Parth Sachdeva

25 | Applied AI Engineer | Beatbox | Design

[Sejal Jain @SejalJain1710]

Looking to sell my phone(Delhi location), plz DM if seriously interested - Samsung S24+ 256GB Onyx black colour

- Excellent display with QHD+ resolution
- Onyx black colour
- Rear Camera - Resolution (Multiple)
50.0 MP + 10.0 MP + 12.0 MP
- Dual sim
- 256 GB storage .... (1/n)

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@VazeKshitij Bro what kind of beast are you?

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@VazeKshitij Trying this out in 2hrs

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@DudespostingWs W spotter, W fren

[• @WordsCocoon]

progress!

[Shubh @kadaipaneeeer]

In 2006, my brother was doing his PhD.
Topic: Bovine AIDS.
Institute: a university in Mathura.
Coursework: HSADL, Bhopal, India’s top animal disease lab.

Then bird flu happened.

Suddenly, HSADL became the lab.
And suddenly, my brother was told to drop 1.5 years of research and switch topics.

Not because science demanded it.
Because the system did.

The deal was simple:
Change your topic, or lose your stipend.

He called me and said,
“I love my research. I don’t want to work on what babus want.”

For once, I didn’t give gyaan.
I gave him an exit.

“Apply outside India. Let’s see if anyone values your work.”

He applied to 8 universities.
7 in Australia, 1 in Europe.

Within hours, 7 offers came back.
5 with full scholarships and stipends.

The 8th replied three days later.
The professor was at a conference.
That’s it. That was the delay.

Why?

Because his CV was ridiculously good:
•17 international publications
•1 book
•54 national publications
•103 reviews

He went to Europe.
Finished his PhD.
Got a Post-Doc in Texas.
Applied for a Green Card.
Got it in 2 months.
Citizenship the moment he was eligible.

Still, he wanted to come back.

Because India is home & hope dies slowly.

In 2011, he applied for a professor’s job at JNKVV, Jabalpur.
Salary: ₹40,000/month.

They asked for hard copies of all publications.

I still remember packing a full carton of his papers and couriering it.

Then, on July 8, we got a letter dated July 6.

Interview: July 10. In person.

Bring:

•NOC from his current university
•Character certificate
•Hard copies again

Because “what if interviewers want to see?”

I called them.

“How does someone fly from Europe in two days?”

Answer:

“Interviews are till 12th. He must come.”

That was the moment we stopped trying.

India wasn’t rejecting him.
India was humiliating him.

Later, when he sent his HSADL work to Elsevier, the journal did a routine verification.

HSADL replied saying:

•He left without due process
•His stipend wasn’t settled
•His address was false

We sent:

•No Dues Certificate
•Formal relieving letter
•Proof that the address was the same as his passport
•Proof that our parents still live there

Didn’t matter.
Publication rejected.

That’s the system.

We happily talk about reservations. But we quietly harass competence.

And before someone says, “Things have changed under Modi” no, they haven’t.

I tried in 2023.
Same hard copies.
Same physical interviews.

I now work as a visiting professor with an IIT. Online.

My reimbursement request has been pending since August 2023.

The professor in charge says,
“I get 100 mails a day. I don’t check all.”

Fair enough.

This country doesn’t lack talent. It lacks respect for it.

And the smartest people don’t leave India for money. They leave to save their dignity

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@cneuralnetwork Where can I join?

[Sejal Jain @SejalJain1710]

absolutely. always rooting for people around me.

[Arjun Jain | Fast Code AI @Arjunjain]

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗜 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁
August 2007. @Yahoo! Bangalore. I'm staring at my resignation draft.
₹1 lakh per month. Stock options. The golden handcuffs every middle-class kid dreams of.

But I'm suffocating.

Another content push. Another database migration. Another week moving avatars from server A to server B. My engineering degree screaming in protest.
My mouse hovers over 'Send'.

On the other side of this email: A €1,400/month internship at MICC - Media Integration and Communication Center in #Florence. No job security. No visa certainty. Just curiosity about computer vision and exploring the world beyond Bangalore.

I hit send.

My manager pulls me aside: "𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥? You're leaving Yahoo! for... Italy? Do you know how many people would kill for your job?"

He wasn't wrong.

Six months later, I'm broke in #Florence. Can't get a job - wrong passport. The internship ends. I extend it because... what else? Go back to content pushes?

Apply to Columbia for PhD. They say no - bachelor's from RV College isn't enough. Masters? US/Europe fees impossible. Even "free" German programs need money for rent, food, family back home. Those doors slam shut.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆:
It's not Instagram-pretty. It's coding until 3 AM in a tiny Italian apartment, building computer vision models while others are at aperitivo. It's visa anxiety. It's everyone thinking you've lost your mind while you're grinding harder than ever - just on something that matters.

But curiosity compounds in ways comfort never can.

That "stupid" choice led to: → Saarland Graduate School (they had a program with stipend + PhD without Masters) → Max Planck Institute → Working with Chris Bregler → Yann LeCun becoming my office neighbor at NYU → Being there when deep learning exploded → Papers, patents, Apple, teaching at IIT, IISc

From content pushes to publishing with the godfather of AI.

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀.

That Yahoo resignation? Best email ever.

Not because I knew where it would lead. But because I didn't. And that was the point.

Today, Fast Code AI is my latest curiosity experiment. Building the future of AI development. Still choosing the unknown over the comfortable. Still grinding. Still curious.

Comfort whispers: "You have so much to lose." Curiosity whispers back: "You have so much to learn."

To everyone suffocating in their comfortable cages, staring at their own resignation drafts, wondering if the leap is worth it:
Your curiosity is trying to tell you something.

Maybe it's time to listen.

What comfort are you choosing over curiosity right now?

Drop it below. Let's normalize choosing growth over golden handcuffs.

P.S. - "We wish you the very best in your future endeavors." They had no idea how right they were.

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@instinct_inc Backend? learning AI/ML
Hire me lol

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@SejalJain1710 Congratulations 🐥
Just fyi - There is no going back

[ian samir @iansamir18]

@ycombinator @sorcejobs @marvy_101 @davidalade @therealdajayi Had the same thought last year. But then I remembered how the actual Tinder "solved" dating problems

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

Just got to know about PyPy and I am hooked by the performance difference !

[Miguel Grinberg @miguelgrinberg]

Python 3.14 Is Here. How Fast Is It? https://t.co/NOinsKruPE

[Ganesha @shastryIN]

Tried to click some pictures @IndiaFOSS

[Uttaran Nayak @uttaranxnayak]

Corporate job: “Don’t make mistakes”
Startup: “Make mistakes faster”

Guess which one actually teaches you something?

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@SarvamAI @bolna_dev @twilio @elevenlabs @OpenAI Should try it for your Indian voice projects.
https://t.co/GHrdEczGWY

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

Just wired up @SarvamAI transcriber into @bolna_dev
Now it can:
Take raw audio → turn it into clean text from audio call using @twilio and turn back generated text to audio with @elevenlabs and @OpenAI

[Sejal Jain @SejalJain1710]

@AirIndiaX you cancelled my flight to Pune in the afternoon and put me in another one taking off early morning without giving me options. AND THERE IS NO WAY TO REACH A HUMAN AGENT TO DISCUSS THIS AT ALL. YOUR STUPID TIA BOT IS PRETTY USELESS IN THIS CASE.

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@grok @bolna_dev I'm gonna ignore you, just like the rest of the world.

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

Did an all nighter after a long time trying a secret connection with @bolna_dev

It feels good to be a dev again

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@bolna_dev @grok you scared of docker too?

[Parth Sachdeva @parpsyche]

@bolna_dev Also realised docker is my kryptonite 🙂