I used to fear the “computer classes” during my school years (6th-7th grade). I didn’t have a PC back then, which would make me feel embarrassed whenever someone started talking about anything remotely related to computers. Back then, it was my trigger to skedaddle the first chance I got. I know it seems weird, but now that I think about it, much has changed.

Late last year, I launched osscooking.com to provide real-time analysis of open-source projects on certain opinionated metrics. One of the first optimization techniques while doing on-demand git analysis is to have a copy of the repository locally. Waiting time with plain git clones can gradually increase as the repository size grows ultimately affecting the response time. The topic of cloning is simple, yet complex, so much so that companies like TikTok & Microsoft had to build their own tools to improve the git mono-repo experience with cloning being one of the key areas of focus.

Some tech-workers aren’t lucky enough to end up working for organizations that deal with a gazillion users, there are some hard challenges to solve there, but this career is rarely about putting more server boxes. Software is a complex discipline, dealing with both code & humans. The Internet has painted the idea that there’s no growth for a software engineer when there’s no scale, thanks to software-scale porn on social media. I wanna challenge that perspective.

You’re still working, even after AI “automated” parts of your job. You’re still accountable for what you deliver using these tools. The only difference is that you might be using less brainpower now which, I believe, is a bad thing overall, especially when you have no idea what you can do with that “extra” freedom.

Our hunt to algorithmize (is that a word?) all the wrong things has ruined software engineering as it exists today. A few years back I used to look at code I wrote as replaceable, and saw it as a commodity (from what I read and understood from practitioners around me), I no longer see it that way. I think the human aspect of software engineering will be more crucial than ever now (if it wasn’t already).

I have been part of the r/developersIndia community team since its inception in Jan 2020. A lot has happened since we started this initiative, this post is my personal collection of some learnings as someone behind the scenes along with my failures, community’s successes & some tips for folks thinking to build a community of their own or well for folks who are just interested in what went behind the scenes.

I am writing this letter as a summary of my work style and expectations as a remote software engineer. Consider this post as a source of truth to the way I think about work, how I communicate, and other team culture related thoughts.

I interact with Dockerfiles every day at work, have written a few myself, built containers, and all that. But never published one on the docker hub registry. I wanted to make ugit - a tool to undo git commands (written as a shell script) available to folks who don’t like installing random shell scripts from the internet.