My boyfriend has been working as a backend developer in a company for a little over a year now, and I’m genuinely worried about his situation.
He works almost like a machine—9 AM to 9 PM is normal for him, and during high priority tasks it often stretches till 1–2 AM. Even weekends are not really weekends because he’s constantly pulled into support or urgent work, especially helping the UI team too.
Despite all this, he’s earning around 30K per month as a fresher. What hurts more is that even when he completes tasks, his work often gets credited to senior team members. His name is rarely acknowledged. From what he’s told me, his team lead and managers just label him as “average,” without really understanding or checking who actually did the work.
He was also given a performance rating of around 8, while others in the team reportedly received 10–11 out of 12, even though in several cases he feels his contributions were higher or more consistent. It’s frustrating because recognition and credit don’t seem to reflect the actual effort or ownership of work.
On top of that, even though some people may be aware of how much effort he puts in, no one really stands up for him. The environment feels very difficult to speak up in, and there seems to be a fear of backlash or being singled out if someone raises concerns. Because of that, people tend to stay quiet and just go along with things.
He has also mentioned feeling that there may be bias in the way the team lead interacts with people, and overall it feels like the team culture is not very safe when it comes to speaking openly. It’s like there’s always someone replaceable ready to be brought in, so nobody questions much.
He barely gets any leave. HR is not helpful either, and there’s no real support system in place.
I’m not sure how to help him or what advice to give. He’s hardworking, always available, and genuinely tries his best—but it feels like he’s being taken for granted.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you suggest we do here?