The story of my life begins in a village in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Southern India. From there, my parents urbanised to Delhi when I was an infant and eventually settled in Thiruvananthapuram, a tier-2, 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, Physics and Biology piqued my interest. Chemistry and Computer Science did not appeal to 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.
If my memory serves me right, 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 computers, coaxial cables, optical fibers, 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, the dial-up internet modems 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 the computer because it would frequently crash. 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. Also the fact that you only had to think logically to do Engineering made it a straightforward choice for me. It wasn't the worst of decisions, but it certainly wasn't the best at the time.
In 2007, I joined the University of Kerala. I was average at college. From being academically oriented at school, I wanted to be a professional Cricket player again. 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. Web Development 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 with my basic knowledge of coding unbeknownst to me that I was getting better at coding and Computer Science. I think this is where my career started.
In 2010, I got the opportunity to create the website for RAICS - an international IEEE conference. It was my first major work. The attention I got from it got me addicted to it and it started coming in the way of my college education. I also tried to create a start up, an online job portal, created a team, talked to a few local colleges to onboard students, but I didn't take it to completion because I wasnt fully convinced that it will succeed. I wanted to drop out towards the beginning of the fourth year. It took me an incredibly herculean 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. By the end of college, I had an Engineering degree in Electronics & Communication, a budding interest in Computer Science, the experience of having failed in creating a start up and a paying hobby on the Web.
In 2011, even before I was expecting the results of university, I found my first full time job as a PHP Developer at a local startup when all of my peers where getting hired into the big companies. It was low paying but I relished the fact that I was the first one to get a job in my college. In hindsight, I am glad I didn't follow the crowd because the web eventually took me places.
In 2012, I moved around India to Kochi, Chennai, and Bengaluru when I worked for Wipro Technologies doing various 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. Because until then, I was parallely pursuing Cricket as a potential career. It perfectly coincided with the time Javascript was taking off as a programming language.
In 2016, I finally decided that Cricket was not a career option anymore and 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. 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. After 3 years in the UK, I returned to India.
In 2019, just before the Covid pandemic struck, I moved to Berlin to work for Delivery Hero. I lived there for another 3 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. I sometimes miss Berlin.
In 2020, I started teaching online where I taught people programming and web. I taught about a 100 people before pausing it to focus on work.
In 2021, I realised Germany wasn't the greatest of places 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 3 year stint in the UK prior to this. 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 and thrive in a place like that and to realise that Berlin is actually a more classier city than London. 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 System 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/Product Management to Developer Advocation. I get to 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 wanted to make another dream of mine come true. 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 from time to time. Although it was a childhood dream to be a Pilot, I now only consider it as a hobby.
In 2023, I bought a house in London. Because in the past decade, I found myself moving between UK, Germany, Dubai, and India often for Business and Personal reasons. Even though I have been lucky for all the amazing experiences and challenges life has thrown at me and it has all been very liberating, all the travel and changing environments over the years took a toll on me mentally and physically. 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. Because, as an immigrant, its engrained in me to be ready to make the next move to the next place and to not get emotionally attached to people, places and things. Not to mention all the bereaucratic stuff that made my life very chaotic. I wanted to change that way of living. I wanted to call one place home. So I decided that London will be my home and bought my own flat in Greenwich close to the Prime Meridian.
In 2024, I decided to write a book - about how I live my life, about how the constant moving has shaped my life, how I had to organise my life around it, the principles and philosophies which keep me moving steadfast towards my goals, and the story of my relentless pursuit towards success, freedom and happiness.
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. If only one gets inspired, I consider it a victory. I like to think I have truly lived the lines from one of my favourite poems -
"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."