Meet Ashwin

Obsessive Learner

Technologist / Lifelong learner / Cloud, Data, API / Engineering Leader / Traveler / Habitual reader

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Fintech as a Strategy

February 6, 2021 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

One watching the business space will wonder if every company is vying to get their hands into fintech space. There are numerous wallets, digital payment options and every retailer as some kind of BNPL (But Now Pay Later) options. Is fintech a strategy or a tactical move? Why is there a FOMO among every company to be in the fintech race?

Every non-profit business deals with money. Removing the obstacles to spending is the ultimate goal of every business. Companies are using payment solutions like Stripe or Paypal to make it seamless for consumers to spend. But what if they can vertically integrate the payment ecosystem?

It is often said that Amazon not only views other online retailers as competitors but also participants in their value chain. Because those in the value chain get a share of their profits. They stand to gain better by owning as many steps in value chain like warehousing, delivery and payments. Now every corporation is thinking this way.

So I believe fintech is a strategy for an organization of future. Whether it is about digital payments or wallets or BNPL, companies want a share. They want to have the cake and eat it too.

Incumbents in finance are not just watching. There will be consolidations, partnerships and other strategies to be part of the game.

It is an interesting time to be in the finance space, both as a consumer and a creator.

Filed Under: Business, Fintech, Uncategorized Tagged With: business, finance, fintech

Journaling my EMBA Journey with Quantic

September 4, 2020 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

The quest started two years ago.

I was doing quite well at work. I was working with interesting technologies and great developers. But I knew something was missing when getting to bigger scheme of things. I realised, it is not just enough to make things work in a business – it is equally essential to know how things work – to grow and lead. My quest for business education started right then.

I started exploring the options for high quality business education at reasonable cost. I was damn sure not to shell out thousands of dollars and get into debt.

In 2018, I signed up for HBX CoRE, which is currently rebranded as HBS Online CoRE. It is sort of a mini MBA from Harvard, taught by the same business school professors, using the popular case study method. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 courses – financial accounting, economics and business analysis. It exposed me to internals of business and I wanted more.

In 2019, I applied and got into LEAD personal leadership program from Stanford GSB. I always had a great admiration for Stanford and didn’t think for a second before signing up. Though it costed much more than CoRE, it covered a gamut of leadership topics that are very appropriate for the stage of my career. I enjoyed all 8 courses over the year, with a special liking for “Power to Lead” by Jeffrey Pfeffer. I also expanded my professional network during this time.

I still felt incomplete without all the hard business skills. That’s when I came across the rebranded Quantic EMBA (I knew them from their Smartly days).

Here are the top 3 reasons why I decided to sign up and pursue my EMBA with them.

  • Microlearning model – I prefer byte-sized learning methods (I love Duolingo!) and this perfectly fits my schedule with an young family)
  • Truly global cohort – A big difference from the big university programs, is the diversity of learners in Quantic. In my batch for example, I can find learners from Alaska to Papua New Guinea and beyond. It’s just amazing
  • Cost effectiveness – The program is priced reasonably and I can gain all the skills plus a real degree, all at a fraction of an EMBA cost from a traditional university

I am starting my courses this weekend. I plan to document my journey through the EMBA program, one post every month. I hope I can keep this schedule 🙂

Wish me luck in my journey! If you need some inputs or suggestions about all the programs I did, feel free to drop me a note. Happy learning!

Filed Under: EMBA Journey, Learning Tagged With: business education, EMBA, leadership, learning, management, personal growth

Being a Tech Lead

May 3, 2020 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

Tech Lead. It is often sought after but widely misunderstood role in software development. In this post, I will go through some key roles that a tech lead may perform. I am assuming a software product delivery responsibility, but most aspects hold good for any tech lead responsibility. Let’s go…

What does a Tech Lead do?

A Tech Lead is responsible for successful product delivery and maintenance. This is achieved through robust design, high quality development and good product maintenance done by a great team with right skills.

10 Key Domains of a Tech Lead

Though a Tech Lead is expected to be an all-rounder, the responsibilities can be grouped into 10 key domains.

  • Communication
  • Hiring and recruitment
  • Stakeholder management
  • Product Management
  • Short and long term planning
  • Software Architecture and Design
  • Product Engineering
  • Training and Coaching
  • Quality Assurance & Control
  • Support & Maintenance

Tech Lead as a Project Manager

Project management is key in software delivery, whether a well defined waterfall or an adaptive agile model is used. A Tech Lead is expected to be a project manager, who ensures a steady progress and achievement of various milestones.

Tech Lead as an Architect

Technical and software engineering skills are essential to be a successful Tech Lead. Understanding the big picture, designing complex integrations and creating a delivery framework – are all essential responsibilities of a Tech Lead.

Tech Lead as a Development Manager

A great team is crucial and a Tech Lead is expected to create one. The responsibility of hiring the right team, motivating them and ensuring they succeed falls on the broad shoulders of a Tech Lead.

Tech Lead as a Spokesperson

Tech Lead is also the external face of product development team. Sharing the vision, progress and risks to stakeholders – both internal and external – falls under the domain of a Tech Lead.

As you can see, a Tech Lead plays a pivotal role in the success of an engineering team. Regardless of the size of the product or the team, the right Tech Lead ensures success above and beyond.

In the next few posts, I will go through each skill domain in detail. Until then, stay safe and happy engineering!

All views expressed in this post are my own and in no way represent that of my employer.

Filed Under: Software Engineering, Tech Leadership, Uncategorized Tagged With: product development, product engineering, software engineering, tech lead, tech leadership

My Learning Goals for 2020

January 19, 2020 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

Learning Goals

For the last few years, I have a practice of setting annual learning goals. It helps me with two things. First, to focus on specific skills to develop and second, provides an objective way to measure my achievements.

I also find it useful to order goals by priority and have quarterly targets. This way I can savour my achievements on a periodic basis and adjust goals if needed.

Here’s my list for 2020.

Quarter 1 – Jan-Mar

  • Learn SRE basics and advanced topics
  • Complete Google Cloud DevOps Engineer certification
  • Complete my last quarter with Stanford LEAD certification

Quarter 2 – Apr-Jun

  • Learn Kubernetes advanced topics
  • Complete Kubernetes Admin certification
  • Take TOGAF training and complete certification

Quarter 3 – Jul-Sep

  • Learn other topics in Google Cloud
  • Complete Google Cloud Solution Architect certification
  • Learn IT Cybersecurity concepts (Coursera)

Quarter 4 – Oct-Dec

  • Learn AWS cloud topics
  • Complete AWS Solution Architect certification
  • Take Create Leadership (IDEOU) course

I am curious to know about your learning goals for this year.  Please share them as comments to this post.  All the best to achieve great heights and a great 2020!

Filed Under: Learning, Self Development, Uncategorized Tagged With: learning goals, self development, skills

The Art of Software Engineering Management

October 28, 2019 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

With the proliferation of IT services, engineering management is often treated akin to project management. But, it is a lot more than that. Being one of the top paid IT jobs, this role rests on 6 critical pillars. Read on to know more…

#1 – Core engineering concepts and practices

As an engineering manager, you are not expected to get your hands dirty every day.  However, consistent touch with the low level code is quite important.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Software Engineering Tagged With: engineering management, management, software engineering, system design, tech leadership, technology

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