A viral social media post has ignited a debate about salary negotiations in the workplace after an intern allegedly lost their position for requesting a stipend revision. The incident, shared by a techie on social media, revolves around a WhatsApp message, a request for a pay hike, and a subsequent termination.
The Internship and the Review Promise
According to the post, the techie joined a small startup as an AI engineer intern for a six-month term. The stipend was described as low, but the intern claimed they were told during onboarding that it would be revised after three months. Over the next few months, the techie said they took on significant responsibilities, including building the company's small language model (SLM), improving efficiency, and helping bring in more than seven clients.
The WhatsApp Message That Went Viral
When the three-month mark arrived, the intern followed up on the promised review. The techie shared the message they sent to their manager: “Hello mam, so I have completed 3 months now, and I wanted to bring up the stipend revision that was mentioned during onboarding. Over the last 3 months, I've built, tested, and deployed SLM agents, worked on latency optimisation, and benchmarked various models. Considering all of this, I was expecting something around the (xxxx) range, though I'm open to discussing it further.”
‘Mismatch in Expectations’
However, the conversation reportedly did not go as planned. The techie claimed their manager reacted negatively, arguing that such an increase was unrealistic for a student, and dismissed the work as related to test campaigns and test clients. Soon after, the intern received an email stating that their internship was terminated due to a “mismatch in expectations.” The techie further alleged that the company's CEO spoke about startup culture and referred to them as “money-minded.”
Sharing their experience, the intern wrote: “They literally fired me for a negotiation text, completely disregarding four months of heavy-lifting code when they could have simply said, ‘We can only do X amount,’ and I would have happily agreed.” The post also said the intern plans to request a formal experience certificate and move on.
Social Media Reacts
The post triggered a wave of reactions, with many users supporting the intern. One user commented: “Dude chill, always set your standards high, don't let anyone downplay you. If they lost you, it's their loss.” Another wrote: “I can feel you. I was also fired from the job in a similar way. The lesson learnt is not to do unnecessary things other than the business requirement.” A third user said: “Don't be a servant of people. If you feel you deserve it, just ask for it. They will be making profits, and you deserve a cut.” A fourth added: “I guess you shocked them. From the sound of it, they were planning on keeping peanuts for a long time. It's good you found out early. Try to leave that place.”
Disclaimer: This article is based on information shared on social media. The Times of India has not independently verified the claims made in the post.
