable to secure admission into a science programme. A chance suggestion from one of his father's friends, however, introduced him to diploma courses, leading him to choose computer science.
Struggling with English and studies
The transition was far from easy. “English is not my native language,” Yadav wrote, recalling how he struggled to understand lessons and was mocked for his accent.
{{/usCountry}}The transition was far from easy. “English is not my native language,” Yadav wrote, recalling how he struggled to understand lessons and was mocked for his accent.
{{/usCountry}}“I remember crying in a class because I couldn't understand a thing, and I was scared to fail again.”
Determined not to repeat past disappointments, he stopped playing cricket, isolated himself from friends and focused entirely on his studies. His grades gradually improved, rising from around 50% in his first year to more than 60% by the end of his diploma.
“I learned that if you decide to achieve something, you can and will do it. Never give up,” he said. “For example, I remember when one of my classmates made fun of my accent – I took it as a challenge and improved it.”
Family crisis nearly ends education
While pursuing a computer science degree from Mumbai University, Yadav faced another major setback when his father lost his job and could no longer afford the annual college fees.
“He asked me to start looking for a job as he could not afford to pay the fee for my CS degree which was around 42k (550 USD) per year,” he recalled.
The news left him devastated. “I was crying the entire night and couldn't sleep,” Yadav remembered.
His mother's response became one of the defining moments of his life.
“The next day my mom, who noticed me crying, spoke to my dad – she said ‘Do whatever you want to do, but my son is going to continue his studies.’ My dad agreed, and with the help of my uncle (my dad's big brother) I was able to continue,” said Yadav.
Entering the workforce during the recession
Just as he completed college with a degree in Computer Science, the 2008 global financial crisis hit, making jobs difficult to find. After several months of searching, Yadav secured his first role with a salary of just ₹5,000 per month.
“I realized I really enjoyed coding, and I fell in love with C#,” he wrote.
Over the next few years, he moved through different roles, continuously learning new technologies and doubling his salary through skill development and persistence. By 2010, he had found a job paying him ₹12,000 per month.
“I joined a startup in August 2011, and went on to work there for the next 5 years. The pay was good, and I got more than a 50% raise when I joined. And I finally had insurance provided by the company and PF too,” he revealed.
Building a better life
As his career progressed, Yadav moved to Pune in 2016 with his wife, where he worked for multinational companies and began writing technical blogs, conducting training sessions and contributing to the developer community.
He encouraged professionals not to sacrifice family life for work.
“If you are reading this, please spend time with family. You don't get paid to work more than 8 hours,” he wrote.
Open-source success and global recognition
A turning point came in 2019 when Yadav began contributing to open-source projects such as Angular and NgRx.
Despite starting relatively late, he quickly established himself within the community.
“It doesn't matter when you start contributing to open source,” he wrote. “It's never too late to start.”
The same year, he delivered his first conference talk and was invited to apply for the Google Developer Expert programme. On November 13, 2019 — his birthday — he was officially announced as a Google Developer Expert for Angular.
In 2020, he became India's first GitHub Star after being nominated by fellow developers.
“I was the first one from India,” he wrote. “More than anything I was happy to see the Indian flag on the GitHub Star profile.”
From Mumbai slum to Germany
The account ends before reaching the present day, but Yadav's career continued to advance after the events described in his post.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he later worked with companies including avodaq AG and Celonis before becoming Principal Developer Advocate at CodeRabbit in Germany in January 2026.
More than 17 years into his career, Yadav remains active in open-source software, has delivered over 50 international talks and continues to mentor developers around the world.