Published On: 12 May 2020

My journey started as a SDE in ZS Associates  , where I worked on multiple projects , majorly covering POCs for new and different technologies, but during the entire journey I was majorly looking into the “HOW” of the problem statements, how to build a MVC structure, how to use interface, how to use lambda and S3 via boto , etc… I enjoyed the journey no doubt about it and it refined and poured knowledge and guidance to my thirst for technical knowledge but still I was not content, I couldn’t evaluate and observe my impact on the business and the world.

The turning point was when I participated in a hackathon in ZS — QUEST, the whole idea of the quest is to innovate and help in building solutions for the tough questions of the pharma industry. That 24 hours lockdown in the ZS’s 2nd floor and working with some great minds and mentors to crack a problem hit me with a gush of happiness and for the first time in my professional life I felt like I know what impact I can create if I solve this problem and “WHY” are we solving this problem. Our algorithm and prototype for RWE-Signal Detection won the 1st prize and that moment helped me realize I need to grow myself beyond the scope of just solving problems technically and find that sweet spot in my life.</br></br> The change in my mindset from that day onwards was drastic, I started looking at problems differently and asking why questions to my product and project managers. Cutting down short , I decided to explore the business side but since all my credentials and competency was in the technical field I started wandering into the world of linkedin and blogs to find a middle ground and then I found the world of analytics.

I found Noon.com and an amazing opportunity to work as the first BI Engineer for the planning and commercial department. In a blink of an eye , I took the decision to join that company and leave all the progress and success I was gaining in ZS, for me at that moment finding the correct path and area was more crucial. It's been 2+ years and this time I not only enjoyed but loved the work I did and doing. I shifted my mindset form “HOW” to “WHY” and later to “WHAT”, working with business you learn the art of delivery, prioritization and impact creation and evaluation.

Now I don’t only ask why we are doing this, I ask what we should build to take the company from X to X+dx where X and dx >0, the feeling of fullness by helping business building data products after understanding and discussing business concepts with them is unique and beautiful. The ability to know the impact you are creating motivates you to do more and better at every nook and corner of your life.</br></br> The benefits of working close to business and empowering business actions help you in gaining the mentioned abilities — 



The Happiness Cycle

  1. Working on diverse problem statements
  2. Go beyond the world of stackoverflow and solve problems on whiteboard , understanding the biases, weirdness and unpredictability of the world
  3. Use your technical skills to build and make business actions robust and accountable
  4. Help business work on hard problems by automatizing redundant manual work
  5. Increase your perspective , go beyond the 15 inch screen to 360 degree world

The crux is just don’t write code to solve some predefined problem statements or just do a task because it's your job, the happiness of coding multifolds when you start exploring the whys and whats of your work, it helps you understand the worthiness , purpose and profound uses of your code. It helps you to see the magic that few lines can create in someone’s life. And the better you know the motivation and purpose the better you work and thus the better you will feel. Believe me sometimes a few lines of code can bring a smile on some random people’s face, whose life is uncomplicated by your solution :)