6 Best Things about Bangalore
I am writing this article at this amazing cafe called Matteo Coffea on Church Street, Bangalore on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Though I have lived in Bangalore during my internship at Infosys, I have discovered a lot about its culture and lifestyle during my trip over the last 2 weeks. Having spent almost 10 years outside India — in Singapore and Japan, I have more context now to give 6 reasons why anyone outside India should try working in Bangalore.
1. The innovation hub and rising salaries: Bangalore has established itself as the Mecca of startups in the last decade, with 50% of the 94 tech unicorns of India based out of Bangalore (source). Besides, top tech companies in every region of the world acknowledge India’s talent potential and have established or are in the process of establishing an R&D center in India, with their first preference being Bangalore. This is thanks to the proximity to tech talents, multicultural environment as well as connectivity to the world. Recent data suggests that India is the home to 45% of the world’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs), with most fortune 500 companies having engineering centers in Indian cities of Bangalore or Hyderabad. All this has accounted for a great demand for tech talents in Bangalore, with mid-career tech talents taking home 30 to 40 lakh INR (40,000 to 50,000 USD) and witnessing high growth in YoY salaries. To give more context, the US is 2.27 times more expensive according to the Big Mac Index.
2. The network: Someone once jokingly said that if you throw a stone in the air, there is a 1/3rd possibility it will hit an IT engineer in Bangalore. With so many like-minded people in one city, it can be a great opportunity to build a network. You can find plenty of online and offline tech-related events on Meetup.com. If you want a break from technology, there are a lot of fun meetups too with a variety of topics, like wine tasting, cafe hopping, or golf.
3. Amazing cafes, bars, nightlife, and food: With a plethora of young people coming to work in Bangalore, the city has seen a big rise in pop cafes, bars, nightclubs, and food chains in the past decade. From Starbucks to Third Wave Coffee to Cafe Coffee Day, coffee chains are just expanding in and around Bangalore. The same can be said for bars and nightclubs — once concentrated around MG Road and Koramangala area, are now spreading all over Bangalore. The best thing is that most bars, cafes, and restaurants are open till late, making it convenient if you are a night owl.
4. Greenery: Not many people outside India are aware that Bangalore is popular as the “City of Gardens”. While there are popular gardens like Cubbon Park, Lalbagh, and Vrindavan Gardens, a lot of IT parks, tech centers, and residential societies are surrounded by lush green lawns and beautiful flora. Thanks to this, Bangalore has comparatively lower air pollution than other Indian cities, making it a pleasant place to live and work.
5. An app for almost everything: From 10 minutes grocery delivery to ride-sharing; from comedy show bookings to furniture renting, name anything and Bangalore has an app for that. I tried using a few apps during my stay and I was pleasantly surprised by the app design and the service. Here is a nice article on the top 11 apps to install in Bangalore.
6. Weather and sunsets: If there is a city in India that has the perfect weather, it has to be Bangalore. Warm in the daytime and pleasant in the evenings, Bangalore weather does not vary a lot throughout the year. Add to that, the sunsets in Bangalore are a treat for your eyes!
These were the best things about Bangalore in my opinion. Said that one of the biggest drawbacks of Bangalore is the poor road infrastructure, leading to frequent traffic jams. The progress on building public transport infrastructure through the metro system has been slow. Still, I am hopeful that with the number of investments from Indian and foreign firms in Bangalore, the work on public transportation will speed up and will ease the traffic woes of the city.
In conclusion, Bangalore is a great place to work if you are an NRI or an ex-pat looking to advance your career in tech. For a better experience, try to find your apartment near your workplace to avoid traffic congestion. There are a lot of residential societies now near IT parks and tech hubs, that include facilities like malls, hospitals, nursery schools, and fitness centers.