My Journey

I started BTech in CS in 2017. I learned Python can be used to build web backends (huge step up from PHP). Then learned Python can be used for all sorts of things. In sophomore year, started learning machine learning through machinelearningmastery.com and kaggle, as machine learning was the cool kid in the block at the time. I started teaching ML concepts to Juniors via Tinkerhub with sample exercises. Started attending hackathons, I was able to prototype faster with Flask, Django and won, however failed terribly in other hackathons when I tried to apply ML practically, I realised I needed more data science fundamentals. While the ML learning was going terribly, I kept building websites for college events in Django as part of tech team.

In 2020, I interned at Compile Inc, where I built my first production level application which was actually used by customers. I pulled NDC drugs data from public sources, build ETL pipeline to clean and dump it to a PostgresDB, optimized the pipeline (using CProfile) to be memory efficient as possible as the DO droplet given only had 1GB memory, deployed and proxied behind nginx, built frontend UI using Nuxt.js. I build a web system from end to end for the first time. I also built crawlers using scrapy during my internship. This internship gave me an idea of how software is built in real world. I was offered a PPO.

Late 2020s, I started freelancing. Built an educational platform for a local tutoring agency. I interacted with clients for the first time, gathering requirements, cost benefit analysis, database modelling, working with NoSQL dbs and learnt security fundamentals.

I wanted to start open sourcing to understand software at scale (which was the case with real world) and attempted for GSOC in 2021. I worked with owncloud to build a Jupyter notebook extension for their oCIS platform as part of GSOC. As part of the project I had to integrate 2 platforms (CERNBox and SWAN). I failed to finish the project as the platform was too large and complex and I overestimated what I could accomplish in 3 months. However I learnt valuable lessons in time management and communication from this project by working with a large team maintaining said platform. The lessons came in handy when I graduated and joined the early stage startup where I interned at

In 2021, I joined Compile Inc. My primary role was Backend, but I wore many hats working in Frontend, Data engineering, DevOps and platform engineering. I helped the platform evolve and gained hands on knowledge in System Design. I eventually solidified into a Platforms & Applications engineer. The platform housed all the the ETL frameworks and data services, so I collaborated with Data engineers, DataOps and Data science teams for smooth development efforts and operations. The platform runs on a 12yr old Django codebase and a dedicated PostgresDB which I helped maintain and evolve overtime. When the startup was acquired, I played a vital role in migrating the platform from AWS to Azure.

I started attending conferences and technical meetups. It started out from Indiafoss and monthly Bangalore foss meetups, but eventually started attending Pycon, Python meetups, which helped me grow my technical proficiency better and eventually contribute back to my company. One of such python meetups is when I visited the Meshdefend office in Indiranagar and got to chat with the founders.