Breaking Prod Podcast

suhas sumukh sold his first app at 15. by 18, he's running localhost which is a launchpad for early-stage founders, giving out microgrants through evm capital, hosted india's first ai film festival at the royal opera house in mumbai with bollywood on the panel, and flew to 15 cities across india to find builders nobody was looking at.this episode is about what happens when you don't wait for permission.00:00 intro to suhas00:52 the kid who didn't wait08:11 building with high agency22:26 ai film festival mumbai31:02 indian vs global founders37:02 the sudo command---hosted by: vivek nigam https://twitter.com/viveknigam_find suhas on: https://twitter.com/suhasasumukhLocalhost https://localhosthq.com/AI Film Festival https://www.mumbaifilmfestival.ai/---Breaking Prod is your window to the Indian Tech Scene. It's a running documentation project of the stories, observations, insights, and experiences of people building tech in India.

There are two places I have stopped going to now, not because i dislike them but more because they mess up my sleep schedule and don't provide much value to me now as they did when I was younger. Those two places are - loud party clubs and developer hackathons!Siddharth is the founder of one of India's largest hackathons, called Hack This Fall https://hackthisfall.tech and I sat down with him to understand how it all works behind the scenes. This means the economics of a hackathon, allocating and creating budgets, what do sponsors need, and how do scaling it to 10k+ hackers and developers over the past 5 years.00:00 Siddharth is here00:55 An innovative first hackathon08:18 Philosophy of a Hacker Experience12:00 v0 of Hack This Fall (HTF)16:33 Planning a Hackathon20:48 All about money and budgets24:19 Dealing with big sponsors27:00 Unit economics of a hackathon31:09 The toxic culture of sleep deprivation34:27 Reasons to continue this path37:20 Looking at the future of HTFFind Siddharth On 👨‍💻- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/siddharth_hacks/- X https://twitter.com/siddharth_hacks- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthdayalwal/Find Me On 👋- X https://twitter.com/viveknigam_- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/viveknigam3003/- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/Breaking Prod is your window to the Indian Tech Scene. It's a running documentation project of the stories, observations, insights, and experiences of people building tech in India.

In this third and final episode of our "Standing Out as a Developer" mini-series, we dive deep with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta into the art of continuous learning while juggling a day job. With AI reshaping the industry and technical skills becoming obsolete faster than ever, this episode is a masterclass on staying ahead of the curve.In this episode:

- Why junior engineer roles are decreasing with AI advancement

- The "algorithm hacking" strategy for curating your learning feed

- Building a learning funnel.

- The single word that can transform your upskilling approach

- Research papers as your secret weapon for cutting-edge insights

- How to approach mentors the right way (and avoid generic advice)

- Project-based learning lessons from building Criclang in 20 days

- Why you need to stop relying on your job for knowledge growthchapters

00:00 In this episode

01:03 Breaking Prod intro

01:27 The upskilling crisis in AI era

03:05 AI impact on junior engineers

03:37 "Deer in headlight" moment

08:21 Algorithm hacking masterclass

09:13 Curating your feed for tech discovery

10:01 The learning funnel strategy

11:05 The power of asking "WHY"

12:02 International interview insights

12:46 Research papers: The hidden hack

14:03 How to approach research papers

15:09 Reading books the right way

16:16 Project-based learning approach

16:55 Criclang: 20-day programming language

18:13 Breaking the "it's too hard" mindset

18:25 Swift Mac app project example

20:26 Finding the right mentors

21:01 Mentor misconceptions

21:29 How to approach mentors correctly

22:24 Showing up and building reputation

23:04 AI tools lowering learning barriers

24:03 Final advice: Stop relying on your job

24:25 Asking "WHY" as a superpowerManthan's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa

- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa

- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/

- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -

https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003

- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this second episode of our “Standing Out as a Developer” mini-series, we have a chat with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta who took a 8 month sabbatical in his early career to deal with burnout.in this episode

- how do you identify burnout?

- how do you deal with developer burnout?

- manthan's sabbatical experience in early career

- productivity hacks for preventing burnoutchapters

00:00 in this episode

00:45 breaking prod

01:10 signs of burnout

07:00 breaking out of burnout

09:13 taking a sabbatical (in early career)

16:08 confessing burnout to your manager

18:28 hacks to prevent burnout before you crash

22:38 closing noteManthan's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa

- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa

- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/

- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -

https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/breaking.prod

- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this first episode of our “Standing Out as a Developer” mini-series, Vivek chats with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta about the art of getting noticed without the cringe.Manthan breaks down:

- how every job he’s landed started with a tweet thread

- using Twitter & LinkedIn as a living resume.

- mindset for showcasing your work to the world

- cheat code to get confidence on your workand much more.Chapters

00:00 in this episode

00:24 about this mini-series

02:11 authentic personal branding

06:52 network effects of posting online

08:15 unlocking opportunities

10:24 easiest way to post online

12:44 building presence inside a company

15:49 cheat code for getting approvals

17:08 understanding your audience

19:53 start doing this todayManthan's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa

- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa

- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/

- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -

https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials

- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003

- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In the season finale of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Arun, a blockchain developer at Fungify, joins us to demystify the world of Web3. From NFTs and MemeCoins to DAOs, Web3 can often feel overwhelming, especially for those coming from a traditional Web2 background. Arun breaks down these decentralized concepts from the ground up, helping us understand Web3 from first principles. By the end of the episode, we even create our own blockchain. Tune in to explore the world of Web3 with Arun on Breaking Prod.

Socials

Arun https://twitter.com/CleanPegasus

Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/

Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18

About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Kritika shares her journey through the tech world, from being an engineer at Disney+ Hotstar to her current role as an SDE at Zepto. Firsts are always special—whether it's a project, a relationship, or a job—but they can also be the hardest to move on from. Kritika reflects on her experience making her first job switch and the valuable lessons she gained from working at these leading startups. Tune in to explore her story and insights into the world of tech.Socials

Kritika https://twitter.com/kritikatwtss

Breaking Prod https://www.instagram.com/breaking.prod/

Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18

About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Akash Hamirwasia, a frontend engineer at Razorpay, shares his journey of turning side projects into successful products. While many developers leave their projects in GitHub repositories, Akash has managed to build, monetize, and continuously improve his creations, including popular projects like Blaze and Slant it. The conversation covers his experience in building these products, generating revenue, and the technology behind some of his apps. Tune in to hear Akash's insights on balancing a day job with product development.

Socials

Akash https://twitter.com/blenderskool

Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/

Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18

About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, we dive into diversity hiring and women in tech with our guest Haimantika, a developer relations expert at Hashnode. Drawing from her extensive experience working with various teams, Haimantika sheds light on the realities of being a woman in the tech industry, sharing valuable insights on challenges and progress. We also explore her remarkable career journey, from her time at Microsoft to her current role. Join us for this enlightening conversation as we uncover the impact of diversity in tech and what the future holds for inclusion in the industry.https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Socials

Haimantika https://twitter.com/HaimantikaM

Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/

Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18

About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.

In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Ishan, who works on Generative AI at Adobe, shares his insights on the evolving world of AI. As AI has become a hot topic over the past two years, many are curious about how this era of AI with large language models differs from traditional machine learning. Ishan helps answer these questions, discussing the fear surrounding AI, how it’s transforming industries, and whether there’s reason to be concerned. He also delves into how AI helps teams achieve unexpected results at scale and shares his thoughts on the trend of building AI wrappers. Tune in to hear Ishan's perspective on the future of AI.

Socials

Ishan https://twitter.com/ishandutta0098

Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/

Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18

About Breaking Prod

Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.