Keertikeya Gupta

Hiring one mid-level engineer in the U.S. under H-1B rules can cost ~$307,000 in the first year. In Pakistan, a comparable remote engineer costs $20,000–$35,000 per year. That’s a 10–15× saving. For the cost of one H-1B engineer in the U.S., a company could instead outsource an entire remote team in Pakistan including 1 Product Manager 3 Software Engineers 1 QA Tester 1 UI/UX Designer and still spend less than half of the U.S. cost. This allows startups and enterprises alike to deliver full projects offshore at a fraction of the budget. If even 5–10% of U.S. H-1B demand shifts offshore, Pakistan’s IT export revenues (currently ~$3.5–4B annually) could increase by $1–2B in 3 years. The disruption to Indian IT firms opens the door for Pakistan to capture more contracts, especially in software development, fintech, and product outsourcing. Pakistan’s cost advantage makes it attractive for outsourcing, but long-term success depends on more than low prices. To become a true strategic partner, the workforce must strengthen soft skills, business understanding, and professional setups like reliable internet, modern offices, and time-zone alignment.

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your career as a software engineer is finished if you're not doing the following: - using ai everyday (facebook messenger ai chatbot, taco bell drive thru ai order agent, etc) - moving to sf and building a chatgpt wrapper startup - panicking when you realize you have no moat - giving up on tech - applying for a woodworking apprenticeship - becoming a carpenter in rural idaho - building a log cabin for you and your family follow these instructions and you'll be fine

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Why many folks are getting laid off in tech? It’s hard to ignore what’s happening around us. 🤐 2022 started it. 2023 worsened it. 2024 normalized it. And now in 2025, tech layoffs just feel like... business as usual. But here’s the truth: This isn’t normal. And no one’s really saying it out loud. Companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft and many others, everyone’s doing “restructuring”, “reorgs”, “efficiency drive”. Fancy words, same result: people losing jobs. But why? Here are a few real, uncomfortable reasons behind the layoffs: 1. AI is shifting priorities 2. Overhiring during COVID boom 3. VC funding is dry 4. Real work ≠ Perception of work 5. Economic uncertainty What’s even more painful? Great people are getting laid off. People who stayed late. Fixed prod. Refactored messy code. Mentored juniors. Never missed a sprint. It doesn’t matter. Nobody’s truly safe right now. Let’s just remember: your value is not defined by your current job status. Be kind. Stay curious. And help each other where we can.

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15,000 fired at Microsoft. 25,000 on the block at Intel. You still feel safe? The layoffs aren’t random. They’re structural. And tech's golden era of job safety? It’s done. In the last 2 months: - Intel started axing 5,000+ with plans to cut up to 25,000. - Microsoft crossed 15,000 for the year. - TCS is trimming 12,000, targeting senior talent. - CrowdStrike, Indeed, Glassdoor, Bumble, Chegg, and others followed suit. Smart, technical people. Gone in a Slack message. Why? Because the calculus has changed: - AI’s eating middle layers. - Automation is squeezing margins. - Boards want efficiency, not headcount. If you're an engineer, your real job is risk management. Salary is not stability. Build your backup: - That tool you hacked together for yourself? Ship it. - That GPT wrapper your friends use? Productize it. - That newsletter idea? Publish it. Don’t wait for a “reorg.” Build leverage now. Before you need it. 🚨 No one’s coming to save you. ⚒️ But you can outbuild the storm. 🌪️

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Your manager isn't looking for someone who saves the day once then disappears for weeks. They need someone who: - shows up reliably, sprint after sprint - supports teammates even when it's not glamorous - makes steady progress instead of dramatic peaks and valleys - can be trusted with important work, They need someone who builds trust through small, repeated actions. #softwarengineering

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I once watched a junior engineer stare at her screen for 3 hours. She was stuck in that dangerous space where frustration turns into self-doubt. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this.” “Everyone else would have figured it out by now.” “Maybe I should give up.” I’ve been there. Every engineer I know has been there. And here’s the truth: the difference between engineers who grow and those who plateau isn’t talent. It’s what you do in that exact moment when quitting feels easier than continuing. The best engineers I know lean on something I call the “next small step” mindset. Because you don’t need to solve everything at once. You just need to figure out the next thing you can do in 10 minutes. That tiny shift changes everything. I wrote about this story — and how to break through when you’re truly stuck here:https://lnkd.in/ddvw_qQq

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I made $36,000 from one Google Doc in 30 days. I challenged myself to write, edit, and publish a book in 30 days in 2020. (What else was I going to do while I was stuck at home?) The world may not be locked down anymore, but the mechanics to have a successful launch haven’t changed. Two things made it a success: First: a painfully specific promise. I didn’t write the entire A-Z on "how to freelance." I wrote for a very clear moment in a freelancer’s life and made one promise they could act on immediately. (You can get started with freelancing now.) Narrow topic, clear outcome. I kept the scope tight, wrote it fast, and optimized for usefulness over word count. People don’t buy pages, they buy a result. Second: a presale with a real deadline. I validated demand before finishing, set a launch date, and shared progress so buyers knew it was alive. The launch plan was simple: one long post and a few tweets. Most revenue came from preorders. I delivered the MVP on time, updated it twice based on feedback, and later listed the finished version on Amazon. To be clear, distribution helped. I’ve spent years building an audience. If you’re starting smaller, the numbers will be smaller. But the levers don’t change: 1️⃣ Make a specific promise 2️⃣ Put money behind interest early 3️⃣ Ship on a deadline 4️⃣ Keep buying as effortless as possible. You don't need detailed sales funnels and tricks. Just focus and urgency.

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You transition from an entry level Software Engineer  to a Senior SWE , leading multiple projects. What changes and how you should transition yourself to grow in this role. 🚀 ❤️ 1. Think of the bigger picture. Now you're not only supposed to resolve your assigned tickets anymore. You should have the ability to look at the bigger picture, the entire project. The Roadmap. The Impact. The Task Assignments and much more. 🚀 2. Getting involved in technical design and architecture. Now you're not only expected to write code. You should be leading designing discussions, suggesting stable and extensible architecture and most importantly design for the User needs. 💯 3. Understanding Client's POV. Now you're not only supposed to work on your assigned ticket. You should go one step ahead and understand the user's pain point and come up with suitable technical solutions. 🔥 4. Making room for your junior Engineers to grow. You should make sure that you're providing them the tasks and which challenge them and help them grow. It's understandable that you would have gotten those tasks done in no time, but still give them to your fellow juniors. Let them struggle and let them grow! 💚 5. Look for optimization possibilities and prioritize technical debts before they become a problem for your project and the team. 💡 #softwareengineering #programming #coding #google

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One wrong answer can silently cost you the job offer If you are not giving the right answer to this question, your interview result will be adversely affected: “Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?” Most candidates either give a vague response or an unrealistic one. Both hurt your chances. The truth is: hiring managers are checking for vision, alignment, and impact. Here’s how an SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) should frame it at different stages of their career -->With 4 years of experience "I see myself growing into a Senior SDET, mastering automation across functional, performance & CI/CD, and becoming the go-to person for solving complex automation challenges." -->With 8 years of experience "I see myself as a Lead SDET leading automation strategy in my team, driving quality engineering at scale, and mentoring engineers while aligning test automation with business goals." --> With 12 years of experience "I see myself as a Quality Engineering Manager or Principal SDET, shaping org-wide testing strategy, integrating AI/ML in QA, driving DevSecOps, and building a culture of innovation and quality." What would your answer be if you were asked this in your next interview? #SDET #QualityEngineering #CareerGrowth #InterviewTips #Automation #Leadership

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So many tech companies and leaders talk about recruiting "10x engineers" or "10x talent". Most ignore creating an environment that unlocks the ability for current employees to become 10x. You can't recruit what you can't foster.

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Engineers, a Friday PSA for you: When reviewing resumes for a remote Software Engineer position, it's alarming how many applications turn out to be from fake candidates. As an Engineer or Developer, consider searching your name online and including your college to check if someone is using your identity to apply for roles. It's a growing trend for individuals to adopt others' profiles as templates. While the job details may differ, the names and colleges will match. Stay vigilant! I'll add that I report these to Linkedin and they have been very responsive in removing them.

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An engineer had been at the company for 3 years, working long hours and delivering consistently. Then a new engineer joined his team and got promoted in a year above him. The difference? The new engineer built one automation tool that saved $2M annually. The veteran engineer optimized features nobody used. The brutal truth about building impactful tech products: – your value = business impact, not effort – one strategic win beats a thousand small tasks – they'd rather pay $300k for someone who delivers than $100k for someone who's just busy The engineers who thrive ask: "How does this move our core metrics?" not "How many tickets can I close?" #softwareengineering

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Spent the day going down the rabbit hole of LRU and exploring different variants, each optimized for a certain class of workloads. Here are 5 that I explored today. btw, there are 50 more to explore, but I am not going to do that as I found what I was looking for. 1. LRU-K - tracks K recent reference times 2. TLRU - adds TTL-based eviction to LRU 3. EELRU - predictive eviction before the cache fills 4. LRFU - combines recency with frequency weighting 5. SLRU - separates protected and probationary segments If you find this interesting, you can use your favorite LLM to dig deeper. Btw, I never read without a purpose. I picked this topic because I wanted to see if I could spot a gap in existing implementations and identify something that could be exploited and improved for certain workloads. Digging deeper into one topic makes you realize that everything is a rabbit hole, no exceptions.

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