Shubham Gaikwad was our 2019 Quarter 3 BCAPS Champ. In this blog post, Shubham shares how he got his start at Neebal, his plans for his YouTube channel, his biggest project so far, and the importance of empathy. Here is the interview. 

How did you start your journey at Neebal?

I was applying for jobs in October 2018 when I found Neebal on an online job portal. I applied for the DevOps engineer job and was called for an interview. I cleared the first technical round and then appeared for the coding aptitude test in which I was asked to code for two problem statements. I was confident about only one program. The interview was quite challenging as I was asked questions that were focused on real-life concepts used in the everyday running of an organization.
Later in the day I met the CTO and his first question to me was if I had lunch. I was starving, so I gently said ‘no.’ I was offered tea and biscuits right in between the interview and I was overwhelmed by this gesture. The questions that followed were quite tough but I persevered and was offered the position of a DevOps engineer at the end of the day. The warm and friendly welcome by everyone in the team made me feel like I was a part of the super talented DevOps team and the Neebal family from day one.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment?

Developing the Jenkins CICD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery) pipeline in Domain-Specific Language (DSL) and integrating Docker containerization was a big project. Receiving positive responses from clients for showcasing the project, migrating freestyle jobs to pipeline model, and the adoption and consumption of the product by client was a big achievement.

What motivates you to go above and beyond at work?

My father inspires me a lot. His struggle encourages me to stay motivated and inspires me to push my limits. I strive to have the same zeal for work as him, which keeps me going.

I constantly challenge myself to refine and learn new tech skills. The excitement of learning keeps me motivated. I set goals when I find something difficult to solve and when I achieve them, I treat myself.

Also, appreciation from my team keeps my spirits high and it fuels me to take on new adventures.

What are your current goals?

My current goal is to learn and gain expertise in every possible tech skill and become a good full-stack DevOps developer and excel. I also want to grow my YouTube channel that I started when I was studying engineering. I want to continue to explore the world and create travel and lifestyle vlogs.

What are your core values?

I am very curious about learning new things and am a quick learner. I act proactively and learn from my mistakes. I always continue to hustle with an issue until it is resolved, even if my daily routine is compromised.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

Working on the automation of backup job for Neebal’s live MikroTik router was very risky for me as even the smallest mistake could have resulted in total internet outage on the floor, which was completed successfully without any issue.

How do you deal with stress in life and at work?

I think planning and communication is the key to stress free life at work. My team and I plan our tasks in daily sync calls to stay organized. Other than that, I listen to soothing music on my way back home to relax.
I watch films and shows on Netflix and tech videos on YouTube. I also enjoy playing video games.

What has your experience at Neebal been like so far?

Neebal is a great workplace! As long as one takes care of their deliverables, the punch-in and punch-out or work location doesn’t matter. Neebal is a result-oriented and value-driven company.

I’m constantly learning and have been able to add to my experience by working with a number of tools, technologies, and teams. The focus is always on being a doctor. It is not common for a company the size of Neebal to provide employees with a 100% certificate fee reimbursement, highlighting how serious Neebal is about learning and growth of employees.

I also appreciate the reachability and flat hierarchy. Vijay, our CEO and Irshad, our CTO are very reachable. One can approach them with a business challenge or a technology challenge with and can expect to receive a solution at the spot.

What advice would you give someone that is just starting out?

My advice to anyone starting out is to believe in yourself, be proactive, make mistakes, and continue to learn while working collaboratively with different teams.

The most important aspect is to have empathy. It’s important to learn to walk in the shoes of the customer and stakeholders. When one designs a solution, one must always ask two questions - is this the best fit for the customer and will it impact both the organisations positively. Neebal’s open-door policy has played a big role in shaping my approach.