American techie returns to India after nine years; fails to find work to look after ageing parents

A software developer with nine years of experience working in the United States is returning to India to look after their elderly parents but is facing difficulty finding a job. Despite holding an MS degree from the University of Michigan and having extensive experience in full-stack development, they have struggled to secure interview opportunities. Over the past six months, they have applied to numerous roles but have only received one interview, which ultimately resulted in a rejection.

“Returning to India and can’t get a single interview call!” – the developer, who set their salary expectation between 30-35 lakh, reached out to the Reddit community for advice.

The Redditor said, “My primary skillset is Python, Django (along with Django REST), JavaScript, Vue.js, Postgres. I have built web applications, data pipelines, and data visualisations.”

They shared that they need to return to India to take care of their elderly parents and have been actively hunting for jobs for the past six months, but have not had any success.

“I am coming back to India in May as I need to support my aging parents (mother has developed a disability and father is 78). I have applied to several jobs in India in the last 6 months, but I have gotten just 1 interview call (recruiter screening – hiring manager reject),” they shared.

They went on to say, “I have never worked with cloud computing or docker or kubernetes or message queues, and I see these technologies listed in almost every job posting. Most developers in India already have this skill set (I am assuming). I have realised that not knowing key technologies that a senior developer like me should already know puts me at a significant disadvantage.”

“Should I just upgrade my skillset first in the next 6 months and then try for jobs? Any advice/guidance is appreciated,” they asked.

Many users replied to the post with different kinds of advice. One of them suggested, “why don’t you look for fully WFH jobs in the US and/or in the EU?, the ones where you can work from India. Although a bit of a rarity, but academic experience (working for unis in your case) is much much more valued in the west than here in India”

Another said, “Get nurse-maid for parents. Earning parity will cover their costs. Its just for 1-2 years till you upskill and can land job in india. Even if you go back to India, you wouldn’t be able to stay with them full time due to long work hours. They would still require assisted living.”

Yet another reply said, “Apply to startup roles. A lot of good startups are looking for people with your profile. Suggest using Wellfound or LinkedIn and reach startup founders direct.”

In an accurate summation of the whole ordeal, a user commented saying, “welcome to india! life starts at hard mode here”.