Through The Corporate Glass

How do you assess the merit of an idea? How do you decide whether you want to work on building the idea into a product and when and whether you must quit your day job to follow your passion? How do you monetize your ideas?

Kishore Nallan and Jason Bosco, Founders of Typesense search,  answer these questions and share many personal learnings from their journey of 15 years in startups and big companies.  

Kishore and Jason have had very successful careers working at many well known startups. Jason was VP of Engineering at Dollar Shave Club and Verishop and Kishore was a Senior SRE at Zapier and cofounded Wreally. They worked on Typesense for 4 years along with their full time jobs, until the search engine gained  traction before they quit their jobs to focus on TypeSense full time. 

ShowNotes

Kishore's Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishorenallan/

Jason's Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbosco/

Typesense Search: https://typesense.org/

Kishore's blog: https://typesense.org/blog/the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-just-showing-up-everyday/

Open Core Model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-core_model

B2B: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/btob.asp

B2C: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/btoc.asp

B2C vs B2B: https://www.bluecart.com/blog/b2b-vs-b2c

Hacker News post announcing Typesense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22181437

What does building system software feel like? What does a long term career in Systems Programming look like? What kind of mindset and skills are required to succeed here? What are some misconceptions about this field?

We discuss all this with Arun Raghavan. Arun runs a system software consultancy called Asymptotic.io. He has been a long term contributor to multimedia frameworks like GStreamer and PulseAudio. He has been developing software for over 15 years and has worked at companies like Nvidia and Collabora.

Arun's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arunsraghavan/

Episode webpage: https://www.throughthecorporateglass.com/post/43-a-career-in-systems-programming

Mentioned in this episode

1. Systems Programming - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_programming

2. GStreamer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GStreamer

3. PulseAudio - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PulseAudio

4. PipeWire - https://pipewire.org/

5. Collabora - https://www.collabora.com/

6. Asymptotic.io - https://asymptotic.io/

7. Electronic Design Automation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_design_automation

8. Bit banging - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_banging

9. I-square C - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2C

10. System on a Chip - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip

11. DLNA - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

12. H.264 - https://www.haivision.com/resources/streaming-video-definitions/h-264/

13. Abhinav Sarkar - https://abhinavsarkar.net/

14. V8 Javascript Engine - https://v8.dev/

15. libuv - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libuv

16. NodeJS - https://nodejs.org/en/about/

17. Rust - https://www.rust-lang.org/

18. Lua - https://www.lua.org/about.html

19. Haskell - https://www.haskell.org/

20. NeoVim - https://neovim.io/

21. Arun's Twitter id - https://twitter.com/louiswu

22. Arun's email - [email protected]

How does one get into positions of leadership and influence, while staying on a technical career path? What does a Principal Engineer bring to the table at a top tier technology company like Amazon? To share his perspective, we have with us Saurabh Shrivastava, Principal Engineer at Amazon. 

Saurabh has two decades of experience in roles spanning software engineering and management. Most recently, he was a Director at Nuage Networks before joining Amazon. He has a unique point of view on leadership in both the technical and management ladders.

Saurabh's Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gokodo/

Mentioned in this episode:

1. Decentralized Finance: https://defi-learning.org/

2. MIT Undergraduate Course in AI: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-034-artificial-intelligence-spring-2005/

3. Nuage Networks: https://www.nuagenetworks.net/

Working in the industry and working in academia - there are a lot of differences between the two. You may discover your desire for academic research and teaching at any point in your career, including after you begin your career in the industry. How do you make the switch and what should you know before you do?

We talk about this with Shruthi N, Asst. Professor in Department of Electronics & Communication engineering at BNMIT, Bangalore. Shruthi has worked in the industry for 3.5 years and has been with academia for 7 years. She cares about her students and is passionate about helping them find the best in themselves.

Shruthi's LinkedIn profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/shruthi-n-3294a315

We have all dreamt of doing projects that benefit society at large, without having profit as the sole motive. What would such a job look like? And how would you go about finding it? We talk to Denny George, an engineer who has been applying his technical skills to civic causes for many years.

Denny is the Co-Founder and Product Engineer at Tattle Inc, where he builds tools and datasets that help fight misinformation in India. Before Tattle, Denny built an app that let US residents manage their interactions with law enforcement agencies. He also built an app for non-unionized workers of Walmart to be more aware of their rights as workers.

Mentioned in the episode

1. Civic Tech - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_technology

2. Tattle - https://tattle.co.in/

3. MigraCam app - https://www.aclutx.org/en/migracam

4. App for Walmart workers - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/labor-organizers-apps-audiences_n_5b47a609e4b022fdcc577a47

5. Occupy Wall Street - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

6. Quadrant 2 - https://quadrant2.us/

7. ACLU - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union

8. DAIICT, Gandhinagar - https://www.daiict.ac.in/

9. Design for the Real World, by Victor Papanek - https://www.amazon.in/Design-Real-World-Ecology-Social/dp/0897331532

10. IIM-A's CIIE - https://ciie.co/

11. Civic Hall of New York - https://civichall.org/

Most of us do not manage our careers actively. What if we had a model to guide us through the process? What if the model was derived as a result of decades of experience and observation in both industry and academia? 

Dr Raj Yavatkar, CTO of Juniper Networks, introduces such a model for career building and talks through how it can be applied to our own careers. Raj is responsible for charting Juniper's technology strategy and for leading the company’s critical technology innovations. He has been awarded more than 45 patents, published over 60 research papers, authored five Internet standards, and co-authored a book on Internet QoS (Quality of Service). He is an IEEE Fellow and holds a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University.

Raj's Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajyavatkar1982/

Mentioned in the episode

1. TechCrunch Article: https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/30/the-best-way-to-grow-your-tech-career-treat-it-like-an-app/

2. List of Raj’s technical publications: https://dblp.org/pid/58/6723.html

3. Raj’s contributions in IETF: https://www.arkko.com/tools/allstats/rajyavatkar.html

4. Four Steps to the Epiphany:  https://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steve-Blank/dp/0989200507

5. Andy Grove: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove

History is not just a series of events. It is about societies, cultures and ideas that have shaped our present. Archaeologists play an important role in this journey of understanding our origins. They make sense of the past to help us build our future. 

We talk to archaeologist Dr. Madhavi Kunneriath. Madhavi has an M.A in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from Deccan College, Pune., an M.Phil from the Dept of Ancient History and Archaeology at Madras University, and a Ph.D in Quaternary and Prehistory from Paris. She cares about helping people understand how knowing the past can impact the way we think today.

Mentioned in the episode:

1. Town planning in Harappan civilization - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harappan_architecture

2. Sanitation in Indus Valley Civilization - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation

3. Scientific techniques in archaeology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological_science

To be effective at work these days, you have to make sense of a large amount of information on a daily basis. What strategies and tools can you harness to organize information quickly as you come across it? Can this also help you choose which skills or concepts to learn?

We talk to Chirag Jain about these ideas. Chirag has worked as a Software Developer at Google, Uber, and Directi. He has a keen interest in note taking and personal information management, and shares some of the techniques that have worked for him.

Chirag's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirgjn/

Episode webpage: https://www.throughthecorporateglass.com/post/37-note-taking-and-information-management

Mentioned in this episode

1. Notion: https://www.notion.so/

2. Chirag's Tech Talk Notes (in Notion): https://chiragj.notion.site/94e9c669e6a24d92ac0b7ebc7a711814?v=9ea352096a8046648d86a797c1a52406

3. Sublime Text: https://www.sublimetext.com/

4. Roam Research: https://roamresearch.com/

5. Obsidian: https://obsidian.md/

6. Zettelkasten: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten 

7. Tim Ferris: https://tim.blog/

8. Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/

9. GTD (Getting Things Done): https://gettingthingsdone.com/

10. Alan Kay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay

11  Simon Willison's Today I Learned: https://simonwillison.net/2021/May/2/one-year-of-tils/

12. Chirag's Twitter id: @cjthedev

13. Chirag's email: [email protected]

14. Work At Tech: https://workat.tech/

User experience design is fascinating in the way that it balances artistic skills, aesthetics, imagination and utility. Have you wondered what it takes to be a successful UX designer and how they strike this balance? How can you break into the field of design? 

To enlighten us about the creative as well as the practical aspects of UX Design, we have with us, Brighton Vino Jegarajan, Staff Designer at Nutanix. Brighton has over a decade of experience in the industry, spanning both UX design and software development.

Brighton's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brightonvino/

Brighton's website: https://brightonvino.com/

Brighton’s workshop: https://www.meetup.com/southbayux/events/267899257/

Mentioned in this episode

Complying with regulations is critical to building trust with customers and employees. In this episode, we explore compliance in Information Technology through the eyes of Girish Ghatge, Sr. Director, Risk & Compliance at GE Healthcare.

Girish reflects on his exciting career journey spanning nearly 26 years. His candid observations help us understand what it takes to navigate the challenges that come with working in the compliance space.

Girish's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishghatge/

Mentioned in this episode:

GxP guidelines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GxP

FDA: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices

SOX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes%E2%80%93Oxley_Act

HIPAA: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html

GDPR: https://gdpr-info.eu/

PCI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Industry_Data_Security_Standard

Computerized System Validation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerized_system_validation

Information security management: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security_management