B’luru based Google techie explains why he quit ₹7.5 lakh-a-month job in UAE after just three months
Bengaluru: A Bengaluru-based product designer, now working with Google, has shared why he gave up a lucrative job in Abu Dhabi that paid him ₹7.5 lakh a month, just three months after joining. Advin Netto, who narrated his experience on Instagram, said the move was not about money but mindset and work culture.
Netto revealed that although it took him nearly five months to receive his UAE work visa, he realised soon after joining that the environment was not a fit for him. “In India, I’d gotten used to self-accountability… focusing on outcomes, not attendance. That flexibility didn’t exist there. If I don’t punch in at 9 AM, it’s a half-day loss,” he wrote.
He added that while the UAE excels in infrastructure and physical development, its digital product ecosystem remains young. “Money wasn’t the issue. Mindset was. Conversations around design thinking often met resistance,” Netto explained, adding that leadership roles were often assigned based on nationality rather than expertise, limiting genuine innovation.
Breaking down the financial aspect of his decision, he stated that his salary of 30,000 AED per month was remarkable, but his living expenditures in UAE were around 10,000 AED.
After his post went viral, it drew mixed reactions from social media users. Many professionals echoed his experience, pointing to rigid work hours and nationality-based hierarchies in several Middle Eastern workplaces. One user commented, “I used to work from 7:30 AM to 9 PM, six days a week, the pay depended entirely on your passport.” Another thanked Netto for sparking an open conversation about the realities of work culture in the region.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
