To the juniors panicking in their first dev job: I once brought down staging for a full afternoon and nobody fired me, they just laughed and taught me. Your bugs are not your worth, maga. Everyone senior has a horror story, they just hide it better.

Sunday box cricket with the office boys is the only cardio I get and my knees have filed a complaint. Batting order was decided by who bought coffee, which is peak startup governance. We lost, but the post-match neer dosa made it worth it.

Built my PC piece by piece over two years and now the Mangalore power cuts test my whole life philosophy. Ranked match, full momentum, and boom, darkness. If you also play on this coast you know the pain, guru.

Bangalore paid me more but ate it all back in rent, cabs and sadness. Here my salary is smaller but I actually save, live near family, and eat home food. Nobody tells you the real raise is a lower cost of living, maga.

Moved back to Mangalore to build

Everyone said you cannot do serious tech from Mangalore, guru, and here I am shipping backend from a cafe near Hampankatta with better internet than my old Bangalore flat. Startup life is chaos and my equity might be worth one gadbad ice cream, but the sea is 10 minutes away. Worth it for now.