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My first job was in Infosys back in 2001. Coming from a lower-middle class farming family, it was a huge deal. My monthly gross was something my dad (farmer) +

My first job was in Infosys back in 2001. Coming from a lower-middle class farming family, it was a huge deal. My monthly gross was something my dad (farmer) + mom (school teacher) would earn in an entire year. I remember my dad proudly putting a portrait of NR Narayana Murthy (founder of Infosys) on our wall - it is usually reserved for gods/ancestors or revered sages.

spoils19 4y ago
That's awesome to hear! Our family does something similar - we have a line of portraits above our family photos of the various CEOs that have hired us throughout the years - namely coal and oil company owners.
- dlivingston 4y ago
  How interesting, what country are you in and what's the motivation to do so? Similar to parent comment's reason?
FooBarWidget 4y ago
When I see Indian developers, I have in my mind that they're similar to Chinese: the whole village bands together and gather resources to give that one kid a university education and a good job, so that that one kid returns to the village many years later to help people out of poverty.
- rsgrafx 4y ago
  I have an uncle who came from Malaysia to the US in the 70's to do his studies. He was "given the task by his village elders.." as he would say and they did exactly that pooled resources and made sure he finished school. When I heard his story I was so moved. He's built everyone in his village a house, invested in many businesses now, literally changed lives of countless families and friends.
  - devoutsalsa 4y ago
    That's a great story.
  - tmd83 4y ago
    What a beautiful story. Both how the village came together to help him and how he remembered those elders and their contribution. Both are such rare gifts in a jaded world.
- deepzn 4y ago
  not villages necessarily, families look out for each other, everyone's own kin.
  - synergy20 4y ago
    agreed, I feel it's not village-based at all, it's more of kin based, or family based.
  - twawaaay 4y ago
    It is different for different cultures but also depends on mobility. In western world it is currently family but that's because family ties are much more likely to be preserved over time than ties to your village. In other places in the world people are so immobile that they are expected to be born, grow up, work and die in the same village. And so ties to your local community are much more likely to be preserved over time just like ties to your family. It is not that the village replaces your family, it is just another group of people where it makes sense to invest to get something back in the future. Imagine you had tight knit group of friends where you left school but somehow are still able to stick together. If you trusted that this will continue for a long time it would be much easier to invest within the group knowing somebody might help you out later.
  - hutzlibu 4y ago
    In many places, that is allmost the same thing, meaning the village is all extended family.
- hoseja 4y ago
  And too bad when the kid doesn't really want to be a developer.
- Xx25 4y ago
  I lived in Indian villages for several decades. I have never seen a single instance of this "village bands together and gather resources to give that one kid a university education". Of course, people do help each other etc.,
spaceman_2020 4y ago
My FIL funded their maid’s kids education. The son got into a decent engineering school and landed a job at TCS. The daughter studied nursing and got a job at a large chain hospital. The kids bought their mom an apartment and a car. Its just amazing to watch - this woman’s mom, grandmom, aunts, uncles were all peasants or did odd trades. Now because of a single generation, the entire family could dream of middle class dignity.
- deepzn 4y ago
  real cool, thx for sharing!
- retinaros 4y ago
  its amazing. and unfortunately they will be the last generation that will be able to do it. just like for western countries everything will become unaffordable and the middle class wont be able to buy houses
  - dkokelley 4y ago
    I'm not sure of your point, but I think I disagree. The previous comment was about going from poverty to middle class. Why won't this be possible in the future?
    - rowanG077 4y ago
      If India follows the west then it won't be possible for 2 people with education to lift a family out of poverty to middle class. In my country you basically require 2 full-time wages to be able to support a 3 person family. You wouldn't be able to buy an apartment and car for your family. I think that is the point they were making.
      - gravitywave 4y ago
        That's because of idiotic zoning laws that make it nearly impossible to build multi family properties, high density residential, limit the height of skyscrapers and basically forced the entire nation to be a damn suburban hell hole, not because of a land shortage. India hopefully won't make the same idiotic mistakes the NIMBY soccer mom boomers did.
highwaylights 4y ago
For anyone that doesn’t know (although admittedly not particularly relevant, but topical) Narayana Murthy is the FIL of the now-current UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
- vanattab 4y ago
  What is fil?
  - vram22 4y ago
    Father-in-law. Like BIL for Brother-in-law. Apropos, I've always wondered where the terms gf and bf, for girlfriend and boyfriend, came from, i.e. the West, or India. Wonder, because many such short forms come from or are unique to Indian English.
    - titanomachy 4y ago
      gf and bf widely used in the west
      - vram22 4y ago
        Known, before. See my reply to raverbashing.
    - dlivingston 4y ago
      I mean, acronyms are pretty common to the modern English language in general. Is what you're talking about a bit different? Can you dive in a bit?
      - vram22 4y ago
        Sure they are common in modern English. (I only speak that version, being modern myself ;) [1] >Is what you're talking about a bit different? Can you dive in a bit? Sure I can. Thanks for asking. Yes, I was talking about something different. But I seem to have been misunderstood by a few people in this subthread. No worries, it happens. Human languages are not perfect, nor are they always unambiguous. Nor are humans perfect, in writing or interpretation. :) I wrote the comment casually, so did not think to check how it might be understood differently by others. When I said >many such short forms come from or are unique to Indian English. , I meant, first of all, just "some", because "many" does not necessarily mean "most", let alone "all". It just means "many", for some value of "many". It does not necessarily imply a comparison or relative valuation, such as, "many" relative to the total number of acronyms. (5000 is a big number on its own, but not compared to 5 million.) And secondly, I had first come across usage such as gf and bf in emails between Westerners and Indians known to me, some 15-odd years ago, and Indian (techie) English has many :) possibly unique acronyms such as o/p for output, i/p for input, so I thought at the time, that gf and bf might be Indian English acronyms, having not come across them in general Western English usage, at least before that. [1] An arcane reference to an Asterix comic issue, maybe Asterix in Rome (or Italy), where they talk about learning modern languages such as Latin :)
kamaal 4y ago
In the 2000s landing a job in Infosys in India was really the equivalent of landing a job in FAANG's. May be even more than that because the era preceding it has such scarcity in terms of opportunity, that it was literally the equivalent of landing a job in some promised land. If you didn't go into government jobs, where there was lots of bribe income potential. The next best paying jobs were in IT services namely three big IT giants Infosys, Wipro and TCS. It was also a huge social status symbol to get a job in these companies. Of course many made it big, many didn't. Many realised the same corruption and Indian social practices applied to these companies too. While there was definitely a base upgrade in terms of a salary. The big opportunities, promotions, travel were subject to discrimination, bigotry and corrupt practices plaguing Indian society. And by early 2010's there was total disillusionment with these companies. Many MNCs set up their own shops in Bangalore, where the systems were relatively fair and HR practices, though not perfect did work to some extent. 2010s were all about working in MNCs directly. Then came the start up era. While some made it really big, start ups in India like everywhere are subject to same lottery set up and also some Indian founders can be stingy with equity, and many turn up to be straight up frauds. Software jobs did move the needle by a big margin in moving Indians from lower-middle/poor class to middle class.

spoils19 4y ago

That's awesome to hear! Our family does something similar - we have a line of portraits above our family photos of the various CEOs that have hired us throughout the years - namely coal and oil company owners.

dlivingston 4y ago
How interesting, what country are you in and what's the motivation to do so? Similar to parent comment's reason?

FooBarWidget 4y ago

When I see Indian developers, I have in my mind that they're similar to Chinese: the whole village bands together and gather resources to give that one kid a university education and a good job, so that that one kid returns to the village many years later to help people out of poverty.

rsgrafx 4y ago
I have an uncle who came from Malaysia to the US in the 70's to do his studies. He was "given the task by his village elders.." as he would say and they did exactly that pooled resources and made sure he finished school. When I heard his story I was so moved. He's built everyone in his village a house, invested in many businesses now, literally changed lives of countless families and friends.
- devoutsalsa 4y ago
  That's a great story.
- tmd83 4y ago
  What a beautiful story. Both how the village came together to help him and how he remembered those elders and their contribution. Both are such rare gifts in a jaded world.
deepzn 4y ago
not villages necessarily, families look out for each other, everyone's own kin.
- synergy20 4y ago
  agreed, I feel it's not village-based at all, it's more of kin based, or family based.
- twawaaay 4y ago
  It is different for different cultures but also depends on mobility. In western world it is currently family but that's because family ties are much more likely to be preserved over time than ties to your village. In other places in the world people are so immobile that they are expected to be born, grow up, work and die in the same village. And so ties to your local community are much more likely to be preserved over time just like ties to your family. It is not that the village replaces your family, it is just another group of people where it makes sense to invest to get something back in the future. Imagine you had tight knit group of friends where you left school but somehow are still able to stick together. If you trusted that this will continue for a long time it would be much easier to invest within the group knowing somebody might help you out later.
- hutzlibu 4y ago
  In many places, that is allmost the same thing, meaning the village is all extended family.
hoseja 4y ago
And too bad when the kid doesn't really want to be a developer.
Xx25 4y ago
I lived in Indian villages for several decades. I have never seen a single instance of this "village bands together and gather resources to give that one kid a university education". Of course, people do help each other etc.,

spaceman_2020 4y ago

My FIL funded their maid’s kids education. The son got into a decent engineering school and landed a job at TCS. The daughter studied nursing and got a job at a large chain hospital. The kids bought their mom an apartment and a car. Its just amazing to watch - this woman’s mom, grandmom, aunts, uncles were all peasants or did odd trades. Now because of a single generation, the entire family could dream of middle class dignity.

deepzn 4y ago
real cool, thx for sharing!
retinaros 4y ago
its amazing. and unfortunately they will be the last generation that will be able to do it. just like for western countries everything will become unaffordable and the middle class wont be able to buy houses
- dkokelley 4y ago
  I'm not sure of your point, but I think I disagree. The previous comment was about going from poverty to middle class. Why won't this be possible in the future?
  - rowanG077 4y ago
    If India follows the west then it won't be possible for 2 people with education to lift a family out of poverty to middle class. In my country you basically require 2 full-time wages to be able to support a 3 person family. You wouldn't be able to buy an apartment and car for your family. I think that is the point they were making.
    - gravitywave 4y ago
      That's because of idiotic zoning laws that make it nearly impossible to build multi family properties, high density residential, limit the height of skyscrapers and basically forced the entire nation to be a damn suburban hell hole, not because of a land shortage. India hopefully won't make the same idiotic mistakes the NIMBY soccer mom boomers did.

highwaylights 4y ago

For anyone that doesn’t know (although admittedly not particularly relevant, but topical) Narayana Murthy is the FIL of the now-current UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

vanattab 4y ago
What is fil?
- vram22 4y ago
  Father-in-law. Like BIL for Brother-in-law. Apropos, I've always wondered where the terms gf and bf, for girlfriend and boyfriend, came from, i.e. the West, or India. Wonder, because many such short forms come from or are unique to Indian English.
  - titanomachy 4y ago
    gf and bf widely used in the west
    - vram22 4y ago
      Known, before. See my reply to raverbashing.
  - dlivingston 4y ago
    I mean, acronyms are pretty common to the modern English language in general. Is what you're talking about a bit different? Can you dive in a bit?
    - vram22 4y ago
      Sure they are common in modern English. (I only speak that version, being modern myself ;) [1] >Is what you're talking about a bit different? Can you dive in a bit? Sure I can. Thanks for asking. Yes, I was talking about something different. But I seem to have been misunderstood by a few people in this subthread. No worries, it happens. Human languages are not perfect, nor are they always unambiguous. Nor are humans perfect, in writing or interpretation. :) I wrote the comment casually, so did not think to check how it might be understood differently by others. When I said >many such short forms come from or are unique to Indian English. , I meant, first of all, just "some", because "many" does not necessarily mean "most", let alone "all". It just means "many", for some value of "many". It does not necessarily imply a comparison or relative valuation, such as, "many" relative to the total number of acronyms. (5000 is a big number on its own, but not compared to 5 million.) And secondly, I had first come across usage such as gf and bf in emails between Westerners and Indians known to me, some 15-odd years ago, and Indian (techie) English has many :) possibly unique acronyms such as o/p for output, i/p for input, so I thought at the time, that gf and bf might be Indian English acronyms, having not come across them in general Western English usage, at least before that. [1] An arcane reference to an Asterix comic issue, maybe Asterix in Rome (or Italy), where they talk about learning modern languages such as Latin :)

kamaal 4y ago

In the 2000s landing a job in Infosys in India was really the equivalent of landing a job in FAANG's. May be even more than that because the era preceding it has such scarcity in terms of opportunity, that it was literally the equivalent of landing a job in some promised land. If you didn't go into government jobs, where there was lots of bribe income potential. The next best paying jobs were in IT services namely three big IT giants Infosys, Wipro and TCS. It was also a huge social status symbol to get a job in these companies. Of course many made it big, many didn't. Many realised the same corruption and Indian social practices applied to these companies too. While there was definitely a base upgrade in terms of a salary. The big opportunities, promotions, travel were subject to discrimination, bigotry and corrupt practices plaguing Indian society. And by early 2010's there was total disillusionment with these companies. Many MNCs set up their own shops in Bangalore, where the systems were relatively fair and HR practices, though not perfect did work to some extent. 2010s were all about working in MNCs directly. Then came the start up era. While some made it really big, start ups in India like everywhere are subject to same lottery set up and also some Indian founders can be stingy with equity, and many turn up to be straight up frauds. Software jobs did move the needle by a big margin in moving Indians from lower-middle/poor class to middle class.