How to answer the question what's your monthly salary in a job interview

​What is your monthly salary

Answer 1 (Answered by Anonymous)

Dear Anonymous, (Big data freelancer, Mumbai with a 8.4K USD salary and 11.3K upvotes) I found it compelling to write this since I found someone with the same personality and work profile as mine. I see myself as a silent guardian and watchful protector too. Ha ha…

Age: Late 20s

Role: Freelance Software Architect, Remote (8-12 hours/day) – Though it says Architect, it’s pretty much programming all day (very small team).

Salary: 9500 USD / ~6,30,000 INR (per month)

Education: B.E., CSE

Location: Chennai, India

Marital Status: Single

Expenses: 903 USD / ~60,000 INR

Experience: 6 years

First Salary: 226 USD / ~15,000 INR (per month)

Most people in my apartment think I am jobless and live on my parents’ fortune. One even approached me saying he could get me a job in one of the MNCs through some “backdoor system” using his “influence”.

Another friend asked me where I was going last month and I said – to see my auditor. He was baffled and I still can’t forget the look on his face – you pay taxes? I winked and replied – a little.

No one except my brother knows that I make this much (word quickly goes out in my family and my brother is the only one who can keep his mouth shut).

My friends talk about credit card limits and premium debit cards and about me not having one (I have a SBI debit card (secondary) for my monthly expenses and I do have a credit card that I rarely use with a limit of 4,55,000 INR).

I cherish this quote from the Kingsman: The Secret Service movie – (originally byErnest Hemingway)

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

Finally someone I can relate to 🙂 Cheers buddy.

Edit Thank you guys, there were a lot of comments with questions about how I did it and others expressing admiration, curiosity and doubts. I am editing this answer so that I could reply to some of the questions that frequently came up and those I could answer.

What do I work on?

I am an iOS developer. I work on iOS, my primary programming language is Objective C. I moved to Swift recently (still not an expert though).

Do I have a team?

No, I work alone. Having a team / starting a company requires very different set of skills. I have plans to start a company but I don’t have a definite timescale yet.

Which college did you study in?

I am from one of the Tier 3 colleges. There hasn’t been an on-campus drive in our college AFAIK.

For how long have you been freelancing?

4 years out of 6. I worked for two companies before I quit in 2012.

Is what you are doing sustainable in the long run, do you have a Plan B?

I don’t think what I do now is sustainable or scalable in the longer run. I just have one source of income now and I am extremely paranoid about it. Though I’ve always lived below my means, I have the hunger to move on to the next level. I am looking to build a product in one of the areas with very large market – healthcare / finance (may be write a book on how to be a millionaire after I make my first million, those stuff sell like hot cakes on the internet and could earn the next million :D).

I know X, Y, Z, A, B, C and I don’t earn much why?

You can’t be equally good at everything. That’s almost impossible unless you are the likes of Elon Musk and Tony Stark. Generalists are good for startups and service-based companies where they need one person who can deploy servers, do the landing page, write cross-platform apps, do database backups etc., These companies are either on budget or unwilling to spend more money on specialization because their business strategy is different. Other companies would simply hire front-end developers, back-end developers, iOS developers, Android developers, devops, db admins etc., Why? Because they need ANSWERS, ANSWERS that are TIME-SENSITIVE and MISSION CRITICAL. And generalists are bad at offering that. That’s why claiming that you know too many languages / frameworks is good to land you on your first job but not for a future that you dream about.

I have so many years of experience and I don’t earn that much, why?

As long as you do what others are doing, someone is going to slap the “Market Rate” tag on you. 1 year of experience – Rs. 10,000 ⬤ 2 years of experience – Rs. 25,000 ⬤ 10 years of experience – Rs. 1,50,000, looks familiar? Companies pay the bare minimum to keep you on their payroll (and no doubt, you are always going to be happy with it until you retire). This is the universal truth. And don’t blame them and start playing the victim game, you would do the same if you were running a company. According to market dynamics, the pricing is based on supply and demand. If you are among the majority of the supply, the “Market Rate” applies to you as well. The idea is to stand-out and create a market for yourself, so when multiple clients come after you, you decide what your “Rate” is.

What platforms do you use for freelancing?

I started with Odesk, which was later merged with Elance and rebranded as Upwork recently. I have tried Freelancer as well. But, the problems with these platforms are – 1. People are looking for competitive rates a.k.a cheap labour, 2. Most of the clients are non-techies, they don’t understand your work or the value you add to their product and 3. Competition – everyone is making their noise or music, noise too often, which makes it hard for us to stand out. I am more worried about 1 and 2. I use platforms like AngelList (Equity only jobs don’t appeal to me at the moment but could be great (& risky) opportunities for freshers), Stack Overflow Careers (you can also find jobs with Visa sponsorships). Though I haven’t had first hand experience with Crew, Hiredor Cross | Over I hear good things about these platforms.

Is big data the next big thing? And all questions related to big data and the next big things.

I am not the right person to comment on this, because I am neither a big data guy nor a fortune teller. You should probably ask this question to the other anonymous. All I know is this – we are generating massive amounts of data in the history ever and it’s only increasing every day. Anything that you do that could provide meaningful, actionable intel from that data is worth a lot – a new business strategy, better health, less accidents, etc., If you are interested in big data then yes, go ahead. There are several other areas that could be the next big thing in computing – Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, etc., If you are interested in something, find its pulse using Google Trends.

Answer 2 (Answered by Anonymous)

Age – 15

Nationality – Indian

Currently working in – VIT University

Income – INR 2500 / Month

Some of you may be answering it to brag about your 6 digit salary and the hardwork you put it.

I live in chitoor, 2 hours from VIT. At 6 in the morning I’ve to walk for 2 miles to reach the bus station and then travel to VIT. I’m currently working in the north Indian mess. After finishing with the day’s work I even work at the night canteen to earn a bit of extra income.

Many of you might be thinking, why I do this when I should have been studying. Let me tell you my story,

My dad had left my mom when he found out that she was pregnant as he said he’s not financially strong being a farmer. They never wanted kids but I was an accident to them, a mistake he made for which my mom suffered.

Two years back my mom was raped by a guy and his friends at whose home she worked as a maid. When we went to the police they didn’t even give a fuck about us because we couldn’t pay them as much as the guy already did. I felt so helpless in that situation, didn’t know what to do. One year later my mom gave birth to an angel, my sister. We call her Pari as after that we see a hope to live again. We see the beauty of life.

I decided to work from then, I left school and worked really hard. I earn about 3000/month and save 2000 every month so that when Pari grows up she could go to school, have a proper education. Her brother doesn’t want to see her working as a maid in some animal’s house who would treat her like shit. I’ve saved around 25000 and I hope I could earn more for Pari.

Life isn’t about earning a lot, it’s about earning for a purpose that would change a life.

Life is cruel but learn to fight back and not give up.

P.S – I’m just a student in that University who’s writing this story in first person on behalf of the guy working in the north indian mess. He’s such a lovely and joyful person even after whatever he has been through. I’m glad I spoke with him, he has changed my outlook towards life.

Answer 3 (Answered by Anonymous)

I do business. I sell rolls.

Rolls of different types, flavor and ingredients. While I just sit at the counter and collect money from the customers, I also read a lot on Quora and contribute some small pieces in Quora. After-all, mutual contributions has made this site prosper.

To people who wonder what a roll looks like?

A kati roll (sometimes misspelled kathi roll; Bengali: কাটি রোল) is a street-food dish originating from Kolkata, India. In its original form, it is a skewer-roastedkebab wrapped in a paratha bread, although over the years many variants have evolved all of which now go under the generic name of kati roll. Today, mostly any wrap containing a filling enfolded in an Indian flatbread (roti) is called a kati roll. _ Source- Wikipedia

My Education: English (Hons.) year 2011.

My Age: 27

I have hired four people in the shop. I belong to Pune, India.

My Income: I will share a detailed analysis. And as my sales vary, my income varies too. I will give an average sales. (I earn in INR, For $ conversion I have taken 1 USD= 65 INR)

Number of rolls sales per day: 250

Average margin on each roll = Rs. 30 ($0.46)

Monthly income from sales = Rs. 30 * 250 * 28 = Rs. 2,10,000 ($3231)

Rent for the place: Rs 20000 ($308)

Salaries of workers = Rs 48000 ($739)

Other expenses = Rs 10000 ($154)

My income = Rs. 1,30,000 ($2000) approx.

Why do I write this?

A couple of years back, when everyone in my family and the extended family had recognized and certified me as a blot on their family which consisted of numerous engineers over decades, I decided to quietly slip to somewhere far. (I am from Bihar, India) A friend (whom I will be grateful to for my entire life) gave me shelter for 1 month. I started as a small joint two years before. Now I sell 200 rolls minimum in a day. On weekends, I have sold up to 1000 rolls a day.

What my family thinks of me now?

I am still an out-caste. They think I am barely surviving. I never disclosed to them how much I make. And perhaps never would. Let them guess. (My mother, though, knows each and everything.) While I sit and watch all the IT crowd come and eat at my joint, I remember some of my family “grown” engineers. I earn much more than them.

Do people respect me?

I smile. I always do. Some people are rude. But most of them are good. But you dont get respect. They call you “Roll-walla” when you meet them outside. Once, I went to a disco and saw a group laughing at me. “Aren’t you the one who sells rolls out there?” The saddest part is all the girls calling me ‘bhaiyya‘.

Reason for going anonymous:

There are many people coming to my joint who will be on Quora. I was introduced to Quora by one of my repeat customers. If they know this, I will be asked to cut down my prices
My family engineers. They would die wondering!!
You know the respect is low in the society. I know Quorans are different but still, I won’t take a chance.
In two years I have seen so many up and downs. I have enough money in my bank account. I have bought a flat. And planning to start another roll joint soon (expansion of business, you know).

The fun part is: I have tried to convince a couple of people that this is a good business model. They don’t believe.

Edit: Whoa!! I wrote this answer when my people were getting the ingredients ready for the weekend sale, and now when I look at my Quora account, it is flooded with notifications. I will reply to each and every comment and question – after this weekend. I mean on Monday the 2nd of May. While randomly going through the comments, I would like to clear a few things:

I am based out of PUNE and not Kolkata. Though two of my roll-makers ( they are my family) are Bengalis.
To disappoint some of you, that picture of rolls is NOT from my food joint. Some random internet picture. I will post some photos of my rolls soon.
Thanks fellow Quorans. Your love means so much for me. I felt I had gone strong in these years. But you guys made me cry like a baby. After two years. I felt better.

As I finish writing this edit, it is already 1st May. Happy labor’s day. That’s the day I celebrate. 🙂

Edit 2: For some people, the margin of Rs 30 appears a lot. I will just take an example of chicken roll. The rate at which I sell a double egg chicken roll is Rs. 80. Consider the ingredients: Two eggs – Rs 10, the outer roll (roti/wrap) = Rs 10 (includes oil cost), Fillets including all the spices = Rs 10 (they contain onions, mayonnaise, sauces, other cut vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes.), Chicken = Rs 20. How much that comes out to? Rs 50. Believe me, with the scale, you can reduce the costs even further. Now guys please don’t start finding me on the basis of the price of a double egg chicken roll.

Edit 3: Some (or many) people have asked me whether I pay taxes. I haven’t paid taxes so far. The income I mentioned is what I have started earning in the last couple of months. Again, that is varying. But I will pay tax for sure from this year. It is a promise.

Source:Techgig