‘Each day is new and comes with different tasks’, says this software developer

All of us remember our school and college days with fond memories. The fun we had and the friends that we made who have stayed with us till date. And the same is true for Himansh Verma, who has been working as a software developer for the last nine years.

In an interview, Himanshu, who passed out of the 2013 batch shares his professional journey among other things. Read on

What are your memories of Apeejay Institute of Management and Engineering Technical Campus, Jalandhar?

I have very fond memories of those days. College life is full of memories. But if I have to recall one of my best memories, I think it was in the year 2012 when our college went to Ludhiana for a competition in which I participated in two events. The best part was that I won first prize in both events. The icing on the cake was that our college lifted the overall trophy. It was one of my best and proudest moments.

How has your professional journey been?

It has been going great thus far and the same should continue in the future as well given the present trajectory. It all began with me working for Cisco. From there I went on to work as Technical Lead with Orange Business Solutions. At present, I am working with Black Rock. It has been quite a journey and I have enjoyed every moment of it. I am in a happy zone.

Does your work throw unexpected curve balls?

To be honest, no two days are the same. This is because my work is varied and doesn’t have a set work pattern. My work thus far has never been typical in the organisations that I have worked in. On any given day I can work on a production issue that may have come up; I might have to take an interview; I might have to write some codes; I might have to write unit cases. Some days, I might end up having to do some design discussion. These are responsibilities. So, some days I might end up doing a bit of all and one specific activity depending on the workload.

What are some of the advances that have been made in software design?

A lot of things have changed in the industry, especially in software design. A lot of people have started using the Internet and our user base is growing. So a new system is expected to be highly available. It should be highly scalable. These are a few of the prerequisites of our system. A lot of people are already migrating toward this. People were using monolithic apps earlier and now they have started using micro-services; they have started using NoSQL (an approach to database design that enables the storage and querying of data outside the traditional structures found in relational databases) from SQL (used to communicate with a database).

Of course, not everyone is using NoSQL only. People have a mix-and-match policy. They use either depending on the convenience. This means that people who are working in this sector need to upgrade themselves otherwise the person won’t be able to survive in the industry for long. It’s very important to keep yourself updated on what is happening globally.

What do you do when you are not on your system designing?

Once I am done for the day, I like to unwind by watching web series and movies. I also have to take time out to upgrade myself and take up courses from time to time. I spend a few minutes a day offering prayers as well; it keeps me grounded. During cricket season, I eat, pray and sleep cricket. So much so that I play the game with a few friends whenever we get time.

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The best memory from Apeejay was in 2012. I participated in an intra-college event and won first prize; the icing on the cake was that the college won the overall trophy

–Himansh Verma, an alumnus of Apeejay Institute of Management & Engineering Technical Campus