Leadership Insights Chapter 4: Varun Sahu, Director Of Engineering, GeekyAnts
Being the Director of Engineering at GeekyAnts, Varun Sahu does more than just run all the engineering activities and empower engineers to make the biggest possible impact. He also manages all the internal operations in the organisation and has single-handedly built a portal for the company which records all the internal processes for a smooth operational flow.
Varun’s love for experimenting and finding new ways to do things as well as his expert managerial skills has been a source of inspiration for many. In this short conversation, we shall learn more about his journey over the course of the years.
The following Q&A has been edited to deliver ease of understanding and clarity.
1. How was your journey as the director of engineering?
If I were to reflect on my journey at GeekyAnts, the words that come to my mind are growth and progress. I have witnessed vast changes since I joined the organisation eight years ago and one virtue I find truly commendable about our community is our willingness to adapt and learn which has taken us to new heights. WIn the beginning when we were just starting out the engineering department was more focused on finding the right tech stack. But throughout the years as the co company grew and business expanded, a lot of other factors have come into play such as finding the right framework, architectural solution, team building and setting the process of development.
2. What are the challenges you faced from your journey as a developer to your current position?
Technology is changing at a fast pace with new tech stacks bringing about more possibilities, challenges and scope to learn and grow. One of the primary challenges as a developer is keeping abreast of this wave of changes and taking every opportunity you can to progress in this field. The only way to keep adapting is to seize every opportunity you can to learn while having productive discourses with your teammates as this might help you to see an idea from different perspectives.
3. What was your greatest contribution to GeekyAnts and how has it impacted the company?
As the pandemic hit, the corporate world as we know it changed as businesses started adopting the remote working culture and hence, it was a pressing issue to find an operational tool which could record the company’s overall process. I had without any assistance made the GeekyAnts Portal which documents information such as Leave Management, Attendance, Projects, Invoice, Legals, Expenses, etc which helped the organisation streamline and make its operational structure much more efficient.
4. How is leadership in a technical role different from leadership in a business role?
While we gain technical knowledge at the early stages of our career, it is important to apply it properly while also having the ability to motivate others to be a good leader in the technical field. The most important difference that strikes me when I think of how leadership varies in the technical front as opposed to the business front is that the latter focuses on the entire vision while we find a way to implement it.
5. As a leader, do you have any words of inspiration for your teammates?
The app development world is extremely complicated if suitable technologies are not adopted. With every passing year, there are massive changes taking place in the technological front which is revolutionising the face of the industry. It is important to keep abreast of all these changes, constantly research, collaborate and experiment in order to grow as a developer, especially in the startup environment. It is also important to have encouraging and motivating teammates who have strong technical skills.
6. How do you think engineering contributes to business growth, as opposed to the other facets of the organisation?
I think it is important for all facets of the organisation to be interdependent on each other. We, as engineers, boost the business by creating innovative apps with the latest technologies available to provide viable and effective solutions for all domains.
7. How do you define progress and how do you think the field of engineering has progressed in GeekyAnts over the last three years?
Progress in this context can be considered as providing unique solutions for tech problems, building innovative products and making it available for users. Over the past years, we have collaborated with numerous clients, known globally and from across all verticals, to design applications for which help in boosting their businesses. Their accolades are only one of the parameters that define how the engineering department has progressed over the years.
8. What do you think the future of engineering holds for GeekyAnts?
App development technologies are one of those actively growing sectors which are changing rapidly and with that there comes a lot of scope to learn and improve on the old methods. The GeekyAnts engineering department are a bunch of folks who love to experiment and dabble with the latest technologies to create applications that are truly individualistic and efficient and it is this innovative attitude of ours which will help us advance as a department.