In Conversation With- Rushabh Singh, Lead Engineer- Technology iOS, Naukri
1. Could you please tell us a little about what you do?
2. How long have you been working as a Lead Engineer? What got you interested in this field?
3. How did you get your first break?
4. What does your day as a Lead Engineer entail?
5. What are the three things that you like & dislike about your job role?
6. What has helped you more — your education or experience?
7. If not engineering, what do you think would have been your alternate career choice?
8. Are there any mandatory skills one should develop when pursuing this field?
9. How do you maintain a work-life balance?
10. What would you advise our readers planning to pursue this profession?
11. Now that you have come this far, what will be your next milestone?
12. How has Info Edge helped in your career growth?
13. Do you feel your efforts are recognized at Info Edge?
14. What is the success mantra of your life?
What is In Conversation with?
Mobile App developers are changing the world, one app at a time!
The ever-growing scope and potential have led mobile app development to become one of the top fields to pursue, and with the need to have everything available at our fingertips, the demand for android and iOS app developers is at an all-time high today.
But the question still on the minds of many is- what does it mean to be a mobile app developer?
In this blog, we share our conversation with Rushabh Singh, Lead Engineer- Technology iOS, Naukri, who answers this question and many more while sharing his career experiences and insights.
1. Could you please tell us a little about what you do?
My Name is Rushabh Singh, and I am currently working as a Lead Engineer in Info Edge India Ltd. I am a part of the Naukri Mobile Development Team, where I work on iOS apps.
I have 3+ years of experience in mobile development. As a team, we work on several aspects of mobile apps like adding new features, improving the existing architecture, providing a smooth user experience, and so on.
Stakeholders from product, design, QA, and Dev (Development) teams collaborate to achieve this goal.
2. How long have you been working as a Lead Engineer? What got you interested in this field?
I joined Info Edge as a Senior Software Engineer in July 2021 and have been working as a Lead Engineer since April 2022.
Honestly, I did not choose this field (iOS Development). It was offered to me by my first company since there was no opening for a full-stack developer.
But I feel fortunate to be an iOS developer. I liked the Apple ecosystem from day one and have been a big fan of Steve Jobs since my college days. But I never thought that I would get to work on Apple products.
Everything is graceful and artistically inspiring in iOS. But what interests me more in Engineering is that fundamentally you are doing the same thing- solving the given problem efficiently, irrespective of your domain or tech stack.
3. How did you get your first break?
So, I was planning for MTech and was deeply involved in GATE preparations. I did not take college placements seriously, and I appeared only for Product based companies which I obviously failed to crack.
When GATE results came, it was not good enough for IITs. I always wanted to work with Product based firms, so I started applying off-campus.
Thanks to GATE preparations, my data structures, algorithms, and CS core concepts were strong, but I had no impressive projects or proof of work.
I started learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and created 3-4 projects. I applied for a full-stack developer role in CarWale and cleared the first coding round.
But that position got put on hold, and I was asked for an iOS development role which I accepted. And after three interview rounds on the same day, I got selected and was offered to join the next day.
So, this is how I landed my first job in a product-based company as an iOS developer.
Your first ones are always special, and I never miss an opportunity to appreciate my first company CarWale.
The amount of knowledge, experience, learning, and mentorship I received was beyond my expectations.
4. What does your day as a Lead Engineer entail?
My day starts with creating a to-do list for the day. I have a habit of documenting & journaling everything.
We do daily standup meets where we discuss things like what tasks were done yesterday, what we will be doing today, whether we are facing any issues, and if we need any help.
The purpose of this process is to make everyone aware of what their teammates are doing, share learnings, and help others get things done faster.
We get requirements from the Product team, where we discuss all technical & non-technical aspects of the features along with other stakeholders from the Design & Backend teams.
After clearly understanding & gathering the requirements, we discuss this again with the Dev team to plan and execute.
Apart from product requirements, we also do tech enhancements or optimize the existing system. Once a feature is developed, it goes to the QA team for testing.
If everything is working as expected, we make these features live on the AppStore. After the release, we have to monitor the App to check whether things are going fine for live users.
Apart from dev work, we do code reviews of our teammates and help them resolve any blockers.
In my free time, I also write blogs on topics that I have learned about or problems we have encountered.
5. What are the three things that you like & dislike about your job role?
Likes:
Every day is a new challenge. Sometimes we have no idea how we are going to solve problems when we start, but by the end of the day, we get it done.
People/Culture in the Engineering community: We get a chance to work with the smartest minds who are a part of a selfless & helpful community with zero politics.
Here, a person from a different team will leave his/her work & try their best to help & guide you, even if they do not have much idea about your tech stack.Feeling of creating something which will be used by millions.
Dislikes:
Health: Screen time (Eyes), desk job (Posture), but can be managed.
Imposter syndrome, always feel like you know less.
Bugs logged by QA ;-)
6. What has helped you more — your education or experience?
I believe education gives you a strong base or a better start, but the experience will help you grow exponentially. In our field, a person having 2x experience will have 4x times skills.
In my case, one year of work experience was more effective & productive than four years of education at the Engineering College. But I cannot deny the fact that college helped me break the entry barrier.
7. If not engineering, what do you think would have been your alternate career choice?
It is difficult to select just one field. There are a lot of things that I enjoy doing on a daily basis like writing, sketching, music, and yoga.
But If I have to choose, it will be Teaching (Math, CS) or maybe Product development.
8. Are there any mandatory skills one should develop when pursuing this field?
Some skills to develop while pursuing this field are problem-solving, logical thinking, effective communication, in-depth understanding of the basics of any topic, the attitude of not giving up easily, taking ownership, curiosity to learn & the constant effort to keep yourself updated.
9. How do you maintain a work-life balance?
I really love & enjoy my work. I have not felt burnout in the last three years, which is great. But yes, small breaks and time for self-care are also necessary.
I believe maintaining a work-life balance takes effort. To establish it, I do things that make me happy & relaxed, like sketching, and writing.
I also run a music page on Instagram. I am new to this city, so on weekends, I try to explore new places. So far, things are going well.
10. What would you advise our readers planning to pursue this profession?
The Software Development field is a long-term game. Optimize skill development in your initial years, and money will follow.
Find good mentors, always document your learnings, and share them.
11. Now that you have come this far, what will be your next milestone?
I am still figuring it out. I am just three years old in this field and do not think I have come so far yet. There are so many things to explore & learn yet.
12. How has Info Edge helped in your career growth?
Info Edge feels like the scaled version of my previous company. There were two main reasons for joining Info Edge.
Before joining this company, I worked on Objective-C for two years, which is not very relevant nowadays. So, the first reason was that I wanted to work on swift, as new things are happening in iOS development on a large scale.
Secondly, I was looking for a mentorship, which I believe is very important for you, especially in the beginning phase of your career.
A good mentor or senior can help you grow exponentially in the right direction.
And I feel grateful that both the requirements are being fulfilled here. Over the past year, I have worked on several projects, collaborated with multiple teams, and explored and implemented the latest things in iOS.
13. Do you feel your efforts are recognized at Info Edge?
Absolutely! I am always encouraged to experiment with new things. Here at Info Edge, the idea of a flat hierarchy is brought to life, and the shared feedback or suggestions are heard, considered & valued.
You are allowed to ask questions to get complete understanding & clarity. In my experience, efforts are recognized and appreciated, not just within the team but also organization-wide.
After a couple of months of joining Info Edge, I was awarded the Kudos Award (August 2021) for proactively taking ownership of the application and optimizing several aspects to improve engineering productivity and quality.
I recently received the Top Gun Award in May 2022 for making some performance optimizations, creating generic solutions & components, and automating some manual tasks to be used for any iOS app across verticals. I was also nominated Techie of the Year for the same.
I have also published several blogs on the Naukri Engineering page on Medium.
14. What is the success mantra of your life?
The world is full of smart people, and amongst them, the people who work hard consistently succeed if they have the right skill sets. So, be sincere & enjoy the process of building impactful things.
What is In Conversation with?
Seeking an expert's opinion is not always easy, so we are bringing the expert's opinion to you!
In this series, we aim to explore the career journey of people from different fields, backgrounds, and career stages who have tread the path and made a place for themselves in their specific fields.
Join us as we try to understand all about what they do, how they started, and where they are headed next.
Stay tuned to read more such articles. And to get insights into your desired field, send suggestions to guestpostnaukri@gmail.com!