₦airaland Forum

Here is my story, told so other tech folks do not fall into the same trap.

For many tech professionals, LinkedIn feels like the town square of opportunity. You fine tune your profile, follow the right companies, turn on job alerts, and send out thoughtful applications. You hope to land a role that respects your time, pays what it promises, and lets you grow. As a Nigerian engineer, I also looked to LinkedIn for remote roles that could value my skills without borders. That is how I found DS Legends Pte. Ltd., owned by Gunasekaran K S Maniyam.

The offer looked simple. I was promised a monthly pay of four hundred Singapore dollars. I was told a contract would guide our work and I should follow the company’s principles. I took the role in good faith. I showed up, delivered, and on many days worked extra hours to push tasks across the line. Anyone who writes software knows delivery is not just code in a file. It is thinking through edge cases, fixing bugs as they appear, and communicating with a team so changes do not break something else. I put in that honest work.

Then the experience took a different turn. The agreement I relied on was not treated with respect. Promises were not kept. I was spoken to in ways that tried to make me doubt my own reality. The founder made comments about Nigerians that were insulting and demeaning, as if those of us from Nigeria existed to be used. It was painful to hear and hard to ignore. It was also the first sign that the work culture I had stepped into did not care about people, only output at any cost.

My salary was cut down not once but twice, and the reasons given did not hold up. I kept doing the work all the same. The software I built functioned and is still in use. Anyone who understands software engineering knows that corrections are part of the process. You review, you test, you adjust, and you improve. Instead of embracing that process, the company tried to rush everything into the hands of clients. Proper testing was pushed aside. The team was pushed to show features fast even if they were not yet ready for production. That pressure created chaos, and when chaos appeared, it was pinned on me.

On the day I was dismissed, I was told my performance was the reason. In the same breath, my pay for the month I had already worked was slashed by half. I was also told future pay would remain cut, with talk of a review many months later. I did not accept that. I asked for the full pay that matched the work I had done and the promise that brought me in. I was assured I would be paid. Then more excuses appeared. New reasons. New stories. I was told the company would deduct pay to punish those issues.

Payment was due on the 10th of August based on the contract start date. That date came and went. Instead of payment, more excuses came. By the morning after, I was told there would be no payment at all. I learned that I was not alone. Colleagues who worked with this founder also faced cuts and delays. Many were never paid in full. The reasons changed from case to case, but the result stayed the same. People delivered work and did not receive the pay they were promised.

From the beginning I noticed patterns that pointed to manipulation. Lines were crossed. I kept my boundaries. I kept my proof. I refused to give up my integrity to please a boss who did not respect me. That refusal has now been twisted and used as a reason to deny me what I earned. I share this because silence protects the wrong people. I share this because many of us use LinkedIn to look for honest work and we should not be punished for trusting a platform that has helped many of us grow.

Let me be clear about what I lived through, in my own words and backed by records I kept. The company did not keep its promise to pay what was agreed. I faced insults aimed at my nationality. I was pressured to present untested work to clients. I saw a disregard for standard engineering practice. I was dismissed and then told I would be paid only half for a month of full work. I asked for what I was owed and was denied.

If you are a tech worker reading this, please learn from my experience. Before you start, insist on a signed contract that spells out pay, timelines, and review periods. Ask how bugs and fixes are handled so ordinary engineering work is not treated like misconduct. Clarify the difference between development and production. Ask for a clear testing process. Keep a daily record of tasks, commits, and messages. Save every agreement in writing. If pay dates are given, write them down and confirm them again as you approach that date. If your pay is changed after you have delivered, ask for the clause that allows such a change. If they cannot show it, do not accept it.

I also want to speak to the human side. Many of us stay quiet when faced with this kind of treatment because we need the job or hope things will get better. I understand that feeling. I held on longer than I should have because I believed good faith would be returned with good faith. It was not. That kind of hope can cost you your peace, your savings, and your confidence. Your work has value. Your time has value. Your nationality is not a reason to be talked down to or paid less. You deserve a workplace that treats you with respect.

To the tech community that keeps building and shipping from Nigeria and across Africa, keep your head up and protect yourself. There are many good companies out there that honor their word. There are also companies that do not.

I am sharing my story to help others make better choices. If you are in a similar situation, gather your records, state your case in clear terms, and get guidance from professionals who can advise you on next steps in your country and in the country where the company is registered. My hope is that this saves someone else from lost time, lost income, and lost trust.

There was no mutual respect, only a pattern of manipulation, broken promises, and disregard for the very people keeping the work moving.

So sorry all of these happened to you. You still will have to take all the blame.

How could you have jumped on a remote job without a contract. That was VERY careless. No reason can justify you starting a job anywhere without a signed contract.

Anyways, lessons learnt.

Put up same write up on LinkedIn and mention the company and LinkedIn.

CoronaVirusPro:
So sorry all of these happened to you. You still will have to take all the blame.

How could you have jumped on a remote job without a contract. That was VERY careless. No reason can justify you starting a job anywhere without a signed contract.

Anyways, lessons learnt.

Put up same write up on LinkedIn and mention the company and LinkedIn.

Thank you, done that too. Despite having a contract in place, they often breach it and impose new rules that were never part of the agreement 🥲

Singaporeans are extremely stingy. I wonder why despite being one of the richest countries in the world.

I just looked sorry bros you dealt with the worst kind of Singaporean an Indian Singaporean

Op I am sorry you had to go through this. Just take it as a lesson and keep moving forward. Eventually you will learn what people you shouldn’t even bother yourself with.

Is it too hard for you to mention the company name here?

jidemosaic:
Is it too hard for you to mention the company name here?

Mentioned it in the title and it's in the very first paragraph.

tensazangetsu20:
Singaporeans are extremely stingy. I wonder why despite being one of the richest countries in the world.

I just looked sorry bros you dealt with the worst kind of Singaporean an Indian Singaporean

Op I am sorry you had to go through this. Just take it as a lesson and keep moving forward. Eventually you will learn what people you shouldn’t even bother yourself with.

Thanks thanks

ByteBoi:
Here is my story, told so other tech folks do not fall into the same trap.

For many tech professionals, LinkedIn feels like the town square of opportunity. You fine tune your profile, follow the right companies, turn on job alerts, and send out thoughtful applications. You hope to land a role that respects your time, pays what it promises, and lets you grow. As a Nigerian engineer, I also looked to LinkedIn for remote roles that could value my skills without borders. That is how I found DS Legends Pte. Ltd., owned by Gunasekaran K S Maniyam.

The offer looked simple. I was promised a monthly pay of four hundred Singapore dollars. I was told a contract would guide our work and I should follow the company’s principles. I took the role in good faith. I showed up, delivered, and on many days worked extra hours to push tasks across the line. Anyone who writes software knows delivery is not just code in a file. It is thinking through edge cases, fixing bugs as they appear, and communicating with a team so changes do not break something else. I put in that honest work.

Then the experience took a different turn. The agreement I relied on was not treated with respect. Promises were not kept. I was spoken to in ways that tried to make me doubt my own reality. The founder made comments about Nigerians that were insulting and demeaning, as if those of us from Nigeria existed to be used. It was painful to hear and hard to ignore. It was also the first sign that the work culture I had stepped into did not care about people, only output at any cost.

My salary was cut down not once but twice, and the reasons given did not hold up. I kept doing the work all the same. The software I built functioned and is still in use. Anyone who understands software engineering knows that corrections are part of the process. You review, you test, you adjust, and you improve. Instead of embracing that process, the company tried to rush everything into the hands of clients. Proper testing was pushed aside. The team was pushed to show features fast even if they were not yet ready for production. That pressure created chaos, and when chaos appeared, it was pinned on me.

On the day I was dismissed, I was told my performance was the reason. In the same breath, my pay for the month I had already worked was slashed by half. I was also told future pay would remain cut, with talk of a review many months later. I did not accept that. I asked for the full pay that matched the work I had done and the promise that brought me in. I was assured I would be paid. Then more excuses appeared. New reasons. New stories. I was told the company would deduct pay to punish those issues.

Payment was due on the 10th of August based on the contract start date. That date came and went. Instead of payment, more excuses came. By the morning after, I was told there would be no payment at all. I learned that I was not alone. Colleagues who worked with this founder also faced cuts and delays. Many were never paid in full. The reasons changed from case to case, but the result stayed the same. People delivered work and did not receive the pay they were promised.

From the beginning I noticed patterns that pointed to manipulation. Lines were crossed. I kept my boundaries. I kept my proof. I refused to give up my integrity to please a boss who did not respect me. That refusal has now been twisted and used as a reason to deny me what I earned. I share this because silence protects the wrong people. I share this because many of us use LinkedIn to look for honest work and we should not be punished for trusting a platform that has helped many of us grow.

Let me be clear about what I lived through, in my own words and backed by records I kept. The company did not keep its promise to pay what was agreed. I faced insults aimed at my nationality. I was pressured to present untested work to clients. I saw a disregard for standard engineering practice. I was dismissed and then told I would be paid only half for a month of full work. I asked for what I was owed and was denied.

If you are a tech worker reading this, please learn from my experience. Before you start, insist on a signed contract that spells out pay, timelines, and review periods. Ask how bugs and fixes are handled so ordinary engineering work is not treated like misconduct. Clarify the difference between development and production. Ask for a clear testing process. Keep a daily record of tasks, commits, and messages. Save every agreement in writing. If pay dates are given, write them down and confirm them again as you approach that date. If your pay is changed after you have delivered, ask for the clause that allows such a change. If they cannot show it, do not accept it.

I also want to speak to the human side. Many of us stay quiet when faced with this kind of treatment because we need the job or hope things will get better. I understand that feeling. I held on longer than I should have because I believed good faith would be returned with good faith. It was not. That kind of hope can cost you your peace, your savings, and your confidence. Your work has value. Your time has value. Your nationality is not a reason to be talked down to or paid less. You deserve a workplace that treats you with respect.

To the tech community that keeps building and shipping from Nigeria and across Africa, keep your head up and protect yourself. There are many good companies out there that honor their word. There are also companies that do not.

I am sharing my story to help others make better choices. If you are in a similar situation, gather your records, state your case in clear terms, and get guidance from professionals who can advise you on next steps in your country and in the country where the company is registered. My hope is that this saves someone else from lost time, lost income, and lost trust.

if na me i don scatter everything i do
take my loss and move

Next time, time not to take insults from someone just because they employed you.

Also, try to always have more than one job so you can easily quit.