Life and Career in the IT World feat. Balraj Adhana

[00:00:00] If you have to define IT sector and what are the different profiles people can look at it? Starting with project manager, then project manager to director, senior director. I would say one most important thing attitude, how I see myself in five years, where am I going?

[00:00:18] Am I going to be just a programmer or can I be something more? So hello everyone, Namaskar. Welcome back to Wisdom Whispers with Abhishek Mittal. This is not just yet another episode. You can see that we are doing it different this time.

[00:00:38] It's a virtual session. Why? Because I have a different guest on the show today. He's joining us from New Jersey, US and that's why we have to do it virtually. I'm not able to travel to US to

[00:00:53] record the session. So let me quickly introduce Balraj Adhana who's our guest today. He's an IT professional. He has more than 20 years of experience. So let's welcome Balraj Adhana to the show. Hi Balraj, welcome to the show. Hi Abhishek. Thank you. It's great to have you Balraj.

[00:01:13] Balraj, before we move on, would you like to know what your career journey was? Yeah, initially I never thought I could go that big in the career. I have been into different segments of IT technologies. Started as a Java developer. It was very interesting.

[00:01:37] I used to hear a lot about Java when I was in college. So I said, okay, this is it. It looks like I got it. But that was just a small fragment of it. But when I started

[00:01:50] working on different things, Java is an ocean of things. And then there is a cloud, then there is microservices, there is Springboard. Technology is always keep coming. But what I was more interested was in, can I get into some segment of business domain? And that's

[00:02:15] where the finance and then the insurance segment which is very big in United States, I got a chance to work on those big segments. And that's where it started flourishing. I started getting the

[00:02:27] idea if I can hang on to these two pillars, I think I can get there. So what I understand now from your conversation is though you have through some terms, which I have been on, but still I can relate to it somewhere. But so there are two aspects.

[00:02:50] One is your technical aspects and one is your functional aspects as you said, because you get into industries. You said finance and insurance. So by gaining knowledge in the industry, now you have achieved something where you are.

[00:03:07] But when you started as an analyst, when you started with, so Java developer as you said. So when your first job was in Java developing, what was that experience? What were the expectations? And when someone joins today, let's say after

[00:03:30] completing their post grad or grad or even after couple of years in some other industry, what is the expectation from them? So whenever you start your career rate, the expectation is very minimalistic that okay, you are given a unit of work.

[00:03:46] Say you are writing a Java class, which to compile and run as simple as okay, you have written this program. It is supposed to do certain function. Is it doing that or not? We are not worried about how this will work in a bigger picture

[00:04:04] for this domain. So all I used to worry about is can I my program work? Can this this Java page or UI page can show that button and on click of that button, can I go to the next page? Those kind of things. Literally, that's how it started.

[00:04:23] And it was all about curiosity when you are in the beginning of career. Are you curious enough to learn? That was the key. And it was very interesting. I mean, the big thing, yeah, you have those challenges in the beginning

[00:04:38] that you need to learn something new. But yeah, if you keep consistent, okay. So you talked about initially, though, what basic stops is start right? And slowly you learn because you are curious and you really moved into the next level and then you grow as

[00:04:57] a professional as an individual. But it's a technological industry where technology changes everything and now. So how you keep yourself up to the speed of the industry? So it's not just what you're doing in your day to day job. Okay. Yeah, that is important. You are

[00:05:16] doing that. But can I keep myself curious around the industry? What is going on? How you can keep yourself updated? I read blogs every day. I spend that five to 10 minutes. And that's really interesting, whether it is a video blog or anything online,

[00:05:36] small news is about talking about technology. So I have subscribed to some of those and that's where I read what is going on today? What is going on in the financial domain? So,

[00:05:51] this curiosity you are saying about curiosity right? This was from the beginning when you started your career. And this has been developed over the years because it is said that as a fresher, we don't know what to do to be honest. So curiosity is not everything.

[00:06:11] Right? You have subscribed to a few areas where you get knowledge and understand what is going on in the market today. So when do you think you should do it? Yeah, so it doesn't come on your own as you said right? In the beginning,

[00:06:27] you are just okay. I got the job and now there is some salary coming every month and I'm enjoying my life and all is good. But when you hear the stories from your managers, how they got where they are, they keep talking about some of those wisdoms,

[00:06:46] how you can come there. So are you coachable? Can I help you get there? So those things helped. Every here and there, they used to share some of those wisdoms. You can start very small with

[00:07:02] five minutes a day and you can build something. That's how that's what started. So really not in the beginning as you said, but slowly when you are like three years into the career or five

[00:07:16] years into the career, then you start understanding those things because in the beginning, oh my manager is saying something. Because initial days, you are just focusing on that. You want them to complete well. So now from this same thing, another question for you

[00:07:39] which I would like to know more from you is, when you started, you said that basic expectations are of every job profile. How this has changed over the time and now when someone is starting new into this software development industry, what they should focus on

[00:08:01] when they are joining you into the organization? What are the things which they should look for? So yeah definitely from the time. I'm talking about 20 years from now. So a lot has changed definitely. Expectation is too much. If you look for the job profiles for Fresh Air also,

[00:08:20] you should know this, you should know machine learning, you should know this technology, that stack. That's not a fair expectation to be exact. But can I be interested in those segments? Do I have very basics of those things when I'm coming to start my career into those segments?

[00:08:42] So if somebody says, oh I want to learn machine learning and AI, but I was curious enough to at least have some basics of it. So that could be something to start your when you are starting

[00:08:56] your career, have some basics. Don't come blank. So that helps give that person who is bringing you in to help you get coached and then get ready for the job that you are going to do.

[00:09:10] Okay. Already you have talked about mentors and coach a lot in the last five minutes. What do you think in the software development industry, this mentoring and coaching is like an inherent part and one who's joining Fresh into this industry should look for that?

[00:09:30] Definitely. If you are not like ready to learn and get coached, those are two inherent things that will get you really, really good settled into whatever segments you are trying. And when you are coming into the industry as a fresher, the expectation is, okay,

[00:09:54] can you do very minimal of things and can you learn if you don't know? So learning is not just okay, somebody is teaching you. But if somebody has told you, okay, this is the thing that we need, can you do something on your own?

[00:10:13] So self-learning, yes, self-learning at the same time, that if somebody is advising you on the job, is it your senior or is it your supervisor? If they are helping you, okay, this is the thing. Can you figure it out? Right? It's just not that

[00:10:31] you are alone on there. You will get the help but the intent is that you are trying to figure out yourself. You are not just relying on the support. Okay. So I know because I have already

[00:10:45] covered self-learning or learning as such in one of my podcasts and I think a very important aspect is, I think every industry but technological industry has been evolving. So if you start something and continue doing it, then you are irrelevant in the industry.

[00:11:07] I still remember when we were studying, I started software programming in Foxprobe. Right? So it's irrelevant now. So similarly Java, Java.net, you have been transforming into this industry every day. So self-learning is so important. Thanks for Raj for sharing that.

[00:11:32] Next is, let's say when I've entered now into this software development industry, what are the five skills or which I should have to be a successful software developer? So, Devan, you may not have those skills right but slowly you can acquire those. So simple is,

[00:11:58] are you able to understand the technicality of it? So programming, right? It's a logic. Can, are you good with logic? Not? Okay. Can you come across and try to learn it? Okay. Can I write

[00:12:15] a program which is logical? Right? Can I understand a program that is already written? Right? So one is, am I able to understand the logic? And second is, can I create a new logic?

[00:12:30] Right? That's on the technical side of it. But at the same time, can I be consistent with things? Yes. That another skill. Right? And I talk a lot in the previous section that can I be

[00:12:46] coachable? Right? That doesn't mean somebody is coaching me. Can I coach myself with self-learning? Then definitely four segment is, when you define your growth path. Right? How I see myself in five years.

[00:13:04] Right? Where am I going? Am I going to be just a programmer or can I be something more? So how to get there? Definitely. There is a learning evolution that happens. So that piece. Right? And definitely there is a, when we say software engineering, right?

[00:13:26] There are some basics of software engineering which talks about exactly you said. Yeah. These are hard skills. Right? So, right? Which I think college may be studying. It's not the basic knowledge we all expect when you are joining. Right?

[00:13:41] Right? You don't have to make you coach the language. Yeah. So it's a little simple. Right? Because it has evolved over time. Yes. Earlier it used to be okay. It was a waterfall model. Right?

[00:14:06] Right? Every month there is a finish line. You have to finish something in a month or in a two weeks time. So things are changed. This industry corner, maximum people who are joining this industry specifically, they look at this industry as an opportunity to travel abroad.

[00:14:28] Right? And that's the thing I can relate it to you as well. When you, like that's why we're doing it virtually because you're already sitting in New Jersey and you're doing one wonderful work there. But I want to understand.

[00:14:56] So what are the tips which you would like to share with everyone and why people should not just look at this industry as an opportunity to settle abroad but there is a lot to do outside of this as well.

[00:15:08] Yeah, definitely. So as we are talking about the skill sets, right? And coming and living that dream. Everybody when we are kids or when we are growing up, right? We have some dream and it could be just settling abroad. Could be one dream. It's a big dream.

[00:15:28] Yeah, it's a good thing to have. But at the same time, can I be good in the niche area that I'm planning to develop my skills into? Right? It could be IT. It could be anything and anything can get you abroad.

[00:15:43] If you are persistent enough into that thing. Right? I have my friend here. They are very different. They are architectural, structural architectural segment and they are in US. They are settled and I was like, come on. I thought IT is the only profession which can get me here.

[00:16:05] But it was not true. So if you can be very good at what you are doing and that doesn't come on David. That doesn't mean okay, you have to be 100% at David. But can I learn it? That's the key. And yes, we can get that. So keep watching.

[00:16:24] To complete your dream, you have to consistently work which is very important. Right? So Baraj, one thing which we have been talking about and you have already touched about machine learning and AI and ML.

[00:16:39] How these new Gen AI kind of technologies have impacted or improved what you are doing right now? Yeah, there is a lot of things have changed today. As I said, when I started my career 20 years ago, you have to write your own program in some notepad. Right?

[00:17:00] And then the tools came which helped you make it more efficient. Right? Now instead of writing in a notepad and figuring out what would be the syntax and that's actually helping you with the syntax. Today you just tell AI program, okay, give me the basic structure of this.

[00:17:18] I want to write a calculator which will do mortgage calculation for 20 years, for example. And it will do and it will write that program, basic program for you. Now being into the industry, you know what exactly you have to change that code to.

[00:17:35] So yeah, that basic things are coming to you so handy. So you can focus on the real thing, right? Real problem that you are solving. So yes, that's that's okay. And I know I've asked this question and I got beaten by so many guests earlier too that

[00:17:54] future, what do you see? Right? We have been talking about Gen AI AI, right? And how it has it is evolving us all of our job profiles. It's not just and you are the guys who are making us work on these technologies

[00:18:09] because you are the brain behind these Gemini or chat GPT who's doing wonders. So what do you think, what will be the future of these technologies? So definitely there is there is an evolution on a wider scale.

[00:18:25] If you see technology is not how we used to see it before. It's helping in different areas but anything that new comes, right? It comes with its own goods and brands and here also in AI ML, right?

[00:18:40] It can be leveraged for good but it can be leveraged for bad as well. So while there are regulations coming in picture, we can literally utilize these skills. So whoever is coming new, I would advise them okay, keep your focus even though you are getting

[00:18:58] some skills ready have these things also as part of your bucket list, right? So if somebody says oh I am very good at this technology skill, okay, have some knowledge around these AI ML programming things as well. Whether it is a tool, right? Just have that understanding.

[00:19:19] Okay, okay so the future looks very bright though I think lot of companies have been using these tools but use cases are very limited where we have got the success but I think this is just a start because Google is also an AI

[00:19:34] and which is a very big success and I think a lot of us are using that on a daily basis. So I think all these gen AIs and AIs will also become a regular day to day part of

[00:19:46] our lives somewhere. It's not just job really, right? Anything even my daughter uses chargivity for her assignments so I think it's such a great tool. She doesn't have to come to me, okay, tell me what's happening

[00:20:00] but she goes to the chargative and asks and she gets angry. So that's how things have improved. So Varaj, like now I hope you are also involved in a lot of hiring, right?

[00:20:17] So when you hire people who are coming fresh into your company or in your previous roles and whatever, what are the two three things that you're looking to these people? So I would say one most important thing attitude and that's the most important thing

[00:20:36] other than what the person knows. Yes, definitely you need to see that if the person is analytical but just analytical and okay I can do a lot of programming but is your attitude right?

[00:20:52] Can you again when you come into the mix of team, can you work with team? Those things and those are important things because the person is not going to work alone. It will be a team where he will work. I know this might be the starting question

[00:21:12] I hope but maybe we can cover it now as well. IT sector is a very broad sector, software development is one part of it. If you have to define IT sector and what are the different

[00:21:26] profiles people can look at it, why I'm asking it? Because a lot of people they join in in TCS, Wipros and cognizance of the world in India specifically and in initial years they work for two three years then they move out then they do their masters in business

[00:21:43] administration or some other courses and they move out from the IT industry. There might be something which they don't like in that particular world which they are doing. So what are the different areas people can explore when they are looking at IT as a sector?

[00:21:56] There are definitely a lot of different segments as you talked about business analyst is one role but there are not just like okay if you don't like to do programming forever. You can evolve to the next level where can I run a team of people that starting with

[00:22:19] project manager very important role but now that is coming in a mix of a product manager. Can I be a product manager who is handling end-to-end product and where to take it in

[00:22:34] next few years? Then there are different roles that comes into the seniority as you move along going from project manager to director senior director. Can I be a CTO in some company? There are a lot of startups these days who are looking for people who are coming from

[00:22:58] big organizations and can help them build what they are looking for. So that visionary because if you have seen a bigger scale operation you can help small scale operations so instead of moving out of IT these people who are in IT they can help

[00:23:17] those companies which have a scale of 300 to 500 because if they are coming from 50,000 plus people industry they know what kind of different challenges are happening day to day and how a startup or small company can learn. So with this Varaj I think we will just

[00:23:43] have one more last question and then we will end this section. You have like 20 years of experience on your back right? Is there any interesting story that you want to share in which either it was a fun movement or either it was a challenging movement where you said

[00:24:12] definitely technology comes with its own challenge right. So such a situation happened not just once multiple times that you feel like okay how do I come out of this right and challenge could be very small to very big but you figure it out right but

[00:24:40] you have to deliver something. So it was one of the use case where we were working on there is a data stream coming from outside and we have to handle that rate in which it is coming

[00:24:56] to our systems and we had a deadline of okay this should be consumed in two hours and the underlying software was not supporting it. We had a lot of challenges around that so

[00:25:12] so that the decision was that can I can we use something else right. It's not just that hardware right can we use something else. So that's where two or three brain had to come

[00:25:25] together and figure it out but yeah it was it did happen but it was like okay mind boggling that okay how do I finish this right? It was taking eight to ten hours to consume that

[00:25:39] data but the requirement was that in two to three hours you have to finish consuming so that all the downstream systems can be used. Okay interesting interesting and I think you picked up on one important aspect here brainstorming right. So how good this technique is in your

[00:26:04] industry in your work? It is it is an important thing especially when you are working on a new problem right any new problem or if it is a big chunk of work right how do I find out

[00:26:17] that who would be the right person to take this up right because all the things are unknown when we start on some new project right. So that's where we do the brainstorming. We figure out what are the modules and in different modules how do I find somebody being

[00:26:38] addicted to the different strand right that's why you have a mix of team right somebody has a different skill better than me and that's where we do that brainstorming helps us identify those.

[00:26:50] Okay great that's fair. Great thanks thanks for Raj. I'll just ask my audience that guys if you like this conversation please do like share and subscribe and do reach out to us if you have any

[00:27:04] particular area to deep dive we will try to cover more in our upcoming episodes. So Subramanj our audience and our listeners would like to know more about you right it's it gives

[00:27:16] us an opportunity to know more about Balraj and Hannah who is he right. So Subramanj as you said right you read a lot you have subscriptions to certain blogs and other subscriptions. So

[00:27:32] what is your top area to look for right is it a particular technology is it a particular industry what you really read. Believe me you want even I agree to this but I'm actually

[00:27:47] gadget freak from the beginning of my career right I used to even open computers and try to figure out how do I upgrade it right those were very basic things but now I tried to find out how the

[00:28:03] technology is evolving right so I open open any gadget and try to fix it if it is broken can I fix it I hope I hope I hope I read about that one of the person from three you're not you can't

[00:28:17] know three right no no I'm not I don't I am not even he was not able to fix it even he was not able to fix it I mean you can't open that open that refrigerator and it was kept it like that so

[00:28:31] yeah but I try I mean sometimes I try to figure out things like why it is working certain way just curious video games or watching cricket video games video games with whom you play

[00:28:49] alone or you have your partners now now yeah now with my daughter I mean in my age there are there are no partners anymore yeah I'm not finding people who are who are in my age and they are many

[00:29:03] but Raj you can you can just go online and you find many gamers around so yeah it's like I don't have that first time these days right so whatever time I find I mean I sit

[00:29:18] down with my daughter right but Raj we were talking about American dream right I think people only look at one side of of the life right when you are in America or when you are in some other

[00:29:29] country and you're enjoying that life what you miss about India I mean it's it's not easy staying here away from family right that's one big thing friends right you're sitting here I could have been

[00:29:43] in your company in India right but now the only only way I connect with you is virtually right and whenever you are in US so it's that kind of disconnect right and I feel that I cannot participate

[00:29:56] in a lot of things a lot of functions that happen in family and friends so that's a important part of that social culture that we grew up with so that's a side part of it but I know that

[00:30:11] you over the years you might have built a big community in New Jersey as well where you have so many friends to cherish all these moments right no definitely I mean you try to find a extended

[00:30:24] family that's what happens right so your your friends around you becomes your family right but it's like okay you are you're trying to justify yeah being away from family by finding extended

[00:30:36] family what you do to unwind yourself how you how you this how you cut down yourself from work and what you do yeah there is a small small things right game is one right playing video games or

[00:30:52] trying to find time with family right just take a break go out especially I love nature I lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years so it's so much rich in nature so I just go out

[00:31:08] alongside the river and just calmly sit down in a camp right like that or those are the good things do you have any hobbies which are still there yes they are still there but it's just that yeah that's why I find the time we have

[00:31:36] I really want to go back to that yeah but that's where the thing is right you have to pick your your sides now the family is there right and kids are there so you become part of their hobbies

[00:31:51] Guru Raju one last question of this section and we will close with that is what success means to you that's what it's a it's a very tough question right if I say this success doesn't mean money that I realized over time but can you build a

[00:32:13] your ecosystem I would say right in which are you with your friends are you with the people you love right and you are able to enjoy everything without worrying about finances

[00:32:29] right I don't have to worry about okay if my daughter is looking for something I have to think about okay where the money will come from so definitely that's how I see the success that okay it's not everything but whatever you have can you be happy with

[00:32:55] I know you are such a jolly person and I hope you two is not listening to this conversation sir yeah yeah that's what don't say to her thanks a lot Varaj I think such a great conversation we had I hope our listeners will

[00:33:28] learn a lot from this so thanks a lot Varaj for joining us and having and sharing your wisdom with us thank you so much for inviting me it was very pleasurable thank you thanks for

[00:33:40] right very nice thank you so thanks everyone thanks for joining us for this episode with Rajadana we have we have talked about that how we can pursue a bigger dream and for us bigger dream

[00:33:58] does not mean going abroad right settling there but bigger dream in the IT industry is like like how successful you can be and what you want to do right so I have a lot to learn

[00:34:11] he talked about that we have to be persistent with our efforts he talked about how we need to be inquisitive we need to be curious to learn to new technologies we need to be self-learner right because this is such an evolving industry that we cannot just sit

[00:34:29] and work on one thing so please do focus on working on these things and when you join an IT industry in a software development do keep learning new aspects and keep an

[00:34:41] a bull's eye on a lot of things outside of just what you are doing because that will make you a better professional and that will help you go as an individual so so please work on it

[00:34:53] if you like this conversation please like share and subscribe our episode if you are listening to us on an audio podcast please follow us and if you have any suggestions any feedback do write to us

[00:35:06] we are available on gmail, LinkedIn and Instagram you can reach out there so that's all for today I am Abhishek Mithal signing off for now from Wisdom Whispers with Abhishek Mithal thanks