A techie, a car and a whole lot of life admin

Pujitha is an Engineering Manager at Marshmallow. Born in India, this is her story of moving to the UK and why she loves working here. 

Let me start with a confession: I never planned to become one of those people who says “Oh I just sort of ended up staying in London.” But... here we are. 

The plan was simple: move from Hyderabad to the UK, finish my master’s degree, maybe travel a bit, eat a croissant or five in Paris, then head back. But like all great tech bugs, life had other ideas.

I landed my first job as a Graduate Software Engineer and decided to give London a shot. The city charmed me with its endless Pret sandwiches, weirdly specific weather forecasts (“light rain with a chance of emotional instability”), and trains that apologise more than British people do.

But here’s the thing no one tells you about moving countries: there’s no manual. No "Welcome to the UK! Here's how to adult!" guidebook. Just vibes and a lot of googling.

Take council tax, for example. One day you’re living your best student life, blissfully unaware of local government finances, and the next day you’re searching things like “council tax band vs rock band” and crying softly.

Then came the Big Milestone™ in the journey: buying a car. Yay, freedom! Boo, paperwork. I thought the hardest part would be picking a colour. If only. Between understanding car taxes, insurance policies, and why my MOT sounded more like a secret society than a safety check, I nearly gave up and bought a bike instead. 

No one enjoys life admin. But when you’re still new to the UK, it sucks just that extra bit more. 

But here’s where my story goes full circle.

Today, I’m an Engineering Manager at Marshmallow, a company that gets how complicated adulting (especially car-owning-adulting) can be for people who’ve moved countries. We exist to make car insurance fairer, simpler and less hair-pulling. Because no one should need a PhD in UK Admin just to insure their car.

Looking back, every step, every confusing letter from the council, every software bug I fixed, every new team I joined, led me here. And now, I get to build tech that makes someone else’s journey just a bit easier.

Would I still appreciate a checklist for new migrants? Absolutely.
Am I writing one? Maybe.
Do I now understand how to pay my car tax without crying? Mostly.

So here’s to all the accidental Londoners, tech wanderers, and first-time car owners figuring it out one confused Google search at a time. You’ve got this. And if you want to help us remove more admin out of life, come join us!

Looking for your next exciting challenge in software engineering? We’re hiring! Take a look at our open Software Engineering roles.