Hear it from a threefold increase in 12 months and it may seem like a tall order. Yet this is the reality for a Java full stack dev who made the unenviable call to pack up for Bengaluru and leave 7.8 LPA behind for 24.8. He has put his experience out there for others in tech to see when they feel stuck.
Under a post with the headline ‘Increased my salary by 3x within the span of an year’, he breaks down what it took. With close to five years under his belt, he was open to a change of direction once the writing was on the wall. It came down to a mix of moving, putting in the hours to interview, and not being shy in negotiations.
Why this story matters now
You don’t get big raises from a promotion alone. They usually come when you can show you’re worth more – whether that means taking on tougher work or having a better hand to play. In his view, it was as much about timing and being in the right place as it was about ability to get from 7.8 to 24.8 LPA.
He’ll be the first to admit that if you had put 3x in front of him in June 2025 for a year from then, he would have called you on it. But it isn’t about being lucky; it’s about making sure you have the opportunities to say yes to a better deal.
From stalled growth to a bold move
It started at TCS on the Ninja track with 3.3 LPA. You do enough with Java, Spring Boot, AWS, Angular, the odd bit of Python, and you build up some self-assurance.
But the pay didn’t follow. He put in the time to get his Wings 1 (Digital) and a string of A’s and B’s through 2022-2024, and still the CTC was 7.8 LPA. You hit a wall and have to think things over.
Then in July 2025, the offers came in. There was a remote one, but the money was lower. One was back home, but not as good as what Bengaluru was on the table. The top offer meant a move, and he wasn’t keen on it at first.
A friend of a colleague put in a word for him to take it. So he did. For an introvert, it was a step out of his comfort zone, but he made it work: found a place to live, put in face time with the client, and made some new friends along the way.
Navigating churn and negotiating right
Half a year on, and the project was feeling the pinch of cost-cutting.
Watching some of his peers get let go and a fellow teammate move on was enough to make him put the brakes on any more waiting. He decided to hit the ground running with some new interviews.
One of them, a walk-in at a fintech, turned into an offer on the spot. The 22% raise wasn’t much to write home about, but he took it as a safety net and put in his notice. From there, he kept the momentum going by interviewing throughout his notice period.
He put in for a number of places: Philips, Delta, AMEX GBT and the like. Delta would only budge so far on a 75% ask because of their budget, but AMEX GBT came back with 50%.
So he’s with AMEX GBT now. His numbers tell the story: 24.8 LPA, which is close to three times what he was making a year ago.
Key moments to note
You can see how a few calls made all the difference:
– Relocating to Bengaluru for the top dollar
– Not letting up on interviews while serving out his notice
– Having that 22% option in reserve while he looked for something better
– Making the switch to AMEX GBT for the 50%
– And of course, the 24.8 LPA CTC
What you can do with this
If you’re thinking of a change, there are some no-nonsense moves in his path:
– Go after the kind of work where your skills are in demand
– Don’t rule out a move if it opens doors
– Make your notice period count
– Have a few things in the works to give you some clout in talks
– Put a number on the table; a ‘no’ tells you where the line is
– Have a plan B, then make a responsible trade-up
– Keep an eye on the project side of things; don’t wait for morale to dip before you act
How you get from an offer to a result
It’s not one thing. Moving to Bengaluru gave him access and a bit of a leg up. A consistent schedule of interviews put options on the table. The 24.8 LPA is the sum of those parts.
The bottom line is the order of operations. He put a floor under himself with the 22%, then worked for 50%, and left a job where 7.8 LPA was as good as it was going to get. It comes down to being the one to make the move.
For anyone who has hit a wall, the way forward is to look beyond your current four walls. Pick the city with the most to talk about and view every interview for what it is – information, not a final word. That’s what made 24.8 LPA possible here.
