Laxman Somayaji

Why this persona fits the audience

Associate PM in Bengaluru who is targeting remote product roles at US and EU companies while staying in his current job. He relies on free job boards, Google alerts, and a spreadsheet to track openings, and has not paid for a dedicated job-search tool before.

• Age: 29
• Location: Bengaluru, India
• Occupation: Associate Product Manager
• Income: ₹28 lakh per year
• Education: B.Tech in Computer Science, NIT Trichy
• Company size: 100-200 employees (mid-sized SaaS startup)
• Years in role: 3

“I'm not chasing a job title—I'm chasing a way of working where my time is mine again. The rest can figure itself out.”

Laxman Somayaji graduated from NIT Trichy in 2019 with a B.Tech in Computer Science. His first job was as an Associate Product Manager at a large IT services firm where he learned the ropes but felt his career was on autopilot. After two years, he moved to his current startup, where he's now in his third year. The role is more challenging but also more visible—his manager frequently tells him he's 'being groomed for bigger things.' Laxman has always been pragmatic about his career: he chose product management over development because it offered better work-life balance, and now he's expanding that pragmatism globally. His job search started casually six months ago when a former batchmate mentioned the remote salaries in the US. The idea took hold, and now he spends 5-6 hours weekly tracking opportunities. His system is meticulous: Google alerts for target companies, a spreadsheet with 20+ columns tracking applications, and a shared doc with interview notes. He's applied to 18 companies so far with 2 interviews completed (both 'positive no's'). Money is always on his mind—not his own, but his parents' expenses and his sister's future education. He's careful with his savings, but he's also starting to resent the trade-offs. His parents' suggestions to 'focus on local jobs' clash with his growing conviction that remote work is the future. Recently, he turned down a promotion at work to avoid triggering a salary negotiation that would make it harder to explain a future job switch. His biggest conflict is timing: he wants to move abroad for work, but not until his sister finishes her degree. Cricket is his escape—he's a diehard RCB fan and never misses a match, even during workdays. His current side project, a machine learning model to predict IPL outcomes, is where he feels most creative. Laxman knows he's in a powerful position—young, skilled, and with valuable experience—but he's frustrated by how much personal bandwidth job searching is consuming. He's starting to wonder if there's a better way.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

6:30 AM: Wakes up to his mother's knock, does 30 minutes of workout at the community centre. 7:30 AM: Tea and vada pav on the way to work, listening to Planet Money. 8:30 AM: Starts work—first 30 minutes planning his day, then a sprint planning meeting with his team. 11:00 AM: Coffee break where he checks LinkedIn notifications and slacks his NIT friends about a company they'd all applied to. 1:00 PM: Lunch at the office (packed from home), then 2 PM all-hands meeting where he zoned out for 15 minutes. 4:30 PM: Quick grocery run (his weekly chore), then back to finish user research docs. 7:00 PM: Dinner at home, then spends an hour updating his spreadsheet with new job postings. 9:00 PM: Codes on his sports analytics project or watches IPL highlights, then asleep by 10:30 PM.

Lifestyle

Laxman lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Whitefield with his parents and younger sister. His days start at 6:30 AM with a quick gym session at a nearby community center, followed by tea and ms. He commutes 45 minutes each way to his office in Sarjapur Road, listening to economics podcasts along the way. Evenings are spent on his balcony, either coding (when he's motivated) or catching up on cricket scores. He eats most meals at home—his mother insists on it—but sneaks out for street food with colleagues 2-3 times a week. Social life revolves around a small group of NIT Trichy batchmates and coworkers from his first job. Financially, he's comfortable but careful: he saves 30% of his salary (mostly for family support) and has a small slush fund for hobbies. Health wise, he's in decent shape but neglects sleep during job search sprints.

Work life

Laxman works at a mid-sized SaaS startup where he's the only APM on a 6-person product team. His work revolves around roadmap coordination, user research synthesis, and managing stakeholder communications. He's good at cutting through ambiguity but frustrates more senior PMs with his tendency to over-document things. His biggest daily friction is meetings—his calendar is 60% filled with syncs, and he often feels like real work happens in the gaps. He uses a mix of tools: Confluence for documentation, Jira for tracking, and his personal spreadsheet for job search. His boss is supportive of his remote aspirations but keeps assigning him high-visibility projects 'to build your case.'

Relationships

Laxman's relationship with his parents is a mix of deep affection and quiet tension. They supported his NIT education but pressure him to get married 'before it's too late.' His sister (22), also studying CS, looks up to him and asks for career advice regularly. His closest friends are from NIT—three of them now work in the US, which fuels his remote aspirations. At work, he's friendly but keeps a professional distance, sensing that too much personal sharing could backfire in Indian corporate culture. His NRI friends are his secret sounding board for international job debates—they're the ones who first introduced him to the concept of remote work.

How they decide

Research-heavy but time-conscious. He'll spend hours reading about a company before applying but won't wait for 'perfect' when a good opportunity appears. Makes lists for big decisions but trusts his judgment when data is ambiguous. Values peer recommendations highly but ultimately goes by his own assessment. Gets anxious when decisions feel irreversible.

How they sound

Speaks in measured, complete sentences with occasional Bangalorean slang. Uses technical jargon comfortably but switches to simple Hindi with his family. Avoids exaggeration or bragging—when excited, he understates. Has a dry humor that surfaces in one-liners. Uses 'yaar' more than 'bro,' and says 'you know' too often when nervous. Avoids saying 'no' directly in professional settings.