Watch: Product vs Service Jobs in India for Returning NRIs

4:15 2015 and then 2015 again I went for the job interview and still things didn't change they're coming back and bargaining about my grade marks and all that nonsense and then I've decided okay this probably doesn't change with the service based companies because it's 2015 already so I'm not seeing any change it's it's the same thing so then I've decided okay I have to do something to get out of United States and I'm worried about my job because if I don't have job I don't know what I will even do that's the situation so then what I did was like okay let's keep it going the same way and then 202 2 I think yeah 2022 I joined no 2021 I joined Amazon and then what happened is like after one year into the role I

5:18 Think by the by the time I got into Amazon my wife was pregnant and after the baby is delivered back in 2022 February my parents have come to United States and then they have seen like all sides of the United States and while they were there they were seeing like shootings happening in kids schools and all that and then even they they have said something which made me really think about my decision as soon as possible something like even though you have so much money here you're not actually spending a good lifestyle you're not enjoying the day-to-day activities it's just that the mechanical thing you guys are like just getting used to it you're not like you don't have any relatives those kind of things they kept saying and that's really true actually so then what I have done was like even while

6:18 Joining Amazon I told the company the team itself that because good thing about Amazon is while joining they ask you about your career aspirations and what you want to do all that sort of stuff so when I joined they were asking me about those things and I said my main goal about joining Amazon is to move back to India it's not about like I want to become a CEO of the company I just wanted a simple thing which is move back to India and that's my selfish reason to join Amazon it's not about like I want to get that brand on my resume or anything like that so they were willing to do it and but they asked me for like one and a half year time time and I have given them that time and then things really worked out for me that way that after that one and a half year I have actually asked my managers and the higher level UPS that when can we make this move and fortunately with the

7:18 Layoffs and all going on usually that thing might not have happened but I'm lucky enough that U it happened and I came down to India and yeah that's my background of like why or like how I made that move but that's basically the overview like the brief story of a b okay yeah thanks for sharing that so sounds like you always had this determination in mind to move back even while going to us and you have attempted couple of times but things are not ready at that time so so you know you just take the right opportunity and the right time and it sounds like you know some of the you know discussions with your parents and the newborn so that kind of accelerated and you know just you know made the decision to move back okay so I would assume that you have made an internal transfer within

8:20 Amazon and you are working at Amazon India so you know which is very common you know especially for people who are trying to move back I mean that is like you know safest if it's ever possible to have that internal transfer so maybe my question on the ker side is you know how is the work life balance or the work culture in India compared to us again from your perspective I think that would be helpful for the people who are considering about moving back to India yeah again things I wouldn't say the things have totally changed when you compare the again the service based companies so-called service based companies and then the product based companies right so if you compare there is a huge difference between them and also for people who actually think that okay this guy probably got it covered because he was in a Fang five company so it all worked out for him very well because he moved out and then there is internal

9:21 Transfer and all that things happened like very fast and then it's easy for him to move but what I would like to give an example is even after coming here I was mostly like thinking about the worst case situation because Amazon was is probably still under hiring freeze I don't know the full status of it yet but if the move didn't happen like I have taken a drastic Steps step to come to India the reason the main reason was that my parents were like already old and then my kids doesn't have anybody back in United States it's like they're not spending time enough time with the family and all that's the main motive but at the same time my father actually had broke his leg during like last I mean this year April May itself and then I was like okay no one is there to

10:22 Take care of him so I was like okay no matter whatever happens I will leave the job I leave Amazon I'll just move back to India that's what I have decided so with the job itself I moved and I told them that I have only one option which is either you transfer me to India or I just resign and look for something else so they were like I said again like it worked out very well that they did that for me but even if they didn't I had my worst case situations figured out and then I was making moves here and there like I went and applied on indeed and Link in and then easily found a job not a service based company it's another company which is product based it's not based out of United States based out of UK and Africa so I got the job offer but then I told them that I would not be taking it because Amazon actually made the internal move so what I'm

11:22 Trying to say with this is don't worry about the job and all because once you come to to India you can just figure it out like it will just take little bit of time but you will figure it out it's not like rocket science or anything like that so that's basically what I have done I think like again it's it's just the service based companies versus the product based companies it's just that product based companies I wouldn't say they treat you very well it's just about like like how you play with it like you have you have enough United State experience so it's all about your mindset like I have been very open-minded I just take things as they come in and then react instead of proactively keeping that in my mind saying that oh these guys don't treat me very well probably or like I will have

12:23 To work like 10 and 12 hours of throughout the day those kind of things you have to just set the expectations that's what I have done like I work night shifts and I told them that like throughout the night I cannot be awake so what I will do is like I'll start somewhere around like evening like 3:00 p.m. 400 p.m. in the evening and then take it through like 11: 12:00 a.m. in the morning so that they've agreed to I mean again like just set the expectations to whatever you wanted to do and then even with the product based companies sometimes they expect you to work very few times like Amazon has that culture probably because it's worldwide right like they expect you to be available off hours as well so those things are still there but you cannot control them it's just that how the where the compan is based out of those

13:23 Kind of things come into picture at that point but to me to answer your question in one line it's just all about your mindset is what I want to say got it so but thanks for sharing that I think sounds like you know you are planning for the plan B even before you had the discussions about the internal transfer and you are able to get a job like from applying through regular job portals and while you're in us so I think you know this is some of the common questions that you know people ask you know whether companies would take you seriously if you're applying from us you know how serious are you to move back I haven't applied from us I'm sorry to interrupt you there I came down to India and then I started applying from India itself like oh got it had a phone number figured out and then put it updated my resume according to that so that they can reach out to you but I I think that perception is true though that if you try from United

14:25 States you wouldn't get much calls and anything of that sort I never even received one call I have been applying for years and never received a call from United like when I applied from United States so that perception probably is true I I don't want to say it's 100% true because I have faced it so I can say probably true but I don't know if someone has received the calls or not so yeah so sounds like I think that has been a common experience I think people might not take an applicant seriously I mean again this is from you for several years like you mentioned that you have applied but immediately after coming to India that is an uncertain that has already been cleared so you know you are in India so you are good to go and the few things that I heard like you know talking to people are people who have us experience and who are already in India ready to work they have an advantage I mean you know depending on your requirements there are a lot of opportunities that you can choose from there are a lot of

15:27 Jobs that are available so so I think you know it might not be very comforting but you know trust it and move I mean from a career perspective there are so many opportunities and the value of your experience in US is considered valuable and also one thing I heard was you can join the company quickly because typically in India it's about 90 days you have to wait but somebody's ready to move join the team quickly I think that there's also an additional Advantage correct coule of points that I want to add on yes I totally agree on that okay that's great so I know I think you kind of mentioned about working you know the in the evenings and the times right so just because maybe in terms of how you set your expectations with your team as part of the internal transfer so it could vary from a a person to person in depending on the situation whether it's they're working with in the Indian times or whether they're working on a project that requires to work from an off hours with the colleagues in a different country yeah it could vary from

16:30 Situation yeah cool so taking a step back I think you know you have made the decision to move back to India maybe anything that you want to shed some light in terms of the logistics in terms of the actual move you know selling things shipping things you know taking care of like you know winding up things in us and taking care of or setting up the things in India from a physical move that would be helpful yes definitely I had a house in Dallas Texas when I was actually moving and I bought it like one and a half year before the move so it was just just pretty short period of time and by the way it's a good profit sell though but so we were worried like you said like what would happen to the house and those kind of things but I think somehow I planned it very well saying that like I always am a

17:31 Person that who plans out for the worst case for everything so what I've done was like I put my house in the market yeah I put my house in the market back in January this year and then the market wasn't good enough like the interest rates are high but then somehow Texas Market is pretty hot all the time like it's weather so I got good amount of showings and all that but then in April I think luckily my flight was on May 17th and April someone has put the offer like couple of people and I chose a good offer and then it all got closed out pretty well yeah and while we talk about the stuff inside the house like I had good amount of stuff like couches and then refrigerator and all that so we

18:34 Initially thought that we will move by talking to Uno and all those people but then I spoke to them but the only issue was like my couch was very valuable it was like I spent around like $5,000 or $5,600 around for that couch so I was thinking about like it's even really worth it to move the cou it's actually Worth to move the couch because I know how the couches are in India and all that so I was thinking about it but later on I spoke to different people in India and then spoke to different stores and found out like U the density of the foam those kind of details of the couches and then finally decided decided that everything we can sell it like we use the wife actually I should not say because I have no what do you call no what do you call no cooperation

19:36 Towards it at all like I I don't even know how to sell those things in Facebook marketed and all but my wife is the one who actually sold out every single thing and whatever is there I was telling like whatever is left out I'll just trash it and then we'll leave that's it but then she sold everything out and like very easily my dining table and then the couches and everything like the bed frames everything she sold it out on Facebook Market yeah basically those are the things and then my theater stuff and all I would recommend if someone has a good media room and back in United States I'm a I'm I'm a media loving person so I brought everything with me I actually purchased couple of bags because I have seen the receivers and the speakers and then the projector all those things are pretty expensive in India so I have only bought it like for

20:37 One year so I thought I'll just take all of them with me so I purchased a couple of bags it's even it's actually worth it to purchase that and then took all of them with me and my wife had a couple of things like she does YouTube videos for arts and crafts so she has couple of things like a cricket machine which cuts the paper and all so those kind of things she bought brought it with her like couple of bags that she brought it and nothing else we brought like it's only our clothes and these are the basic things that we brought and then some things for my wife which is like instaport those kind of things but after coming here what I've realized is like few things like I brought my TV as well few things work without any converter nothing it just my TV works out very well brought a 55 in TV they charged me 75 bucks for shipping and handling like kind of U what do you call like fragile handling that's what

21:38 They call it as and then 135 for like it's an extra baggage that's what it counted as and then $135 for it and I came in Emirates so that's a 55 in TV and after coming here they told me that you can even bring 65 in TV that's what they were telling me I mean until you take it you will not know people will tell so many things but so that's that's about the TV and I think nothing else we brought it with us yeah after coming here like what I was saying was like after coming to India few things worked out with directly using the universal converters and all that but few things didn't like instaport and my receiver projector worked out again very well just putting it into the universal but Denon receiver didn't work out and it actually I actually sh shed the circuit and all that but then there is again

22:40 I like I said there are good good people who are into these electrical repairs and all and I've taken that receiver to him and then he charged me like 5,000 rupees and he fixed everything it's working out for me so and I brought the converter I bought a converter in India which is like that variation 230 to 110 and all that so that I bought which is for 4,000 rupees I bought two converters one is for my media room and one is for my kitchen where I have this coffee machine and all those things I bought so those things those are the only things that I would be really cautious about while bringing like if you're really using it it's worth to spend that much money on the bags and all that but if you think you have to see like I bought my projector for one and a half year and used it right so you have to put that what do you call depreciation and all that into paper and then see how much it is being charged in

23:42 India and based on that you have to make that decision otherwise it's going to be waste of time if you are bringing like fiveyear old projector it's pretty pretty much basically the same thing if you buy it here so that's that's basically it from the logistics perspective perspective like I said again if you have that in your mind that you are moving on everything will just probably fall in place that's what I feel like yeah cool maybe Switching gears a bit so how what was your expectations or apprehensions of moving to India you know before like you know after living there for 14 years you know there's certain lifestyle that you might have adapted so you know there could be some apprehensions or concerns or whatever it could be right or maybe some expectations how has it been doing so far you know living in India few things we were worried about was

24:44 The like how the prices would be because my salary would be depreciating to probably like 70% 60% and all that so so after coming here what I have seen was like pretty much everything is good price like the vegetables and all that all those things are fine but then the when you come to plumber Plumbing things and then and then the electrical those kind of things are pretty pretty much the same like I would call it as like whatever you purchase let's say a bulb that you purchase in United States it would cause the same thing in India as well is what I'm looking at so from that perspective I did not expect that but basically that that's it we cannot we cannot do anything about those kind of things right so that's one thing that was not expected and another things like kids adjusting to school and all

25:45 That my younger one is like 15 months old while we were moving so there is no school for her yet but my older one was going to what do you call Pre kindergarten back in United States and then every two weeks she used to have some sort of cold cough and we were in Dallas right like allergy state so she used to always have some sort of problem with her eyes and every day she used to take Claritin while going to school and all that but then after coming here luckily Ted nothing like until I moved on May 17th and until now it's been like 3 months probably three and a half months nothing not even fever not even like I thought they would get some kind of dentry diarrhea or something but again nothing like absolutely nothing zero for my younger one as well as my older one

26:48 So they they got pretty adjusted to the weather and probably because I don't know it's because I came to Hyderabad when my older one was like 11 12 months probably she developed the immunity back then itself I don't know but it's pretty surprising for me that they got used to it pretty quickly and my older one I used to ask her like she keeps calling my United States house as like green door house because it has a green door in front of it so whenever I ask her like let's go back to green IND house and all that she's like no I don't want to go so she got pretty adjusted here and then the school is working out very well for her like it's an international school I joined her into IB School itself and the school name is shini international school so I joined her here and

27:49 She every day used to cry back in United States but somehow here she's excited to go to school every day she wakes up in the morning by herself and then because she gets to play with a lot of friends and all I think that is working out pretty well for me and nothing unexpected though because I don't know like probably that's what I tell my friends like I they were they were call talking to me about like traffic they were talking to me about jobs all the time traffic definitely it's a problem but it's not something as bad as people say back in United States because they compare like probably what do you call the highways in United States to the local roads here then it'll be a problem in any country

28:50 So when you're driving in India all you got to have is that patience that that and also that mindset like whenever you are going out back in United States we follow the time right like if you're telling someone that I'll be by 9:00 a.m. you'll be there by like 8:45 8:50 a.m. but people whenever they say I'll be there in half an hour it's just one and a half hour or two hours so that mindset you have to develop and then you don't have to be that way but it's just that if you're expecting someone in half an hour you just don't have to get frustrated because people are used to that so you go have to get used to that but they will not be changing because they have lived here for like so many years so that's one thing and then the traffic wise I'm after one week I came to India I started driving and only thing I had a problem was with the the gear the manual

29:52 Vehicle but the I purchased an automatic one and I'm ready pretty much comfortable driving that and there are no hassles at all like zero hassles it's just again my my open mindness has actually made the move very comfortable like you have to be really open mind that you should not be expecting like okay this is what I'm going to do this is what is going to happen no way it's going to happen that way no way it's going to be that way you just have to be open mind and then just take it as it comes in and then B accordingly you have to plan for it it's it's not like you pre-plan something and then it'll work out I don't think that will be the case when you move to India so that's about the expectations so yeah that's great I know I think you kind of touched a couple of points with the open mindness I mean I think that's an important U you know preparing mentally like you

30:52 Know not only like physical mood to be able to transition properly that's one aspect the second one I think you kind of touched about the cost of living right again from your perspective I mean if you're okay you know this is also another common question that we hear what is the cost of living of living I mean maybe you can take an example of living in hydrabad I think from your perspective if you can share on the cost of living side you know the perspective on that I think that would be also helpful yeah I can tell very openly that if someone has emis worth let's say monthly 150,000 two lakhs like that if you have a job which is worth monthly like three and a half three lakhs per month then you would be fine but let's say who has 1 lakh month salary but then they have like one and a

31:54 Half month one and a half lakh Emi or one lakh Emi then it's really going to be tough situation so you have to plan it in such a way that like for me again it worked out very well Amazon pays very well so I actually bought a house and then I have monthly like 130,000 Emi that I need to pay so but I'm pretty much fine paying that so it's it's like that so you have to think about it in such a way that you are if you are working definitely for a service based company that I can tell you for sure because I have friends I have people who I spoke to after coming here they are even getting probably halfway less than what I am getting paid so that's that's what you need to look for like I wouldn't say you should not work for service based companies it's each person's opinion but I will say

32:55 This that there is a huge difference between what service based companies pays you and product based companies pay you so that's one thing you have to look out for and monthly expense wise like back in United States every weekend you have to go out otherwise because that's one thing that that will actually keep you entertaining those kind of things but in India somehow I don't feel like that I mean every day is kind of entertaining it's like time passes out without even knowing so you usually don't go out to eat at all like for me in these three and a half months I actually ate outside like three times probably monthly once and it costed me we went to good restaurants like good expensive restaurants like ores and all that and it costed me every time when I went there probably around 3,000 rupees for my family itself when I went

33:57 With my parents it's like probably 8,000 rupees something like that so it's it depends on how much you want to spend when you come to India and then how much you want to save those kind of things will come into picture but if you want to live like a normal life I would say monthly if you're are not paying any rents or emis or anything I would say probably around like 1 lakh rupees monthly is more than enough it's like it'll keep you happy like with your family like not just one person but if you have emis and probably not emis let's say if you have monthly rents like if you are staying in somewhere like manikonda in Hyderabad or like Hyderabad Kapur or kapet those kind of areas it's like pretty expensive 40,000 monthly rent 50,000 rents are going on like 30,000 Rents It starts somewhere around 25,000 to

34:57 50,000 and even in our area where I'm living currently I mean I I I was paying like while my house was getting constructed and all I was paying around 55,000 a month for a Willa so it depends on like what you wanted to pay based on your salary so I would say monthly keep it somewhere between 25,000 to 50,000 for your rent if you're wanting to stay rented depending on where you wanted to stay so that's the amount that it's going to cost but food wise and then groceries nowhere close to what we paid in United States because back in United States I used to spend around weekly like $700 and here it's not even $100 weekly so that that's that's how about I look at it so got it yeah thanks for sharing you know from your perspective about the cost of living and you know the numbers around it that's

35:58 Very helpful is there any topic that we haven't covered or anything that you want to you know mention for the future aspirants who are coning to move back to India nothing nothing actually very different from what others must have or might have shared already but I will say one thing which is very different from what others have done versus me you should not be looking back after coming to India like you cannot compare what you were like oh in us I I was doing I would have done this way oh in us like this must have this this will this should have happened in a different way those kind of things you should not compare because every country is different because their cultures are different so when you went there their culture was different and you got adjusted to it so when you come here here the culture is is different and you have to get adjusted to here you cannot

37:00 Change 134 billion people in India so you change yourself and then go with the flow kind of so that's only the thing that I have seen in our WhatsApp groups and all those people like who were asking for questions people are really scared to I will I will say one thing like you don't scare get scared to come to India you have to be scared to go to other countries because that's not your country but in India you were born and brought up here so you need not be scared actually it's it's easy actually if you think about it that way that's what I I I want to call it as so okay I think that's important in terms of like you know making a decision and sticking to it and then you know moving forward right yeah so I think we are moving to the final episode I mean final thing which is our rapid 4 so the first question is what's the surprise thing after moving

38:01 To I'll just talk from Hyderabad perspective when I went to that manikonda area and all those like gboi and all those flys and all that I was really a struck with the skyscrapers and I felt like it's some kind of what do you call newly built New York that's what I I told even my friends like what the hell like when did all these got built up like this so it's very clean and all that so I I was really taken back by what I have seen I was not driving the car I was just looking around like wow so that's what I was actually surprised with lot of the Concrete Jungle right like these highrises and I know especially like some of the Flyers that goes through these buildings it just looks

39:03 Amazing in the night and it's almost like you are in some other country and not I did not really I have seen the videos and the pictures and all but I I thought it's just some sort of editing and all that involved in that right so until I've seen it with my eyes I was like Wow there there are no words for me it's like that's the surprising thing for me at least from the Hyderabad perspective that's what I've say what's your favorite Indian food I mean everything everything which is Indian I love it but then I'm missing one thing though which is the Americanized the these things which is shiple those kind of things were there but you can find here and there but you definitely don't find the same taste so one place to try it out is called California burito bow exactly the same but you can get it Clos there are several outlets here in hyad

40:05 Yes okay I will try that okay okay yeah from I mean Biryani anytime is my favorite from the Indian perspective but I don't try outside biryanis mostly I actually make my own birani or my mother's my mother makes very good Biryani actually so that's the best thing that I love yeah and the favorite travel destination in India I don't have one yet because I have seen so much in United States but outside Andra Pradesh I have not seen anything in India so we were planning something around December to Ward and like K around K and all that so but after that I'll probably have one but probably for now it's Hyderabad I guess cool and then the last one is the best part of living in India it's you just don't know the

41:07 Time like it just you don't know when the sun rised and when sun sun sets so everything is pretty quick fast and also it's like it's two things that I've have observed and which is my favorite thing is like if you look at from a a street vendor perspective to probably someone a CEO sitting in those manikonda buildings and all anyone can live in Hyderabad or India so that's what I would say it's like the person who is earning probably 10,000 rupees a month will will live his life to person who is earning like probably month like three lakhs four lakhs or like crores probably will be living their life so everyone can live in India it's not like like that person will go on a bike probably but

42:09 This person will go in a pins but it's just the same life that they are leading like it's pretty good to see that everyone is living their good life in India without any fear and all that that's the best thing okay I think that's great yeah so thank you very much for sharing your story the reasons and you know especially some details on the numbers of the cost of living so I think that is very valuable to our audience really appreciate you taking the time and sharing your Journey with us today no problem no problem and thanks for scheduling this SAR I really appreciate taking this initiative because I know a lot of people are scared about moving back but I would say the coming years it would be really good for Indians to actually move back to India and work it out from here itself yeah I agree all right have a great day thanks you too thanks thanks aash

43:11 Byebye thank you all for joining us on this insightful journey of Dy return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow the wrers thank you once again and until next time may your the written journey be filled with joy growth and endless possibilities