e-commerce guy, camera junkie, father of two
I’m 44 years old and hail from India’s capital city, New Delhi. I studied in NGFS Saket with Sanskrit, Physics, Chemistry, Math and Engineering Drawing being my electives.
I moved out of New Delhi when I was 17 and went to the university, where I graduated as Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering. Even though I graduated as a Chemical Engineer, I decided to pursue a career in software. While in university, I developed a keen interest in C programming and UNIX/Linux operating systems.
I moved to Mumbai (Bombay, as it was known earlier) in the year 2001 to work with NCST where I worked until the year 2004. I did a lot of learning and a bit of teaching while there and developed an interested in Database Design and Distributed Systems.
In 2004, I moved to Bangalore to join Yahoo, where I really started my career in “the industry”. It was in Bangalore that I found myself interested in cameras and photography. I bought my first digital camera – a Sony Ericsson w800i. I shot a lot of photos with that little thing before I upgraded to a DSLR.
I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D80, in 2007 to photograph the Formula 1 Malaysian GP at Sepang. This was also the first time that I set foot on foreign soil. That same year, I also travelled to the USA. Afterall, “have camera, must travel”.
In 2008, I married Nazia with whom I have two children — Yusuf and Yusra. They’re both Bangalore-born. Family life came with its own challenges and rewards, with the rewards greatly outweighing the challenges. The best part of it is how it helped me grow as a person and improve my EQ.
In 2010, I joined Zynga’s India Studio and worked there until 2015, making it my longest career stint thus far, thanks to the great work culture and multi-functional team dynamics. This is also where I realised my dream of acquiring the “Architect” title. Yes, that was a big goal of mine. Zynga started my slow transformation from “Individual Contributor” to a leader.
In 2017, after a two-year stint at Flipkart, I took up a job in Indonesia with Tokopedia as Vice President of Engineering. Clocking in at 7 years, this has now been my longest career stint at a company, thanks to the great culture at Tokopedia and the safe and relaxed social life in Indonesia.