I became an excited dad when my daughter, Grace was born. Soon after that life-changing event, I remember the Dr having this conversation with my wife and me: Doc: “Your baby is going to get used to breastfeeding. Initially, it’s going to take longer. Because she will move her jaws about 4 to 5 times. Yet only 1 small drop of milk might come out.” Me: (Puzzled how a little kid is going to keep doing this.) Doc: “But don’t worry, this ‘exercise’ will strengthen her muscles. And soon she’ll get better at it. And the feeding times will get…

Mentorship at the workplace is under-rated. The right mentor can accelerate your personal growth by years. I personally know of folks who have chosen the lower of 2 offers just because of a stellar mentor. I’ve been blessed by several such mentors throughout my career. Usually in a company, your reporting manager would be a few years senior to you. But every now and then, you might find yourself in a position where there is a big gap between your immediate manager and you. It could simply be the diversity of experience, the overall domain expertise or competence for executive…

In October of 2020 I made the following declaration “I hereby declare to attempt the AWS Data Analytics Specialty certification by Dec 2020. Over to you, now!“. I’m glad to announce that I kept my word and earned myself a 4th AWS certification in the process. I’ve already mentioned several of the simple tips that I use to keep myself on track for my goals in the previous article. I faced some obstacles during my preparation for this certification too. In this post I share with you some of the ways in which I overcame those obstacles. Deadline It’s surprising how much an approaching…

Ever tried to teach a kid to walk? How’d it feel? The above snap captures a moment in time when I was teaching my daughter Grace to walk. It was more or less me just holding on to her fingertips and keeping her safe, while her anxious feet did the exploration. Seems just like yesterday when she was merely a thought in my heart. Strange how time flies. Just feels like yesterday when I took up my very first job in Persistent Systems in the July of 2005. I myself was a “kid” at work and over a period of time I…