Thoughts

I am concluding my 4th year as a Software Engineer for Visa.

Over the course of my career so far, my scope has expanded from mostly producing code, to reviewing code and mentoring others, to leading projects and initiatives. I have learnt much from my peers, mentors, and team leads.

The landscape of my team's role is evolving. We are now working on generative AI applications in addition to infrastructure automations. It presents great learning opportunities. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

The Team

It is still a pleasure working with my team. Everyone is helpful to each other and working towards a common goal.

I have to give an enourmous thank you to my senior colleagues around me at work who have have guided and supported me throughout my journey so far.

I also greatly appreciate the teamwork between the team members. You have made working at Visa a great experience.

3 Learnings

Firstly, communication is again key. Interactions with stakeholders and colleagues are often an important part of solving problems.

To save time and stay focused, an Agenda to meetings is essential. What has been done? What problems/blockers are we facing? What do we have to do next? What timeline are we looking at? These are some of the questions that I ensure are raised and answered whenever I organize meetings.

Finally, historical log keeping is important. Keeping old emails, meeting notes, files, and documentation is important so that I can pull out the relevant information when I need them.

Working on MBA

I am constantly learning new frameworks for communication and collaboration. I've started an MBA program at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign to reinforce my knowledge and improve my communication, delivery, and collaboration skills. Furthermore, I also intend to apply new ways of evaluating the value proposition of the projects that I work on/lead. I am quite excited about this MBA program, and I will be doing short reviews of the courses on this blog as I complete them.

It is also extremely helpful that the company reimburses funds for the MBA's tuition fees.

Side Projects

This is a work in progress. I hope that one day these ideas can be launched.