'Golden Days': Netizens Express Nostalgia Over 90s Footage Of 'Blessed IT Work Era'

Viral footage taken of employees at an Infosys canteen in the nineties, has netizens and IT professionals expressing their wistfulness and nostalgia for what looked like a simpler time.

"Footage from Infosys canteen, Bangalore in 1990s. Almost everyone in this is probably a multi-millionaire and settled abroad today," user Arjun*, wrote on social media platform 'X'.

Employees are shown chatting, smiling and having discussions in groups, showing Infosys in a completely different light, capturing its days as an emerging name in the information technology industry instead of the giant it is today.

Many expressed fascination with their fashion style, their attitudes and the lack of phones, leading to an increased level of sociability among the people in the video.

"So much class! They look relaxed. Everyone looks fit & sober too. No phone in hands either. Golden days when every upper middle class had some hope," user Sunderdeep - Volklub commented.

"Infy was the trend setter. It was the first big company that gave equity to its employees, first company that got American corporate culture and policies to India, and first one to focus on great infrastructure for its employees," User niks_1985 wrote in their reply to the comment.

The user was a part of Infosys's 'Catch Them Young' program, where they. as a ninth standard student in 1999 were invited to Infosys' Bhubaneswar campus to learn how to code.

"We sat in on an aptitude test and across schools some 25 students were picked for a 2 month summer holiday program at Infy BBSR campus. We were taught to code in the test mode and were aligned with one software engineer each," the user added.

Others remarked on what seemed like a healthier and less stress-inducing era to work and to live in, complimenting the employees' physique and style, while remarking on how, at ease, they seemed.

"Clean-shaven, fitter bodies, no potbellies, no phones glued to hands, no AI-induced job anxiety. Just genuine laughs and cross-cultural friendships. What a blessed era to work in IT," user @itssk_7 wrote.

Others who had worked for Infosys during that era deconstructed this view a bit differently.

"I'm ex-Infosys from that period. 20 somethings now are fitter, more health conscious than we were. I think there were more smokers/drinkers then amongst us. (Although there are more women smokers/drinkers now than in the 90s/2000s). We slogged like hell. 15-hour workday was routine. I spent 50+ hours in the office once. Don't be misled by 90 second videos." user Param Arunachalam wrote.

They did, however, maintain that it was a good time to work there, despite the struggles.

"It WAS a great time to work though, but that was because we had humbler backgrounds than the average employee now and we had more/better opportunities because the industry was nascent. My first onsite trip was before I completed my first year in Infosys and there were others in my batch who went before me," they added.