Hello, I'm Shriram Sapparad, a software engineer focused on the frontend of web application development at Ikea, Sweden.
I would like to share my story about how I achieved both career growth and financial stability in the early days of my career.
TLDR: Work on the opportunities, ask for a salary hike or promotion if it is in scope in current org else switch job.
At the end of 2014, I made my first job switch, moving from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to Société Générale. After working in IT for five years, I felt it was time for a change. It was also the beginning of the front-end development boom, and I decided to learn Angular for a new company project. I worked day and night on this exciting project because I enjoyed it so much.
That same year, I also got engaged, and things started moving quickly in my life in 2015. I was lucky to have a supportive team and great colleagues who helped me not only improve my technical skills but also advised me on financial planning, especially as I was preparing to start my own family.
Within a year, I switched jobs again, this time to Thermo Fisher Scientific. Over a period of 1.5 years, with two job switches and improving my tech skills, I was able to double my salary by 100%.
After my marriage, I was managing some financial responsibilities. I was paying off a marriage loan and also supporting my family back in my hometown by sending a monthly amount to my father. Despite these obligations, I didn’t want to cut back on my expenses, so I started looking for ways to earn more.
I began reading stories on Quora about how to get into top IT companies that pay well. However, I realized that top-tier tech companies like FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) weren’t the right fit for me. I didn’t see myself as someone who would build innovative tech, but rather as someone who develops solutions using the best tools available.
Eventually, I found my place in financial and IT companies. I prepared well and was able to crack an interview with JPMorgan Chase. This marked a new phase in my tech career, where I achieved both career growth and financial stability.
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