‘Why Join IT When You Can Become a Driver & Earn More?’: Engineer Shares Response

In an age where ingenuity and skill can get you to climb up the financial ladder faster, it is often tough to choose between mainstream career alternatives and jobs that require minimal cognitive effort but manage to pay the bills.

A very interesting question on Quora asked, “Why are people still joining TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, and several other IT companies or any other private companies when they have understood that even a tea stall owner or Ola drivers earn more than them?”

Food for thought indeed.

Nakul Patekar, an engineer, answered this by citing his own example, as he shared the same thinking when he joined his first company in 2013.

Belonging to a low-income family, he wondered if becoming an Ola driver, for instance, would help him earn more. Through the answer, he shares an approximate figure of an Ola driver’s salary compared to what he was earning in the same period.

Nakul says he was initially unhappy with this low income but a mentor managed to change his thinking process. “I started working on my skills and completed my certification in Java programming,” he said.

Six months later, he was earning a salary of Rs 21,000 and after successful completion of a year, the figure increased to Rs 30,000. He says that an Ola driver who presumably would have started with a salary figure of Rs 50,000 would earn Rs 55,000 after a year.

After completing two years, Nakul had job offers from prestigious MNCs to consider and was constantly upgrading his skills and looking for options to grow.

“Now in 2022, my current package is Rs 2 lakh per month, and at this point, the fictitious Ola driver would be earning Rs 80,000, according to the assumptions we began with.”

Keen Passion is a Driving Force

Pointing to the reason he did not resort to becoming a driver, but invested time and effort in upgrading his skills and getting into IT, he says, “My total income from other sources is more than my salary, so technically I don’t need to work for money. But I’m still working and will continue in the IT industry because I love to solve problems and develop software solutions that help millions of people.”

Smart investments are another angle that this engineer speaks of. “Since childhood, I experienced tough financial conditions and this made me respect money and spend it very carefully,” says Nakul, noting that out of the handsome figure he earns, he spends only Rs 10,000 each month and the rest goes towards investments.

The engineer has purchased new farmland and constructed a large pond for water storage. He also practices fish farming and his farm is flourishing with coconut trees, sweet limes, mangoes, papayas, etc. Additionally, he has a construction business set up for his brother who completed construction projects worth more than Rs 50 lakh.

All these points to how one can increase their sources of income by smart thinking and planning, whether they choose to be tea stall owners or even join the corporate sector.

Read the complete answer on Quora here

Edited by Yoshita Rao