The story of my life begins in a village in close proximity to a Tiger reserve in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Southern India. From there, my parents moved to Delhi when I was an infant and eventually settled in Thiruvananthapuram, the lush green sea-side capital city of Kerala. At an early age, I developed an interest academically thanks to my school. Subjects like English, Maths, and Physics interested me. But, like every other Indian kid, all I wanted to be was either a Pilot or a Cricket player. And like every other Indian parents, my parents wanted me to be an Engineer or a Doctor. Most of my childhood revolved around these. I had a reasonably happy childhood. To say how lucky I was to have that compared to the other millions of underprevileged children in India is an understatement.
I think it was at the age of 13 I first got introduced to technology. My dad used to take me to his office after school. He was a Telecommunications Engineer. He used to work in this huge data center filled with coaxial cables, optical fibers, computers, and what not. He was responsible for providing connectivity to millions of people in rural India. I remember being amazed to see all the computers, the glowing led bulbs, the oscilloscopes, and all the noise they made in unison in an otherwise quiet air-conditioned room without any people. It was like a giant refrigerator. It was there I developed an interest in computers. It wasn't long before we got a computer at home. It was an Intel Celeron with a 64Mb RAM in the era of CDs and floppy disks. I liked to rip open the internals of a computer and I have my fair share of doing forbidden stuff in the web. After my schooling days, just before college, I found my interests were divided between Science, Technology and Sports. In other words, I didn't have a particular interest towards anything. So I decided to follow the crowd and did Engineering. It wasn't the worst of decisions, but it certainly wasn't the best.
In 2007, I joined the University of Kerala. I was average at college. From being academically oriented at school, suddenly all I wanted was to be a cricket player. The teenager in me was still confused about life. It was also around that time internet speeds were getting better and the web was increasing in popularity. It wasn't considered a career option in those days but I started doing some work creating websites as a freelancer. I created some online games and conference websites which with my basic knowledge of coding unbeknownst to me that I was getting better at it, all the while maintaining wholeheartedly that I hated computer science to the core. But the attention I got from it got me addicted to it and it started coming in the way of my college education. I wanted to drop out in the third year. It took me a lot of effort to turn that around in the last year. How I did that is a story for another time but I graduated in 2011 with flying colors exceeding my own expectations. By the end of college, I had a worthless Engineering degree in Electronics, a budding interest in Computer Science, and a paying hobby on the Web.
In 2011, even before I was expecting the results of university, I found my first proper job as a PHP Developer at a startup. It was at a time when all of my classmates were campus hired into one of those big offshore companies, but I couldn't attend them because I didn't qualify. It was extremely low paying but I relished the fact that I was the first one to get a job in the whole batch. But in hindsight, I am glad I didn't follow the crowd because the web would eventually take me places.
In 2012, I moved around India to Kochi, Chennai, and Bengaluru when I worked for Wipro Technologies doing all kinds of technical jobs - IT Support, Unix Administration and Web Development for some big clients like Nokia and Apple. I did whatever came my way. It was when I was working in Apple that I realized Web is what I wanted to do in my career. It perfectly coincided with the time Javascript was taking off as a programming language.
In 2016, I moved to London to work for Lloyds Banking Group as a Frontend Engineer in their Statements Lab. The 3 glorious years here changed me as a Software Engineer. It was easy for me to transition to a Senior role because of all my previous experiences. I also worked with a really great bunch of people there. Also, I developed an interest in DevOps. I loved creating CI/CD pipelines, docker containers, deploying apps in the cloud, and stuff. We went on to create some great things on the web and had a lot of fun along the way. I miss those days.
In 2017, I realised my dream of travelling Europe solo. I travelled one country every other weekend taking an extra day off from work or sometimes two. I did that 10 consecutive times to 10 countries. It was absolutely thrilling. The challenge was not to travel a dozen countries solo, but to push myself out of my comfort zone away from my computer. So far, my Google Timeline tells me I have been to 16 countries and about 100 cities. The most memorable trip was probably to Switzerland, Turkey or Dubai.
In 2019, just before the pandemic struck, I moved to Berlin to work for Delivery Hero. I lived there for 2 years. Life in Germany wasn't easy to say the least and the pandemic didn't help it. But the work there was challenging (in a good way). I led a team of 5 Engineers in creating a food/grocery delivery platform some of whom are the best yet down-to-earth Engineers I have seen in my life some of who are still my friends now. The job and the people I worked with were the only good thing going for me there. I also learnt to speak Deutsch a little.
In 2020, I started JSDrome (JS for Javascript and Drome named after the cricket club I was part of in India, for the lack of a better name), an online teaching company where I taught people programming and web. I taught about a 100 people before pausing it to focus on work. I later rebranded it to Zyne.
In 2021, I realised Germany wasn't the best place to start a new life especially during a pandemic. So I decided to leave. It was a hard decision to make considering I was so close to getting a Permanent Residency which I had to give up a second time, the first time being my time in the UK for 3 years. But as I write this, when I think of that place, I get a strange nostalgic feeling. Maybe if I go there again now, I might like it more because I think one needs to attain a certain level of maturity to live in a place like that. But I am very glad I got to experience it first hand. I then moved back to London to work for Bumble.
At Bumble, I work as a Design Engineer responsible for building the building blocks of all the apps and websites like Bumble, Badoo and BFF. It is the most unique and challenging role I have ever taken up. From being a Engineer to a Lead, here I found myself donning a role with a mix of everything from Software Engineering to Engineering Management to Developer Advocate. I work with a variety of people in the company like Android/IOS/Web Engineers, Designers, Managers and Leadership creating solutions which enable them to create the product we all have come to love so much.
In 2022, as I laid on the sofa looking at the all the airplanes making their mark on the London skies, I decided thats what I am going to do next. I enrolled myself at the Shoreham Aviation Club. I have a few hours of flying under my belt although I dont have the Private Pilots License yet. I absolutely love hitting the skies.
In 2023, I bought a house in London. Although I have been lucky for all the amazing experiences and challenges life has thrown at me, I should confess that all the travel and changing environments over the years took a toll on me mentally and physically. Even though it was all truly liberating, I regretted not having settled in one place to call home or not having a constant circle of people to call friends or a long lasting relationship. Its engrained in me to always be ready to make the next move to the next place and to keep a safe distance from everyone. So I decided that London will be my home and went ahead and bought my own flat in Greenwich close to the Prime Meridian which in itself was one heck of a journey that took me down the rabbit hole of how money works in the world. I learnt a lot about money, investments, inflation, interest rates and what not. I will write about it some time.
In 2024, I decided to write a book - about my journey, my life's guiding principles, my successes and failures as a person as well as an engineer and the story of my relentless pursuit towards success, freedom and happiness.
To conclude, at the face of every major hurdle, I have always persevered and pushed myself to turn my life around which has changed me from being that quintessential timid lower middle class Indian teenager to who I am today. I write this because I know there is someone out there who is what I was all those years ago who needs to read this and other stories like mine before he decides to quit. If only one gets inspired, I consider it a victory. I will end it with a favourite few lines from my favourite poem:
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."