Dev Retro 2022

Dev Retro 2022

From Tech addict to a tech developer

The year 2015, when I got my independent computer. It was an HP desktop with 2GB ram, 128GB storage and a Pentium processor PC. At that time I wasn't aware much of these configurations, so I kept on downloading as many software, IDEs, languages etc. in that system. Not even this, I installed many games too. Due to a lack of proper guidance about how to build a career in Computer. I kept doing whatever comes to my mind.

Then one day, during my computer class, we were given a demo on how to build a basic webpage using the HTML programming language in the class. Initially, I was planning to bunk the class, but thankfully I didn't. That day made me curious about how a very basic tool like notepad can be so helpful in generating results like a basic webpage. I was so fascinated by this simple output that made me explore more on my own. From a basic website, I completed all the chapters related to HTML on my own from the school textbook (lack of internet access). I'll say, that the demo class was the major reason why I liked coding. Slowly during my vacations, I completed the major coding chapters on my own like BASIC (Visual Basic) and C++.

I developed a strong interest in coding till then. I was able to solve questions using C++ and explore many tech stuff on my own. After grade 8, I continued with Java for the next four years along with Python simultaneously. Towards the end of my class 12, I created several apps and brought laurels from various reputed organisations.

Neorky : App for giving short-term employment to people. (IIT Roorkee App Innovation Challenge, 2nd Runner up).

AntiBully : Anti-bullying app (IIT Guwhati Alcheringa Code for Change, 2nd Runner Up).

covid19helps: A system with ML Symptom-based predictor, important medications for covid-19 infected patients and emergency services. Helped a lot during the covid-19 crisis. (Times NIE, App Innovation Challenge).

More of my projects are here - https://lakshaykumar.tech/#sec5

After completing High School, I started my Undergraduate at India's First Liberal Science University - Atria University in Bangalore.

Bangalore as a Tech City (Silicon Valley of India) gave me numerous opportunities to grow. During the initial days of my college, I was more focussed on building solutions and industry-level projects. After working on several projects individually, I realised the importance of teamwork with the community.

On April 5 2022, I attended my first networking tech event - Github Tech Tab. I made many useful connections here that helped me later in several projects. Following this, on April 28, at Microsoft Reactor, it was the first tech conference I attended. Later I kept on attending tech conferences like Global Azure day, Dev Nation, etc.

During my college hours, I was working on the integration of Computer Vision with Drones, this gave me many real insights and a rough idea of the solutions to new-age problems. This was one of my most successful projects, I built autonomous surveillance drones.

Later on August 6, 2022. I was invited for the first time to give a talk at Microsoft Reactor and here my journey as a Community speaker started. Then I was more involved in the community space. I engaged myself in giving talks, helping members of the discord community, writing blogs, building packages for the developer community and hosting competitions/hackathons.

This year, I also got the opportunity to demonstrate some of my projects in front of the Finance Minister of India ~ Nirmala Sitaraman and the Chief Minister of Karnataka State ~ Basvaraj Bommai.

Overall, I'll say that this year 2022 was full of opportunities for me in terms of personal development and growth.

Here are some of my learnings throughout my journey as a developer :

  • Initial guidance is very important for a developer. It gives you the kick to start learning new things.

  • Mentors are important to guide you, but initiation to learn new things has to grow from the inner side.

  • Never work because of opportunities, they will come at the right time.

  • The best way to learn something is to build on your own instead of solely following a series of theoretical videos or documentation.

I am always looking for new people in my team to work on any project, if you wish to collaborate, feel free to contact me. Details are available on my website.