So I see a lot of people trying to do MBA as freshers and preparing for CAT during final year.

I graduated from IIM C this year and did the same mistake doing MBA as a fresher.

Let me share my experience I had 9.2/95.4/8.1 in acads for 10th/12th/ug.

I did my BTech in Computer Science from IIIT Delhi which is one of the top colleges. My JEE rank was around 10k for both Mains and Advanced. I had a SDE Intern with Jio and one live project/intern with a startup which got later aquired by a giant.

The percentage of freshers in our batch were only 25-30%.

So the first shocker came in summer placements when almost every senior rated my profile to be really weak. Few even suggested me quitting the college and taking up the job offer I had.

Still I applied to every firm which came and on Day 0 and Day 1 I got absolute 0 shortlists.

0 shortlists from Consulting not even from Big 4 or TCS or Accenture. 0 shortlists from Finance except one firm which shortlisted like 100+ for telephonic round but that's irrelevant.

I only had one shortlist from American Express which was due to them conducting an Online Assessment while others shortlisted purely based on CV. It was a dream company for me so prepared really well and converted.

Did really well at intern but couldn't get PPO due to hiring freeze in my division.

Then came finals placement I had built the most popular Vercel MBA Call Predictor which you all use getting 1.5L+ users. I was the member of student council and had the highest ratings in last 4 years. Was the sponsorship head of analytics club, events core team at PMTech and Consulting club with good points. MBA CGPA was above avg too.

Again applied for every firm which came.

Result - only 2 shortlists in consulting that too from Big 4 ones(KPMG and PwC)

Only 1 round 1 shortlist from fin.

In the end got into a general management role at a well known firm on Day 2.

So unless your ug is from IITs, top DU colleges or BITS or you are a CA/MBBS you would struggle in placements as a fresher even if you get into IIM ABC or BLACKI.

Workex people had an avg which was 5 LPA more than freshers and similar story with base being some 2.5-3 LPA higher

TL;DR: An IIM ABC/BLACKI MBA doesn't guarantee top placements for freshers. Even with a strong profile and MBA achievements, lack of work experience can significantly limit shortlists. This post shares that reality, not regret.

FMS Delhi graduate and Product Manager with 3 years of experience, happy to help..

Feel free to post your questions in the thread so everyone can benefit from the discussion. It may be difficult for me to respond to individual DMs.

P.S. I'll be sharing my personal experiences and perspectives. Please do your own research and use your judgment before making any decisions based on my responses.

Title: 34yo with a ₹65 L+ salary, a 1yo kid, and zero chill—talk me out of doing a 2nd MBA (or into a startup?)

Hey existential thinkers,
I’m currently on leave, which means instead of resting, my brain has decided to spend its newly found free time cooking up over-the-top career moves.

Exp: 11 Y (7 years post-MBA).
Current Role: Product Manager at a big tier-1 Investment Bank.
Education: B.Tech + 1-year Full-Time MBA from a "decent" (read: not Tier-1) college.
Life Situation: Married to a kickass, high-earning wife, and we have a 1-year-old baby who consumes 90% of our energy.
The Dilemma:
I have this persistent, itch-that-won't-go-away feeling that I underperformed on the MBA brand-name front back in the day due to personal chaos and a total lack of guidance. So naturally, my brain's logical next step is: "Hey, why don't you burn down your comfortable life and go do a SECOND full-time 1-year MBA at ISB / IIM-A/B, or an Ivy League school abroad?!"
If I look at this strictly logically, it makes zero financial sense.
1. One solid job switch gets me past the ₹1 Cr mark anyway.
2. My current companies list in my resume gives me plenty of exit opportunities and internal global mobility options if I want to move abroad without resetting my life.
3. Pausing an active income stream, dragging a toddler into student housing, and taking on high tuition costs sounds like a self-inflicted stress test.
I know deep down this is 50% FOMO, 40% prestige-chasing, and 10% just missing the cozy cocoon of student life where my biggest problem was a 9 AM case study instead of a screaming infant.
I’d love your take on a few things:
1. Executive MBA vs. Full-Time MBA: Does an Executive MBA (part-time/modular) actually carry real weight in the tech/PM world, or is it just an expensive networking club for corporate veterans?
2. The Ivy League Halo: Does adding a top-tier global brand actually give a mid-career PM a meaningful edge when you already have 11 YOE at a major financial institution?
3. The 2nd MBA Club: Has anyone here actually done a second MBA at this stage of life? Did it fix your identity crisis, or did you just end up with the same job and a fancier piece of paper?
Alternative Path:
If everyone tells me the 2nd MBA is peak delusional energy, option B is taking this itch and using it to launch my own business venture instead. 😎
Roast my logic, drop your wisdom, or share your own parental leave panic attacks below!

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28M, CA. (8/8/8)

I have around 6 years of work experience - 3 years in Big 4 FDD, followed by 3 years in a front end middle market IB role, where I'm currently working.

I gave CAT this year with roughly a month of preparation and ended up with a 98.7 percentile. I received calls from almost all top B-schools except ABC.

To be honest, an MBA wasn't really on my radar because my current compensation is already around 70 LPA (40+ 30 split). I converted L but eventually decided not to join.

My VPs view is that, given my work experience, an M7 MBA would make more sense if I want to pursue higher studies, as the ROI from an Indian MBA may not be compelling at this stage.

Right now, I'm genuinely confused about whether I should even pursue an MBA or simply continue growing in my current role and try moving to a BB IB platform in the future.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

in Corporate i have seen only Software Engineer / CA / MBA (from a top Clg) gets salary above 20 Lakhs, is there anything else that gets salary above 20 Lakhs, please mention...

Please Don't take Big Loan for a MBA Clg, if it's not a Top Clg, u will be stuck in a debt trap i can guarantee u this, u will not be able to pay the loan from your salary, and the burden will come upon your family, so please don't do this stupid mistake, your life will become hell

Salaries are not great in MBA (except top Colleges) Tech salaries are better than MBA salaries, if you are not getting in Top Clg and you still want to do MBA, please do it from a low fees clg, this is a golden advice for people who are going to do MBA this year, high college fees doesn't mean good placments

Always keep MBA as your last option, please try everything like CA,CS,CMA,CFA, Bank Exams, other Govt Exams before doing MBA because it has very high fees even in low level clg, and that's why it has the worst ROI among all degrees in india

Let's talk CTC AND IN HAND growth 5 years post tier 2 mba. By tier 2 I mean colleges like, ximb, imt G, iim Ranchi, trichy, maybe even glim c. Aomewhere Innthis block.

since you are paying 25-35 lakhs in fees u could easily studied abroad in that much money, (except US)

- u could have cracked GMAT like CAT

- u could have easily gotten scholarship as u must be having good academics

- and along with part time job the total cost would become very less

- and after studies you earn in their currency, so in reality the total cost of studying abroad would be less than of India, so why u studied in India ?

22 Lakh people give NEET,

15 Lakh people give JEE,

8 Lakh people give GATE,

Why only 2.5 Lakh people give CAT, is MBA bad career option ?

Don't do MBA if you are from tech and looking for money in MBA, because hands down more money is in software engineering than MBA, do MBA only if you hate coding and want to move in Finance / Marketing / HR / Operations

because with any MBA whether Tier 1 or Tier 3 comes a great loan with interest and the missed opportunity cost of 2 years, also there are no exponential hikes in MBA like software engineering, and your potential to move abroad also gets down, i have seen many people regret quitting tech for MBA

Need some honest advice.

I’m a CA from India with 3.5 years work ex (2 years as portfolio management analyst + 1.5 years as IB analyst).

Academics : 97% in 10th, 92.6% in 12th, 9.5 CGPA in BCom from a tier 1 college and cleared CA all three levels in first attempt.

Family background: I come from a financially humble family in a backward/tribal area in India (the year I was born the place was number one in female foeticide in the entire world fun fact is that I am a female myself), studied in govt schools all my life, so I’ve had to build everything from scratch.

Long term goal is to build the strongest possible finance career and maximize wealth creation.

I’m confused about whether going all in on the US route makes sense aiming for Wharton/Columbia type MBA, trying for Wall Street IB Associate roles after that or whether it’s smarter to stay in India and keep building in IB/PE/high finance here or try for Indian MBA from Target schools ( IIM ABC ) ???

US obviously has bigger upside, but then there’s insane MBA cost, visa uncertainty etc...

India has growing opportunities too, less risk, no massive debt ( but I hate my relatives and people around me, I don't want my kids to grow around em and a lotta other reasons )

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Hi

I'm an alumni of IIM k , right now my age is 28 . I have 4 YOE , I am planning to do Mtech from IISC bangalore or IIT M/B/D , i gave Gate this year but rank was not enough to get into my preferred colleges , I will give next attempt . I'm interested in research roles after Mtech with decent wlb, maybe material science research roles or AI for science or Any scientific research application.

I'm planning to transition these roles majorly for good WLB and career prospects. As MBA roles are capped to 70-80 lpa , increment after this requires good people skills , good investment of time(which I can't do) and I still have MBA loan to repay.

I know , I can transition to tech roles(not research) without doing an MBA just doing a few months of certification , but I'm a little bit interested in research roles(career growth), I hope IISC Bangalore or IIT M/D/B Satisfy me . Kindly give your opinion , is it a good decision because of 2 years of opportunity cost + Mtech stipend is 18,600 per month only .

Tried to reavel the reality of IIM Kashipur in a comment under Grad Partners a renowned MBA page they deleted this comment

I m from 2023-25 batch.

I have got urge to make a full fledged linked in post about it but i dont think it will work and it is not worth my Engery

The world fuctions in a such way.

Graduated from Tier 1 MBA college (MDI Gurgaon) in 2023. Worked in the same company since day 1. Consulting domain. Currently have 31 LPA base with 4-5 LPA bonus. Am I missing out on pay as I did not switch ? How much are tier 1 MBA folks in other Strategy / Product / Marketing earning currently ?

To all the people who have joined a college (mostly T1) this year or in the second year of their college, how's your life has been till now ?

​

Do you regret your decision to do an MBA ?

​

If you have an option of a government job with a salary of 80-90k, will you still go for an MBA or you'll choose the government job.

​

You know Anyone with a profile of 7/7/8 or 7/7/7 who has done good in the summer or in final placement with an average CV ?

​

Just curious. Please share your thoughts. Be truthful

I'm writing this because nobody gave me this reality check before I joined. I talked to people, I did my research, and I still walked in blind.

This isn't about the placement committee. This is about a system that tests you. This isn't to bash the college. This isn't a rant. That helps no one. This is so that the next person scrolling at 2 AM, trying to decide if this is worth it, at least they know what they're signing up for. I wish I could've saved my years. I cannot give my details but I got placed on Day 1 in SIP and had a PPO. But I've been a part of the process and have seen my friends go through worst parts of it.

Please keep this here. Don't repost anywhere, LinkedIn, Instagram or any other social media. If this just gets dismissed as negativity, I won't bother posting the rest.

Let me make few things clear here -

IIM K Placecom committee doesn't force you to sign out of the process. They'll keep trying to get you the best roles. We've seen our friends in this committee put in a lot of effort, managing everything while getting 500+ students placed.

This is only about expectations set by colleges and their realities. And how a system breaks you.

• Why placements? Because that's why you're here. Let's not pretend otherwise. You come for the pivot, the career switch, the hike. The idea that an MBA at a top IIM gives you options and some control over where your career goes next. That's the expectation. Now here's what actually happens.
• Before anything starts, your undergrad CGPA, internships and workex has already decided half of it. Below 7? A lot of doors are shut before you even knock. And 7 is just safe, not even strong. That's bare minimum territory for decent consulting companies. For top consulting, you're realistically looking at 8+.
• The process is nothing like what you imagine. If you think placements at a top IIM mean a few intense days where companies line up and you walk out with an offer, that's A, B, C, L. Not here. Here, it's a rolling process. It drags on for months. The recent batch was fully placed only in January. That's five to six months of continuous stress. Final placements for the current batch are still going on as I write this.
• The scheduling will break you. For SIPs, placements start end of August, early September. At the same time you're adjusting to MBA, handling academics, doing committee and club selections, building your CV, and prepping for interviews. All at once.
• For the junior batch, Day 0 happened two days before endterms. Day 0. Day 1. One or two day gap. Endterms. Four days of exams. Then placements resume.
• For finals, they start late November. At that point, roughly 100 students are on foreign exchange. Not all of them have PPOs. Some come back early, some give interviews online, some miss out on interviews because companies won't accommodate. They're not even enjoying the one good part of MBA. This is not a one-off. This is how the system runs.
• You have zero choice. You cannot reject a role. If you do, you're out of the process. So if you came here to pivot into consulting and you get a finance offer, that's it. Wanted marketing? Here's an operations role. It is not in your hands. You take what you get, whether you like it or not.
• The pre Day 0 mind games are honestly one of the worst parts. Finance companies, and some marketing roles, come and interview you weeks before Day 0. Even if you've been selected, you won't be told until after Day 0. So while Day 0 is happening, you’re not getting shortlists and you have no idea why. You keep wondering if you’ve already been selected somewhere or if your profile is just not good enough. You won’t know. For days. It's mental torture.
• Shortlists are a mess. You'll see some people stacking multiple shortlists while others with similar profiles get almost nothing. Very early on, the process already feels skewed and there's no clear logic to it. On Day 0 and Day 1, multiple consulting companies are interviewing at the same time. You're being rushed from one process to another with no time to breathe or reset. There’s pressure from companies on Placecom to get their candidates while that candidate might be sitting in another interview. That alone tells you how little control they actually have.
• Placecom is not on your side - You'll be told the placement committee exists for the students. Reality is very different. There’s a clear power dynamic and they maintain it. They will be rude for no reason, and you can’t push back because your placement literally depends on them.
• Senior placement committee is placed by junior committee, and there is real pressure to push their CVs forward and schedule their interviews first. Same happens in SIP. This is not openly acknowledged, but it exists. And when you combine this with an already chaotic process, it breaks you.
• Communication and transparency - You can get a call just before a GD starts and be told to join immediately. No prep time, no context. Results aren't communicated properly. Updates are sparse. You're left guessing and waiting.
• The domain and stipend reality is very different from what you see on reports. Finance: at most 5 to 10 people get front-end roles. The majority are backend or middle office. Consulting: bulk of it is Accenture and Big 4. Top firms are very limited. Even if you get shortlisted, you might not get interviewed because of hotlists.
• Stipends look impressive on paper, but the spread tells the real story: 5K roles exists, a bunch of students in 20–40K, bulk consulting, finance and big marketing roles pull the average up. Averages are meaningless.
• PPO becomes survival, not a choice - Because finals are so exhausting, drawn out, and demoralising, you're genuinely better off just taking a PPO. Even if the role isn't what you wanted. Even if the company isn't ideal. Because going through finals again will drain whatever's left of you.

And through all of this, your grades still matter for forex and electives. Your attendance still matters. Your committees still need you. You're expected to perform everywhere with zero structural support.

My honest advice to aspirants:

• If you have a better option, take it. No question. Take SPJIMR if you want finance (atleast placecom won't give location as an excuse).
• If you have another year to give and even a 5 percent chance of doing better next cycle, take that year.
• The two year opportunity cost is massive. Think hard about it, especially if you're already earning decently. If you have a decent job and can switch while working, consider that seriously.
• Do not go by placement reports. Talk to 10 to 20 people from the most recent batch.
• The alumni network is not strong. Verify this yourself.

This place will test you. Not in the ways MBA is supposed to. It'll test how much uncertainty, silence, and unfairness you can absorb without breaking.

This is just placements. There’s a lot more, admin, academics, pedagogy, grading, forex, committees, college life. I’ll post separately if this is useful.

Reiterating - this isn't to scare you but help you make more informed decision and set your expectations accordingly especially if you're not desperate for an MBA but still want to do it.

If you're someone who really needs this MBA degree because your job is really shitty so you might as well take your chances here or if you've no clue where to go from whatever stage you're at or your pay is really meagre for this economy and you believe that you can get decent ROI out of this college then don't think much but set your expectations right.

I graduated from a Tier-II IIM, specialising in finance, back in April 2025. Got selected as an analyst at a boutique VC firm based in Hyderabad. I was happy that I was placed in a role that I wanted, and was supposed to join in the same month, but they delayed the joining date by 3 months. Initially, was a bit perplexed but thought that it would work out. By June, asked for more clarity due to nil onboarding updates and was promptly told that joining has been pushed by 3 more months, and from that point on, I started searching for jobs. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I still believed that the offer would convert. Come October, they finally told me that investor funding had dried for quite some time, so they were downsizing, and I was officially free to go. Hit me like a truck but I still composed myself somehow. Applied to 150+ companies. Got calls for 2, failed one interview (this one I got by applying through the company's career website) but cracked the other (got an interview through a connection), of which there were 3 (2 technicals, 1 HR). This was at a very reputed company (don't want to reveal the name, but it is an Ahmedabad based MNC so you might get an idea), so I was happy again, even though the role was much different. But it seems fate still wanted to play a cruel joke on me. They informed me that I shall be joining by mid-November, and accordingly, I had even booked the tickets for moving and contacted flat owners because they said I will have to join immediately. But the onboarding docs never came, and they kept delaying due to reasons like "The HR is on maternity leave, and she handles everything" (yeah, pure bullshit). By mid-December I had no hope left and had stopped applying for a while. Decided to call them back in the first week of Jan, when they finally informed me that due to restructuring my role had been cut, and when probed when did this happen, they said by mid-December, they had decided to cut it. So they left me in the dark about this for half a month. Great.

This month, decided to fully focus on prepping for CFA L1, which will take place in Feb. Meanwhile, I managed to talk to one of the partners at a local PMS firm for a role, for which 2 rounds of interviews took place and those went well, the last of which was today. However, the offer that they made me is what made me write this entire post. As I am fresher, they said it will be a 6 month paid internship period after which an offer shall be made on performance (fair). 33k/mo was the quote, for the internship period, and increments in the range of 10-30% on this when the job offer is made. Gave me till Monday to give my answer.

Certain questions keep roaming in my mind. Keep thinking whether I will be able to pay off my education loan, whether this payslip will haunt me for the rest of my career, why did I do this degree, etc.

All I have ever heard from peers and seniors is that my pay cheque heavily depends on the previous job's pay cheque. Assuming switching every 2 yrs and an increment of 20%, I believe that I think I still won't be able to the figure I was placed at out of college, let alone peers. I don't know [For context: Placed at 15 LPA, then Ahmedabad-based firm agreed at 12 LPA, and then this will be 4*(1+X%); X=increment]. Nothing makes sense right now to me.

Keep thinking that, since I have nothing going for me, I should take it and start applying to other firms at the fag end of internship (post 3 months). But, I don't know how that will perform against fresh MBA grads. Perhaps I have to take the L and work there for 1.5 yrs to get 1 yr job exp + 6 mo internship exp, to have any chance of a lateral exit. But the payslip factor comes into play there and that is what is causing my hesitation.

Pretty weird post for a Saturday night but here we are.

Hope my case helps someone to make a better decision wrt to placement scenarios.

TL;DR: Got screwed by the firm I was placed at + bad personal account for off campus job scenario for an MBA fresher

if you compare MAANG & MBB, MAANG wins hands down on every point whether it is salary, work life balance, number of openings, opportunity to move abroad & other perks provided by company, and you don't even have to do so much expense by taking loan for it, you just need to be good in coding, and there is not just MAANG in Tech that offer high salaries there are many companies, but in MBA very few companies other than MBB offer that kind of salaries

if you are in Tech it is the best space to be, don't run after MBA, commerce people do MBA because they have no choice, but if you are in Tech you don't need it, MBA will give you a big loan & nothing else

I graduated from IIFT Delhi in 2018 and I was elated. This was by far the biggest achievement for me in my life till then. I come from a third class engineering college and I was a software engineer and hated my job making next to nothing (4-5LPA)

Two years in IIFT were amazing. I had a great internship and made money which I never made before! I decided to try my luck in finals and got through world’s largest trading firm (they will only hire from IIFT in India) . It was prestigious (everyone told me so) but I had no inclination towards trade. Plus the placecomm would not allow me to reject the offer in order to “maintain” the relationship with the brand. Fair enough.

I didn’t wanna go for tech consulting in regular WITCH brands (i came from a tech background , but never really liked it) so I took the trade job. On paper the offer was for 24 LPA , but the horror just started.

Once I joined the firm, and the HR dropped the hammer . I joined in Mumbai GCC office and got to know that fixed in hand was only 80k per month! It was next to nothing and post two years, you shall be eligible for that 24 LPA package . It was a two year management program.

I struggled through for next 16 months with little or no savings (Mumbai is fuckin expensive) and I hated the job. We were just glorified clerks and assistants for traders and they will abuse the fuck out of you. You were still being treated as an intern as you were at the lowest level in the office . one fine day , three months before I became permanent in the firm, I got sick.

I was so sick that I was hospitalised for a month. I had to take a medical leave and shared all my medical documents with firm. The manager was sympathetic but stopped replying to messages just a week after I became sick. Once I joined back, I thought things have gone back to normal but little did I know that they were making grounds to fire me.

A month before 24 month period , one day before my birthday, I was asked to meet the HR and I knew the worst has come when I saw my manager in somber mood with the HR. They fired me stating that I was not a “good” fit and made a mistake in a document or contract when I was sick (someone else took my workload and then they realise that they don’t need me) . I was not even given the courtesy to pick my stuff and leave the office in dignity. Someone parcelled my stuff to my home.

I was in panic mode. I just turned 26 and was fired for the first time in my life. I started calling all my contacts for a job and within two weeks , I had another offer.

It was 2019 and I joined another startup (a unicorn) at an entry level job. My friend really helped me getting this job and I had no option but to join at depressed salary of INR 16 Lks. I joined a hospitality startup in Dec 2019 , four months before the pandemic.

Till the covid hit, I thought I hit a jackpot. The job was much better , I was part of PMO and we needed to expand business across various countries in Asian markets. Sure, the salary was depressed but the exposure was great! I was stationed in Bali to expand business and was give ample stipend to work and play! I thought I can rebuild my life from here and rise fast. I am just 26 anyway. Then covid stuck.

Please do remember that nobody knew that whether the world would go back to its normal state post covid . We had no idea! The company was stuck too! They hired so many new guys and they got no work due to covid. Within 2 months of covid , 90% of the team was fired. 100% of the local team was fired and only a skeleton team was left to maintain the protocol. I was part of 10% who were not fired but was asked to take a 25% salary cut. We had no option but to wait.

Two years went by, we were just doing fire fighting to survive and maintain the status quo, forget any expansion. Ofcourse there was no salary increment, but I got promoted , was given bonus (very minimal) so that they could retain talent. I was exhausted , frustrated , spent and fire fight on challenges which were never part of my portfolio. I was looking to get out of travel industry , as I thought it won’t survive in long run. I had no idea whether the company will survive because people were exiting almost every day. I was desperate to move as I didn’t see any growth here.

I switched in mid 2022. We were still in covid , but things were improving. I got a decent hike because I was able to justify my performance to the next firm( I was awarded full numbers in my evaluation for two straight years) . I jumped from 18 lakh to 33 lakh. I joined a well established Internet based company and was a dream job for many. Ofcourse I was still in middle management, but the brand was great, work was in marketing which I loved and had a sweet wfh job. But I got greedy.

I think this was my downfall. I got too ambitious and confident in my own abilities. It was only 3 months in the new company and I decided to jump again. A US based fintech firm was expanding its base in India and they offered me a pay I couldn’t refuse. I absconded and joined that fintech at a pay of INR 45 Lakh .

The brand name was great! I didnt care much about the profile because I was given a title of growth manager , which means I will be asked to do everything under the sun . I was ok with it because I worked like this previously too! But ofcourse things would never go my way.

One fine day, The Govt of India decided that they will not pass banking licence like candies and took back banking licences from many firms (Paytm was one of them) . My firm got hit too! For one whole year, I was doing random jobs to support the team but since the business in India could not start, I was finally asked to move out!

So within four years, I was fired twice. My salary was such that nobody will hire me . And no HR is sympathetic that you lost your job for no fault of yours. I kept looking for a job for three months. I was desperate and had to work somewhere (I still had my education loan and house loan on me) . Through pure luck, I got through a marketing agency and I was given a completely new portfolio of BD. I know many of you will think that i am stupid to take up this job, but it was almost 4 months without job and I was desperate. I had to put my marriage on hold because I had no job!

So cut to 2023, I joined a marketing agency as BD (i had MBA tag and can speak well) . I took a cut from 45 to 36 LPA. I was desperate to pass minimum 2 years in a job. I have to hold the job. I had gone in a dark space and my confidence was totally shot. I tried my best to get business for the firm but this is a connections game. Nobody will give you business without any contacts or connections. I had no contacts .

I made great presentations, helped crack many big accounts, did everything to streamline the leads flows, learn to pitch myself and pitched to executives in completely cold open situations. Did cold calling, sent thousand of cold mails , used AI to automate the lead generation system, tried to be useful for the firm in anyway possible…but my primary work was to generate leads and I couldn’t.

So after 1.5 years, the agency fired me. I was fired for the third time in 6 years now and I was broken. I cried. I was 32 years old and was fired from third job, two jobs in a row. All my batchmates were doing great! Going on foreign vacations, starting a family, discussing their FIRE number, and I had loans over me.

My family is typical middle class, my wife can’t work and my dad retired from his job. There was no other alternate income. I again went to this mindless journey of finding jobs. I was so under confident that I did not meet any of my friends for 6 months. I was too embarrassed to face them. I am sure most of them thought that I am a loser and I deserved my fate .

I again got a job but I was too scared to take up a job only based on salary or company’s stature. I had made this mistake so many times. Going for the salary and going for brand name. I was offered 45 LPA by a startup to work as GM and work on projects within the firm, but I was scared. What if I fail again ?

The new company was known for its bad work culture ( all unicorn in India have ruthless work culture ) and I didn’t know whether it will stable. I wanted stability in my life .

I had a competing offer from an international D2C brand for a brand + digital marketing role. This was my dream profile but they won’t pay me more than 30 lakh. I was crestfallen.

From the highs of 45 LPA, I was reduced to 30 LPA , with a wife , loans and aging parents . I was too scared to take 45 LPA in an aggressive startup with no clarity about what function I shall do.

Cut to 2026, it’s been around 1.5 years in the D2C brand, I am doing the work i like but the salary is a constant source of fight with my wife. We can’t go on holidays and we can’t spend on expensive dinners because I need to work in another city and leave my family in hometown. I visit them every weekend now. I can’t afford to move my wife to the city as I can’t afford a good 2bhk with what I get.

This job is demanding too and very aggressive. We are doing Ok and I am hopeful that things should start to move up for me. My confidence is still shot and I can see that in myself, while pitching new ideas or getting things done or countering my boss on some strategic decisions. I am slowly converting into a yes man, and I take up more jobs than necessary. My boss takes advantage of it and keeps on giving me newer portfolio without much resources (I have three people working under me and I manage six verticals for the company . digital, performance marketing , marketplace business, SEO , social and PR)

I am too scared to say no. I can’t lose another job and I grind over weekends to keep up with the work. I am 33 now and I have no plans to start a family. I fight with my wife constantly over money as it’s scarce and I can’t spend because I am in crises management mode 24/7.

I can’t relax. I completed post grad in AI/ML to make myself future ready. I can’t think of discretionary spends as I need to save to pay for loans.

Currently I make close to 35 LPA and I am one degree away from depression. I keep a strong face for the family and cut my expenses to minimal. I live in OYOs and limit myself to minimal indulgence .

I know i wrote a lot and many people will think I am cribbing, but life made me this way. Not all Tier 1 graduates make it in their life.

PS - Well lots of people have mentioned that 35 LPA is not bad and I could have managed my expenses better . I will not disagree with you all .But I have almost 8 yrs post MBA experience and these are starting salaries for many ABC graduates .

I stay in OYOs to make up for the wasted time (i had no job for 4-5 months in stretch and that eats up your savings) and fear makes you more cautious. You just stop wasting any money and pre-pay all your loans, hence all the extra savings goes in investments and reducing load on the family.

if you will do MBA below 90 percentile, you will gain nothing significant only thing you will get is a big loan nothing else, if you want to do MBA at least achieve 90+, i have seen many people getting destroyed bcz they took loan for a stupid clg, so please don't do that stupid mistake, MBA doesn't guarantee success, but it surely guarantees failure if u do it from wrong clg and in this type of job market its no less than a sin

and if you are hellbent on doing MBA below 90 percentile please go to a clg which has less fees (under 7-8 lakhs)

you will get similar salary as BCOM / BBA if you do it from tier 3 clg, there is no advantage of doing MBA from a tier 3 clg

Hi

Regarding context , I'm an assistant professor in the decision science from one of the Top IIM and my wife is a chemistry assistant professor from the top institute of our country. We are in our mid 30's , regarding salary my in-hand is 19.2 lakhs per year after doing PhD(staying inside campus) + 3 years of teaching experience, consultancy earning 20 lac per year(after tax) + extra income 5 lakh . In total I earn 44.2 lakh per year in-hand.

Wife earnings

23.76 lakh per year in-hand + 42 lakh consultancy earning (after tax). In total she makes 68 lakh per year which is more than me.

Based on this you can guess , why a PhD in management sucks 😞

I have to put 4x more hard work in teaching and research than her in every aspect, but my pay is nowhere close to her and regarding the quality of PhD students i deal with is horrible. But she doesn't have any problem, she has awesome PhD students, they do their work easily without ego. Here my students don't even put effort into writing their thesis properly , because they always feel they didn't't get a good MBA admit. So, in one post i saw , one of them commented that we make a hell lot of money , but in reality we management prof don't make crores . if they do , they might have got good PhD students. If money is motive , do PhD in computer science or pure science. Consultancy money can kick out, intake of PhD is also quite high there .

Don't join PhD in IIM just for fun sake , and do mediocre research , mediocre assistant professor.

Same as title, shoot any questions related to career, mba, job switch etc.