A fiery Reddit post has kicked up a storm online after a startup founder claimed that “90% of India’s engineering graduates can’t code.” Shared on the r/StartUpIndia subreddit, the post not only questioned the coding skills of fresh engineering graduates but also gave a glimpse into the harsh realities of startup hiring.
The anonymous founder, who regularly hires from bigger companies, didn’t hold back. He said that most new recruits fail to survive even a month in his startup, despite being given “serious” salary hikes.
“Whenever I hire anyone, I tell them how much work and skills are required here. They are very excited because obviously they are getting a serious hike. But then after a week or 19 days, I end up firing them,” he wrote.
According to him, the problem lies not just in the hires but in the mindset they bring from working at MNCs, where, he claims, expectations are lower.
“I mean seriously, before joining a startup, how hard is it to think about the amount of pressure and skills required versus working in an MNC where you can get away with anything?” the post said.
He insisted that he doesn’t enjoy firing people who left stable jobs to join his startup. But at the same time, he says he can’t be blamed if someone turns out to be a bad fit.
“I never feel good about firing someone after they left a job to join my startup. But at the same time I can’t be blamed, they are just not a good fit for us here.”
What seems to have added fuel to the fire is his comment on expectations from fresh hires.
“They need to understand we are not building a hire-and-fire culture but it’s them who are expecting to be paid big bucks while just working on Excel or using ChatGPT.”
Have a look at the full post here:
India has 90% engineering graduates who can't code
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Unsurprisingly, the post triggered massive backlash. Many Redditors slammed the founder’s hiring process, saying that if most new recruits are getting fired within weeks, the problem might lie in his screening methods. Others pointed out that not all engineering grads are meant to code while some come from non-IT branches like civil or biotech.
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