Reflection on My Career (Pt.2)
To reflect on my career after one year (7 months of effective working) seems comical.
It all started in November. A frantic search for a job without relying on the university led me face-to-face with Anuruddh Mishra. He seemed intimidating, yet totally relaxed. I had prepared extensively for the interview, watched interviews, tried the product, read about his why but on call it was a little scary. But for some reason, he took a liking to me. Handed me two assignments -- to market map senior care & to possibly try explaining Statistical Arbitrage (a phrase I'd thrown to show I'm smart, yes he'd caught me red-handed).
Over four days I prepped two slide decks ready to serve. And serve I did. Three days later, he'd called me - "Divith, you're in. Why else am I calling you on WhatsApp" but specifically, he'd mentioned this - "What I like the most about you, is that you're a struggler. That's the number one quality I value the most in people."
For an individual who'd lost all confidence in his intelligence, his work ethic and his principles. He'd lit something in me. And I'm forever grateful to him for doing that favour to me. To believe in me when I didn't either.
Fast forward to Jan and I join a day earlier (A SUNDAY!) just because he wanted to have some fun. Unlike most corporate experiences, I found myself in a small side-road in front of a gorgeous villa, lush with greenery and surrounded by silence. It seemed really pretty. It really was pretty.
From inside, I could hear Jazz playing. As I approached the door, it was an unmistakable tune -- Spartacus by Yussuf Lateef. Anuruddh was the only person in the office and there began my work at August. On reflection, what I did at August seemed trivial. But what I learnt?
First, however, I thank the team/family that welcomed me. Samarth, Deep, Surya, Nishanth, Raj, Sandeep and my good friend Nikita (best choice for a first co-worker, truly godsend) for making my time worthwhile. I worked mostly with Anuruddh itself, my day revolving around consistently bothering him either for more work or to get scolded for my poor submission. I truly am grateful for him to be so forgiving.
Though in every sense of the word, a layperson might find August unforgiving. SUPER LONG HOURS, WORK ON WEEKEND you name it. Layperson says it all. Do we really need weekends off? As 21 year olds? Do we really need to worry about what might we miss if work is treated as play? I think this is where I faltered. I chose to stick to a comfort zone - embracing staying at home, cribbing about work after 6:30, weekend work and so on. Only to realise a few months after how much I truly loved this shit.
At August, quality and speed were cherished. Passable quality but exceptional speed. Speed had to be P1 and the rest was problem for another day. Customer feedback was crucial. The goal was clearly to lower the duration of each iteration cycle and it was clearly working. It's built on a really simple maxim: The bar is pretty low, so it's easy to impress.
Prior to working here, I found myself tone-deaf with tools, frameworks, mental models. However, August changed that. The value of experimentation and information were prioritized. Can you extract more information on your customers workflows? What are their teams current priorities? Are there any new products we can integrate?
PH == Product Hunt. (This shows the extent to which I was engrained in this).
A random nugget I recollect is right after a customer interview. Anuruddh began quizzing me on the details of the meeting. I managed to meet 8/10 correct questions. Though I was happy, he wasn't. The reason? We never aim for 8/10. 12/10 is the bar we set.
I recollect only this much from August, but below is my attempt of quantifying maxims I've learnt and the fuck-ups I made so I don't repeat it in the future:
- Agency is everything : A law grad can build Palantir, A engineer can build an AI doctor. What are you doing?
- Get your hands dirty, don't wait for someone else to do it.
- Always aim for 12/10
- Hold yourself to the highest standards.
- Optimize for speed.
- Don't crib, they're older and wiser for a reason.
- Be better every time.
- Value Attention to Detail and Clarity of Thought.
To keep writing this shows I violated the above and regularly. I took life into my own hands, hated the discomfort and quit. I took the easy route out. I chose to quit. Why? UPSC.
In hindsight, UPSC was a ruse to relax. To esacpe the extremities of August and sit back and take a chill-pill. A shameless attempt to quit from a higher calling. A voluntary act to stay the same and rot. I lost three months pulling that stupid act cheating my family and myself.
The break came, however, with Superkalam. A 'YC-backed' startup, I found myself working in the product analytics team trying to design dashboards. And man, shit is putting it kindly. It was terrible. An insult. A joke. While August taught me how to run a company, how to stand as an individual, Superkalam showed me the exact opposite.
Evident in their database, their cohorts were poorly designed. A hodge-podge of poorly-made decisions. Their focus? Diverted. Unlike August who aimed to build an exceptionally well-designed chatbot and only just that, Superkalam worked on 300 different features at the same time. Their iteration cycles? Weeks.
Their founders? Non-committed. Not open to ideas and denying the data. The data pointed to a bias in AI-usage. Instead of doubling down they expanded their product. Why? Why do something instead of anchoring on what works?
2 hour lunch breaks, 6 days a week for work that could be done in three. Poor data management system and a horrible value for customers (evident in their growth team 🤮, Sandeep was BUILT DIFFERENT). Superkalam really showed me how a company shouldn't be run.
I do agree that the fault lies in me. My stupidity to take the role lightly, to relax at WFH and take it slow. I got complacent over the multiple offers I'd received before choosing Dognosis. The fact that Anuruddh was ready to offer such a high salary made me take my worth higher. In a brutal reflection, depsite Superkalam being poorly run I realize that those elements were not a factor to me getting fired. It was my complacency and lack of thinking through problems that led to this.
But across both, I realise the need to open up more. To be more social. Keeping secrets is for losers (know which ones!). To talk express and share more. Realise that they are humans first and employees second. Capitalize on building relationships that are more than just transactional.
Anyways, Superkalam fired me a month in. Why? I wasn't vocal with my work and didn't express enough agency (discounting the fact that their data itself was wrong!). And man, those next two months were rough. Sitting in cafetrias, food courts and just randomly walking across BLR for hours on end just because I didn't have the balls to say they threw me out to my parents. It was hell. It really was.
I did reflect above, but I still believe that blaming Superkalam's poorly run operation is an excuse to absolve myself of the blame. I didn't interact enough, take WFH carelessly, shamelessly relaxing and napping when I was supposed to work on the job.
I spoke to my peers then, who were working at jobs where they had the patience to stay rather than jump the gun. They all said the same thing -- 'I hate my job. I have enough money, I should switch.'
Really? It's comfortable to say I want to switch when you're not finding scraps to buy coffee. Sitting out of the house for hours on end because you'd rather not go in and feel second/third/fourth-hand embarassment. I found a newfound appreciation for jobs, of all kind. The security guard is no less from the CEO. The laborer no different from the VC.
Don't forget. Even if you earn a great deal of money, it's human nature to slack off. But too much slacking off? That isn't worthwhile either. The guards in Big Bazaar who check the bill? All of us know they aren't going to flag off something that's been lifted. But they still check because they need their jobs to be meaningful. To contribute to something greater than themselves. That's where the vision is needed. To aim higher and manage to cultivate that within the rest.
Superkalam, didn't do that. August is doing that. Dognosis is trying to do just that.
As I interviewed and interviewed, my mental constraints and older, poorer behaviour seemed to shed itself further. Our default setting is lethargy. To scroll and doom-scroll, to relax and cozy ourselves in the bed. We shy from the uncomfortable and the hard stuff because we don't like change. We want it to stay the same and easy because easy is familiar to us.
At Dognosis, it's a refreshing change. Sure in my opinion, the work could be better. But I don't complain anymore. If the work isn't that great, it's because my interpretation of the value that work adds -- to myself and the company is wrong. There is always a gold-mine to be found in the menial and something unknown always in the known. I think at Dognosis, I'm doing just that. Actively engaging in HR has made me realise the value of HR, doing socials surely is looked down upon but there's something great in there. To talk further about Dognosis wouldn't be a reflection as it is still a WIP.
Try to find it in everything. Try to life-max.
My key learnings:
- There is something to learn in everything.
- There is gold in boring.
- Always live close to the office (at this stage in life, family, friends, etc. are secondary)
- Keep learning outside your job (Writing, Python, Instrument, Reading).
- Always aim for something higher than yourself.
- Grind it out. There really is no substitute for hard work.
- Respect the work.