11
shelby
242d

I have a big problem guys. I am so stressed out that i have been crying for the past few hours. I joined this company as a fresher 2 years back by signing a bond that i'll have to pay them if I leave the company. The bond is going to be over on 25th Nov,2023. They extended the bond by 3 months. I was a desperate kid back then who had pressure from family. Now the situation is that i have performed well throughout my working period. They are heavily underpaying me. Now i have 2.5 years of experience but freshers are earning more than me now. They had been giving me work every now and then. Now they have made me the lead of a new team where i have to build the world's most useless framework that does not even make any sense. The most suitable developer who was also my senior refused to join the team because he knew how useless the work is and is going to take the troll on him. Now I have to do it.
My manager said that you are going to do this and the deadline is 3 months. Which is not even feasible. This is utterly stupid. It's a waste of time. I am so fucking stressed out because of this and how much freshers(interns whom i trained) are earning more than me.
I have a notice period of 3 months. No companies are willing to hire because of this notice period.
If I resign now, i have to pay them 75k rupees and plus I have to eventually work for 3 months. I can't do this. What to do in this situation.
I am trapped.

Comments
  • 6
    Consult a lawyer.
  • 5
    How can all this be legal? O_O
  • 4
    Tough it out until Nov then quit?
  • 3
    Did you sign the extension or did they do it unilaterally?
  • 2
    @netikras yes i did when i joined as a fresher.
  • 2
    @AlmondSauce then i have to serve notice period of 3 months. Wish there was an excuse to reduce the time. I am mentally stressed out. I have to go to the office everyday
    I wake up 9 am in the morning and reach home at 9 pm in the night
  • 2
    @AlmondSauce they stopped wfh. They don't allow me but allow seniors.
  • 1
    @Demolishun I am searching for it. I don't wanna end this on a bad note.
  • 1
    @cafecortado i wonder.
  • 4
    Yikes. I'd say its time to consult a lawyer, but slavery may be legal where you live.

    What happens if they fire you? Are you still obligated to pay them for your freedom?
  • 6
    You said rupees so you're from India.

    Dude, jump ship the moment you receive an order. Trust me, you don't have to pay them jack shit even if you haven't completed your 2 years, which you said you have completed.

    I know what the leverage your company is using. They are threatening you with not giving you the experience letter, right? Or salary slips or something?

    Dude you absolutely don't need those to land a good job these days. Most place require them but not all. If you can convince the interviewer that you can do the job, you'll get the job in no time.

    You need to listen to Ashneer Grover when he said "Bonds don't mean anything, no company is ever taking you to court if you break it, cuz they will do cost-to-benefit analysis and they will see that its easy to just hire someone else for cheap".
  • 3
    If I were you who had signed a "bond" which I'm really against,

    I would just stop showing up and get myself fired. The moment I heard the bond got extended by 3 months, that would be my last day on the job.

    I'd be like "Jo ukhaadna hai ukhaad le, mai to nahi de rha 75K.".

    Let them go to whichever court they wish to, for a small amount as 75K rupees.
  • 2
    @PaperTrail It's not legal in India but they won't give me my experience letter if i don't pay them.
    If they fire me, i don't have to pay them but they can't because they have a huge dependency on me.
  • 1
  • 1
    @SidTheITGuy but they won't give me my experience letter of 2 years.
  • 6
    @PaperTrail Yes slavery is pretty much legal in India. There's a Joshua Fluke video where he shows a case where a recruiter calls a Mumbai girl a "red-light sex worker" and "whore who values herself with money" because she didn't accept the offer letter.

    The recruiter also said to the girl that she will get "surprises" visit her home, if she doesn't accept the offer.

    It's pretty bad here tbh. People try leverage the scarcity of jobs available to get students to do mindless crap like what OP is going through.

    I've seen it too in my early days. I've shared some of my experiences in very first rants I shared,
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy if i make them fire me by stop working, it would make a bad impression if i apply to the next company. Kuch smjh nhi aa rha.
  • 4
    @shelby > "If they fire me, i don't have to pay them but they can't because they have a huge dependency on me."

    Can't fire you? Ha! I'd say "challenge accepted".
  • 1
    @shelby SCREW the experience letter, dude. You don't need it. Just keep your resume updated, mention your responsibilities and start applying to jobs on Indeed or whatever.
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy yes. It happens. It is so disheartening.
  • 0
    @PaperTrail so should i just stop showing up to work?
  • 2
    @shelby Let me suggest you something and trust me it will work.

    Get the company name on a certain experience letter template and put your name in it. There you go. Now you have an experience letter. Salary slips ?? Do the same thing. Get it off of the internet and make the numbers match your bank statement.

    There are services available throughout India who can provide you fake experience letters and salary slips as you wish. Get it and stop showing up at your job.
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy what if they start asking for my experience letter. They always ask about my experience in my previous company.
    Even if i switch they will ask for it.
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy they do a background check i guess.
  • 0
    @shelby FUCK NO. Nobody has the time and budget to do such things these days. Not even MNCs like Reliance, BYJU's, Microsoft, Google will do it.

    Just own it.
  • 1
    @SidTheITGuy okay. So here is what i am gonna do. I will ask for 100% hike tomorrow. If they refuse, which i am sure, they will.
    I will stop showing up to work just to force them to fire me.
    In that way, i don't need to pay money, nor serve a notice period.

    Or should I act civil and wait for 3 months and resign. Then serve an additional 3 months for the notice period. I will get my salary but not my worth.
    Which option should i choose.
    The first option is the brave one.
  • 0
    @Nanos they can't do anything but they will add pressure on me and will ask me to do the work until night.
  • 0
    @Nanos

    Deadlines missed = Getting yelled at in front of everyone.

    What will happen to OP = He will get yelled at and micro-managed. And I am stressing on the "micromanagement" bit. Side-effects may include withholding of salary until the job is completed.
  • 0
    @Nanos the thing is they are underpaying me. Freshers, whom i trained are getting more than me. It sucks. Should i wait for 3 months and resign
  • 0
    @Nanos wow. How do i become annoying???
  • 1
    I did the same when I moved to USA. Not sure about the extension because you have to sign and they cannot just do it. So consult a lawyer in regards to this.

    If I left, I would have to pay $25k so I just underperformed and they let me go after 1 year. It was 2.5 years contract.
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy my manager is a nice guy. Nobody yells at me at work. They just put pressure on me and ya micromanage. But here i have to lead the team
  • 2
    @shelby > "so should i just stop showing up to work?"

    Nah, creativity.

    - Take the firehose (or get a waterhose) and douse the datacenter saying "There was an alarm the servers were overheating! I saved the company!"

    You'll get to put on your resume "Saved company datacenter"

    - Round up as many cats as you can find and release them in the office. Say "Cats increase office moral" and cite a few studies. You'll get to put in your resume "Increased company moral"

    Incidentally, we had an alarm that the server room was overheating (the dedicated A/C unit failed) and the contractor opened the all doors (leading to the outside) and put in a box fan at the entrance. Yep, that's what server rooms like, humid outside air to a *secure* room. He was fired. Don't know how nothing was hurt. When our admin showed up, he opened up a server door and water ran out from the condensation that built up.
  • 1
    @shelby Ah yes, the Stockholm Syndrome. I knew it. You just wanted to rant, didn't you? You don't need advice, you need sympathy.

    Do what you want, man.
  • 1
    @Nanos yes I code. I am a mobile app developer. My team and I have built one product for them from scratch. I build features, optimize the code and fix bugs. I work in iOS and react native. They want to build a framework which is native + hybrid. The world uses react native to build ios/android but they want to use native ios and native android to build react native. The decision was taken by someone who does not knows react native and the director of the company who never coded in his entire life.
    Understand the depth of stupidity.
  • 0
    @TopsyKretts that is so awesome.
  • 0
    @PaperTrail OMGFGFF HAGAGAGAHAHA
  • 0
    @SidTheITGuy i don't want to rant. I take myself so seriously that's why I always think of the consequences. Don't get me wrong! 😞
  • 0
    @Nanos Micheal Scott, where were you?
  • 1
    @SidTheITGuy I am a woman so it's really hard for me to become emotionless.
    If i have wasted your time, then i am really sorry. I adore your suggestions and will update my upcoming actions in this thread.
    Time to become brave.
  • 1
    @Nanos it doesn't matter if i know better. They don't listen to me because i am a girl and junior to most of them.
  • 1
    @Nanos that's another way to think. Even earlier, I was working on one of their projects, i knew it was a bad decision. Told them many times. They didn't listen to me. After 10 months, they had to shut down the project. They wasted their resources, money and time.
  • 0
    @Nanos they all are filthy rich, full of egoistic people and will scold those who are lower in the pyramid of this company.
  • 1
    @Nanos yea, the vice president. I can talk to him but my manager will get offended.
    I should not care i guess
  • 0
    @Nanos wow. People do what they feel like. We need to take care of our sanity.
  • 1
    @Nanos I am so emotional and caring that I get annoyed. Even my friends are annoyed.
    I will have to fix it and make brave decisions.
  • 1
    @Nanos haha. CEO was frightened by you?
  • 1
    @Nanos your name should be thanos and not nanos.
  • 1
    Do you care about the bonds? Is it a lot of money for you? If not, then you have nothing to fear right?
  • 1
    @iceb it is just that it sounds so wrong that they have invested nothing in me. I learned everything on my own and still they are demanding 75k. It's seems unfair for me to hand over my 2 months salary.
  • 0
    @iceb i have decided to talk to my HR tomorrow. Will ask him to give me an appraisal. If he refuses, i will tell my manager that I will stop working. Eventually they will have to fire me. In that way, i don't have to pay and won't have to serve my notice period.
  • 2
    @shelby I don't know if you should explicitly say that you will stop working. But i'd let others chime in on that.

    What I'm suggesting is make an evaluation on whether it's worth struggling over. Obviously two months of work isn't nothing. But for your own sanity, is the stress that's causing you worth it? I'm sure you'll make more in the future. Even for your talk with HR. It may help your case if you go in confident rather than showing signs of vulnerability and they know they have your weak point
  • 2
    @cafecortado @Demolishun

    Consult a lawyer? Pff.. this is India not the US, workers rights don't exist here.

    How can this be legal? - OP hasn't scratched the surface on how bad and exploitative the Indian IT industry is. People here get away with even physical or sexual assaults most of the time because the workers get fired when they raise their voice.
  • 1
    @SidTheITGuy if that is the case then he just fucked? How does a society function without laws?
  • 4
    Didn't read every comment here, but first: God damn it, what a shit hole!

    Second, not sure how this is in India but if the next employer wants a reference from previous workplace you might want to try to leave on good terms.

    Third: if pay is shit and culture allows it, stop putting pressure on yourself. Just do what you have to until the time is up, leave and call it an experience.

    My bad experience from my early years pales into nothing compared to this bullshit, but I had those years of unpaid overtime, long hours, stupid pressure and micro-management. You know what? I look back at it as experience I have later used to boost me further than I might have if I had a cruisy job. My learning curve was steep as hell, so just put your headphones on and humm along to Kelly Clarksson. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

    What a fucking shit hole! Sorry, had to say that again.
  • 2
    @shelby Dude, i have been in this situation once. Your misery exists only in your mind. There's actually a lot of you can do, especially since ypu are Indian. Here are some of your options

    1. Become toxic / dead weight
    - Delete a database / codebase ( by mistake ofcourse 😇). Spend time on useless issues which no one cares, and i mean days just going through random issues, searching stack overflow. They will be so tired of you, they will be happy to let you go

    2. Be a square peg in a circular hole
    Reject and resist the normal workflows as much as possible. Create conflicts with others team members about literally anything. You a woman, just think of it as being on period mood swings, just extended for month. They would absolutely love to have you leave.

    These are fun to do options but not so ethical, so here a bit more ethical option

    3. Check out labourLaw Advisor on Youtube
    These guys make videos about exactly these kinds of situations.
  • 2
    @shelby Also, if you interested in the first two options, there a whole playbook made by none other than our favourite big brother, CIA on corporate sabotage. Little tips to get out easier.

    https://corporate-rebels.com/blog/...
  • 1
    1. Take all the vacation days you have left. Get some rest. I mean real vacations, with work comms [slack, teams] turned of, not just muted. After that the remaining time will not look so frightening. Getting rest helps. Getting good rest helps a lot.

    2. Talk about this with your mamager and his perhaps his manager and/or hr. State your intentions, explain the situation. Explain how desperate you are that you are even considering quiting and losing the letter or provoking them to fire you as very viable options. Maybe there is smth they could offer/suggest.

    Problems are solved by communicating them first. Not by running away.
  • 0
    Find a job with better salary and just pay those fuckers off. 2 months salary is a lot of money but it shouldn't cost you your sanity.
  • 1
    Whatever you do, don't quit. Just give it minimal attention. Could you get a script for sedatives?
  • 3
    About unreachable deadlines:

    So you were assigned a task with a deadline that you know is impossible to meet, right?

    And what happens if you don't meet that deadline? You're screwed, you say?

    Well, if you already know that you won't meet that deadline, what's the point of stressing over it? Think about it:

    If you just don't meet the deadline, you're screwed.

    If you stress about it and still don't meet the deadline, you're screwed AND stressed.

    So, just work on your tasks knowing full well that you won't meet the deadline, and don't stress about it. Screw THEM.
  • 1
    @Demolishun check this rant that I shared long ago - https://devrant.com/rants/6230100/...
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