Last week, I realised that seven years had passed since I graduated from college. Immediately, I asked myself a question.
What have I done so far, and where do I stand?
It is a question that deserves an honest answer. I owe it to myself and the few people who have rooted for me all these days.
I thought hard about the answer. Then, I wrote a few paragraphs. I wondered if the answer should be put on my blog. I hesitated for a few days before deciding to publish this post. It's a story worth telling.
Phase 1: Understanding the real world. (2014-2017)
I had sailed through my placement process and got into a well-known truck maker (Daimler). I was all set to live in a new city (Chennai). I had no clue about life outside home, school and college.
Living in a new town and starting a new job taught me how to live independently. Renting a place, cooking, and reading widened my experiences. This phase helped me develop essential life skills. It was not easy.
I sucked at basic things like small talk. It was hard to bond with teammates and older employees at the workplace.
I must say I had a pretty good job and was doing ok. Most of my weekends were spent on movies or Carnatic concerts. I attended a literature fest and many theatre events during this period.
Amidst this flood of new experiences, I spent considerable time exploring the dating world. I dated some interesting girls in Chennai. There were a few hits and many misses in this domain. In retrospect, I realise how terrible I was in the dating game.
Despite my carefree, fun life, I wanted more. This led to a lot of 'activity' in my free time. First, I enrolled on a writing course by author Anita Nair. It was a good exposure to the process of writing a book.
I started the process and wrote six chapters of my 'book'. However, I felt that it was a deeply personal story. I felt uncomfortable with the idea of sharing it with the world. I dropped it.
Then I thought I could go to Germany and dive deeper into automobile engineering. I spent three months doing an A1 German course in Bengaluru (classes happened during weekends). However, I did not follow up on my applications further.
It was an era of half-hearted plans which never reached the point of completion. Something was going wrong. Or, I was unsure about the long-term impact of these 'plans' popping into my head.
Probably, a mentor would have helped me achieve something more concrete. I was a naive guy searching for 'meaning' in my work. I constantly pondered over the impact of my career.
At some point, I realised that my job at Daimler would never help me fulfil my ambitions. I wrote the GRE, applied to a few colleges and resigned from my job at Daimler in 2016. I left Chennai in a limbo. But I was relieved.
Phase 2: Experiments and Failures (2017-2019)
All my applications were rejected. I had applied to just three places (again, not a great idea). I did not understand what to do next. During this stage, I could have done an MBA in India or MS from an average US university.
But I didn’t find a very good reason to do it. Money alone wasn’t a good motivator to make these choices. Also, I still did not understand that money was important in one’s life.
I searched for careers that would not only challenge me but also have a significant impact on society. I had to test my assumptions and face failure.
Writing the Civil Service exam after quitting Daimler was not a planned decision. I went according to my gut feeling. I wrote the exam a couple of times.
However, I failed to clear the first step in the process. Once I realised it was not working, I was brave enough to quit in 2018.
While preparing for the civil services exam, I learned much about sociology, history, and economics. This process taught me about the inter-relationships between ideas, subjects and concepts.
Probably, all this knowledge will help someday. As Steve Jobs would say, 'You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards'.
Quitting the exam prep mode was easy. But finding a path to re-enter the job market was not. I did not have a wide supportive network of friends who could refer me to a job. I didn't know what to do at that juncture.
My NITK degree was the only ticket to aid me in the process. And thankfully, it did.
I tried out a profession that I was passionate about: journalism. Though 'journalism' sounds sexy from the outside, I realised it was rotten from the inside (and doesn’t pay well).
I spent nine months in this domain and worked for right wing portals. I did not see myself in a long-term association with such publications. They offered me an internship. But the pay was very low.
I would have to spend money from my pocket if I wanted to do it. A full-time job would not have paid me enough to lead a comfortable life.
By this time, I had spent most of my savings. I didn't want to borrow money from my parents either. So, I decided to live in a pathetic PG. I suffered from bed bugs for the first time in my life! It was a traumatic experience.
I walked from my room to Swarajya's office every day. My daily food budget was 100 rupees! I did this for six months!
Gradually, I realised that my writing ambitions were not being encouraged by the Swarajya management. There were times when I drowned in deep depression. I didn't last long in this profession either.
I needed a job with better pay. I started to hunt for one like a hungry predator.
Phase 3: Growth, enlightenment and clarity. (2019-2021)
Finally, I returned to a proper workplace. At 26, I joined BYJU's as a 'Content Trainee'. People younger than me were getting better pay in my team. I thought I would be some intellectual minion on my first day.
But I was not.
Within a month, I realised I was far better than all the other team members. Fortunately, my manager had drawn the same conclusion. He offered me a better role after the 'trainee' period ended.
Finally, I could afford better food and a better place to live. I enrolled in yoga classes and enjoyed my job. I am proud of my work at BYJU’s over the last two years. Only a global pandemic could have disrupted my newfound enthusiasm for life.
In the last two years, I’ve realised my strengths and weaknesses. I’ve taken time to fix my problems and developed habits that can aid my growth. Finally, I’ve found clarity about what I want to do.
Phase 4: Product career (updated on 27 Nov 2023)
Or so I thought. Slowly, I realised that some of the business practices of my employer were not very clean. I started wondering about the actual value that the end customers were receiving from products I worked on. While examining this question, I discovered that a role called “Product Manager” exists.
The key responsibility of this role is to ensure that customer’s derive value from a product. Some even called the product manager as a “CEO of a product”.
To cut a long story short, I could not find meaning in my work at BYJU’s. I predicted that the company may not be able to sustain its rate of success as it was hard to justify the cost incurred by customers in return for value.
I did several courses on product management and managed to switched to a series A startup in December 2021. The transition was tough but quite rewarding.
I moved to Delhi in February 2022, and my growth as a product manager has been upward. I see long-term alignment with this profile and my abilities/aspirations. However, I believe I can do more than this.
That would require an upgrade in my worldview and skillset.
(Updated on 11 May 2026)
The upgrade happened in my world view once more. I became a pretty good product manager and worked on several zero to one products. I learnt a lot about the software development process. The AI revolution is in full swing. The title here doesn’t suit the updates I have in my mind. I will write a new post and link it here.
This is the kind of post that iam dying to read. Personal, authentic, lived experience like living vicariously through your journey. All the best 👍.