Interview at developerWorks
From the archives — this interview was originally published on IBM developerWorks’ “Yin meets yang” community blog on March 23, 2010, conducted by Valerie Skinner of the developerWorks team. It is republished here as it appeared: a snapshot of where the journey stood in 2010, as a software architect and developerWorks Master Author.
Tell me about yourself and what you’re currently working on…
I work as a Software Architect with India Software Labs, Mumbai. I am part of WebSphere Business Services product development team and currently working towards our next release of the product.
What has your IT career journey been like? How did you get started? Did you choose a specialty or did it evolve?
I started my IT career in year 2000. I have always been keen to learn about new technologies and wanted to specialize on software design and architecture. Early in my career, I used to spend most of my time researching on various technologies and contributing articles, white papers on it.
I started off with a services organization where I was involved in designing and developing solutions for banking and insurance firms primarily on Java and J2EE stack. I was always looking out for opportunities where I could work on challenging assignments and get to design and architect solutions and products. Over these years, I have played various roles right from a developer to an architect and have worked on product development as well as designing and architecting solutions.
What IT project are you most proud of?
I would say all projects that I have worked on have helped me in my career in some way or the other. Early in the career, I worked on various services engagement projects where I was implementing solutions for US banking and insurance firms. One particular implementation of a security algorithm that I did seems to still be in use in their various banking solutions.
Next, I would like to mention a BPM workflow implementation project, where I was involved in architecting and realizing an end-to-end BPM workflow solution, where we wanted to replace the customer’s existing process and fully automate it. Being in a startup firm, you handle a lot of responsibilities, and I owned the entire business process solution and database design. There were various design challenges, integration challenges, and various strategies required in terms of planning and execution to make it successful. An interesting thing about this project was that it was the first BPM workflow implementation for a particular environment and stack, which had its own challenges.
The other project that will always remain special is Business Service Fabric, which I have been working on since its inception, and which was acquired by IBM in 2006. Product development is completely different from software services engagements, and working on this product has immensely helped me increase my technical knowledge over the years.
I love your blog post where you share your philosophy of “Just go for it”, as a technical author of over 50 articles. Do you have any personal techniques, like goal setting, that help you succeed?
I always try to keep myself updated on ongoing trends and technology. I usually try to learn something new every year and then come up with a blog, white paper, book, or article — some medium I can share with the community.
When I started, I never set any personal goals about the number of articles I needed to publish. I simply have a passion for writing, and I feel publishing your work in some medium is the best form of sharing your technical work, giving back to the community, and collaborating with them.
Obviously you need technical acumen, but what are the other important skills to be a good technical author?
I feel you should have a deep understanding of the subject you want to write about. When you write about topics, you must know your target audience and pitch it at the right level — beginner, intermediate, or advanced. A good technical author should aim at simplifying existing technology information, or write about topics in simplified terms.
What new technologies or products are you learning about this year?
I am planning to get myself updated on the Spring Framework 3.0 release and update my Spring series article, which was widely appreciated by readers. Last year, I wrote a book on Apache CXF; this year, I am planning to write a book on advanced web services development. I also plan to learn about the Apache Incubator projects — the Apache Shiro framework and Apache Aries.
How do you use developerWorks?
Apart from publishing articles and tutorials, I use developerWorks to read blogs and articles, look for resolutions to issues in forums, or respond in forums whenever I can. I have created blogs on dynamic BPM and the semantic web, and created a BPM group to form a community around BPM — a place to share experiences and knowledge and stay connected with the developerWorks community.
What publications / websites do you read / visit?
Apart from developerWorks, I visit InfoQ, TheServerSide, and MSDN, and read community blogs on various technologies.
When you’re not working, what interests or passions do you enjoy?
When I am not working, I like to read about any topics that interest me, watch movies, listen to music, and catch up with friends. At some point, I would like to write a movie script and direct it. 🙂