Rs 57 lakh remote job vs Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru offer: Techie in Madurai plans 20-hour weekly train commute, asks if it’s worth it

A higher salary does not gurantee a better career decision or peace of mind. Sometimes, it can further lead to a dilemma. A techie took to Reddit to weigh in his options between a Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru job opportunity and Rs 57 lakh fully remote role that will let him stay in Madurai, with his family. The new job comes with public-company RSUs, a Staff Software Engineer title and a higher monthly in-hand salary. But it also means travelling in train overnight between two cities every week. Meanwhile, leaving his current startup could mean spending Rs 17 lakh to retain vested private options, adding another layer to the decision.

Rs 57 lakh salary and fully remote work

The Reddit user said he currently works as a Senior Software Engineer at a fully remote, profitable US Series F startup. His current compensation includes a Rs 57 lakh base salary with no bonus. He also has 9895 vested private stock options. The options could be worth around Rs 37 lakh net if the company goes public at its last valuation, but the options are highly illiquid now, he adds. He is based out of his home in Madurai where his family lives and his take-home salary is about Rs 3.24 lakh a month. This system allows him to work from his family home without having to move.

The Rs 68 lakh Bengaluru offer

The new position is a Staff Software Engineer at a large US public SaaS company. The compensation package includes a base salary of Rs 62 lakh, a target bonus of Rs 6.2 lakh, $50,000 in RSUs (approximately Rs 48 lakh) vested over three years and an in-hand salary of Rs 3.76 lakh per month. Unlike his existing private options, the new RSUs would be liquid. However, the hike in salary comes with a flipside. His role is based in Bengaluru's Bellandur, and he has to work from office twice a week.

His unusual Madurai-Bengaluru commute plan

Rather than moving his family to Bengaluru, the Reddit user is considering to keep his family in Madurai. He proposed to take an overnight train from Madurai to Bengaluru every Monday night, work at office on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then take a train back from to his home on Wednesday night. As per his calculation, it would mean 40 round trips per year and around 20 hours of every week would be spent travellin in train.

If he accepts the Bengaluru job, it would mean he will have to spend hours outside his working hours to commute to and fro from his home to office and back. The techie asked the Reddit community if anyone else had pulled off a similar stint and wondered if it would disrupt his sleep, health and productivity.

There is another option: stay and negotiate

However, he admitted that there's another option. Instead of choosing the Bengaluru job, he could use the higher pay package to negotiate a promotion and similar pay hike at his current company. His proposed counter-offer would be a Rs 65 lakh-Rs 68 lakh base salary, along with a substantial ESOP refresher, while allowing him to remain fully remote. That could potentially change the financial calculation because he would not have to give up the remote setup or his family base in Madurai.

The Rs 17 lakh decision

The biggest financial complication comes from his existing vested options. If he leaves his current job, he will have a 90-day window to exercise the vested options, which would require Rs 17 lakh cash and tax. If he doesn't exericse them within the period, he will have to forfeit it. The Reddit user asked whether it would make sense to spend Rs 17 lakh to retain the private startup options or instead move to the new company and receive public RSUs. For now, the Reddit user is putting the question to the community: “Looking for brutally honest advice.”

Internet reacts

Reddit users offered differing perspectives on the techie’s dilemma. One commenter said they chose a Rs 45 lakh fully remote role over a Rs 65 lakh hybrid job because they owned a home, could care for ageing parents and avoid “dust/construction pollution”, travel and expensive schooling. They said they were “very happy”, while acknowledging they were in the “coasting mode” of their career.

Another user, who commutes four hours each way twice a week, called the routine “exhausting” and said it left them with “no energy or time to upskill”. However, one commenter felt the salary difference was “too much” and said the Bengaluru hybrid offer was worth the commute. Another noted that remote work, flexibility and family time are “part of the compensation package too”.