A techie who recently returned to India from the US shared his experience of adjusting to India’s work culture and shed light on a surprising question on the online application form. The tech expert on Reddit said that the application form had all the other standard questions, but there was one question that was right in the middle of the salary expectations and notice period question. This was a mandatory checkbox field, meaning the applicant could not skip the question; They have to either ‘tick’ or ‘cross’ it.The question is, are you comfortable making late evening calls every day?The technical expert said that the question provided no context or any specifics; It was just a yes-no question.“In the American tech industry, your evenings are yours. Sure, there’s the occasional crunch time. But the daily expectation to log back in after dinner to catch up with the American time zone causes massive burnout. Here, Indian tech companies use it as an anticipatory filter to filter out who wants a normal personal life.”“I love the energy of the Bengaluru tech scene. The drive and ambition in this city is incredible. But seeing that question as a formal requirement on a job portal made me pause. This is my first big awakening about the difference in work-life balance between the US and India. In the US, employers expect boundaries. In the Indian corporate world, giving up those boundaries feels like the price of admission,” the techie wrote, seeking advice from other NRIs back in India.Responses to the Reddit post were overall unanimous that this is an Indian setup, and Indian companies in the US also want their employees to be available 24X7. Some Redditors pointed out that companies around the world operate in the American timezone, and that is why only those in the US have their evenings off.The technical expert said some evening availability to coordinate across time zones makes sense, but treating it as a mandatory check-box requirement at the application stage rather than treating it as flexible, as-needed collaboration is surprising.