Six-figure Big Tech job to unemployment: Indian man leaves job, says there are more ways to make money than a 9-to-5

After six years of working in tech and building products for someone else’s vision, an Indian professional has decided to take a very different route in 2026. Teja, who worked as a Product Manager at a Big Tech company, left his six-figure corporate job on July 31 and, a month later, explained why he chose unemployment over immediately joining another employer.

His decision, he said, is driven partly by a belief that artificial intelligence is changing the nature of work and creating more ways to earn a living than traditional employment. Rather than return to another conventional corporate role, Teja wants to use what he sees as this period of change to build something of his own.

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Why Teja walked away from his Big Tech career

July 31, 2026, marked Teja’s final day as a Product Manager at Big Tech. By the end of August, he had spent a month without a job and used the milestone to reflect publicly on the decision.


“31.07.2026: my last working day as a Product Manager at Big Tech. One month unemployed today,” he wrote on Instagram.

The central question behind his exit, he said, was what might happen if he stopped spending his time building other people’s ideas and instead tried to create his own.

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“Six years building someone else’s vision. I wanted to find out what happens when I build my own,” Teja said.

He also viewed the timing as important. According to him, taking a major career risk becomes more difficult as age and personal responsibilities increase. That made 2026 feel like the right moment to attempt the transition rather than postpone it indefinitely.

“The older I get, the more responsibility stacks up, the more this jump costs. If not now, it only gets harder,” he wrote.

AI is changing how work gets done

Teja’s experience in product management also shaped his view of the current opportunity landscape.

He said he had seen artificial intelligence alter working practices from inside the technology industry, describing himself as someone who watched AI “rewrite how work actually gets done, in real time”.

That experience appears to have influenced his decision to question the traditional model of professional success. Rather than assuming that a stable employer, a conventional promotion path and a fixed 9-to-5 schedule are the only reliable ways to build a career, he believes the changing technology environment has opened up alternatives.

“There are more ways to make a living in 2026 than any year before it, and I'd rather be building inside that shift than watching it from outside,” he said.

For Teja, quitting his job is therefore not simply about leaving corporate employment. It is an attempt to participate directly in a period he believes is creating new opportunities outside conventional career structures.

He wants to build a life beyond one career ladder

Teja’s reasoning also goes beyond work and income. He said he has strong ties to his family and friends in India and values being close to his roots, but also wants greater flexibility over where he lives and how he spends his time.

He described wanting to meet new people, experience different places and build a network independently rather than relying entirely on the professional and social connections he already has.

“The rest of me wants a life without borders on it: new people, new places, a network I build myself, not the one I inherited,” he wrote.

At the same time, Teja said he does not see this as a rejection of his connection to India. He described himself as a global citizen who wants to retain close links to his roots while gaining the freedom to travel and spend extended periods wherever he chooses.

“I want the freedom to go wherever I want, for as long as I want, and still be able to visit home for however long as I want to,” he said.

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What comes after quitting Big Tech?

Despite making the leap, Teja has not presented a fixed blueprint for what comes next.

He acknowledged that he is still working out what his next chapter will look like and has not yet settled on the precise form his new venture or career will take.

“I am still figuring out what shape this next step of my life takes. I am documenting this journey as I go, one step at a time,” he said.

For now, his move marks a shift from a six-figure Big Tech career to an uncertain period of experimentation, driven by his belief that AI is transforming work and that 2026 offers more unconventional ways to build a living than the traditional corporate route.

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