Thoughts

“He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a student; teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows not, is wise; follow him.” — Ancient Persian Proverb The Spark: From a Tech Talk to Community Volunteering During a technical session on software engineering, Rajendran Dandapani brought up this ancient Persian proverb to illustrate the trajectory of developer competence and technical depth. ...

“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” — E.O. Wilson The Emperor’s Invisible Robes In Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, two swindlers sell the king invisible garments claimed to be visible only to the clever and competent. Terrified of looking stupid, the ministers praised the empty loom, the crowd cheered in the streets, and the king paraded proudly—until an innocent child pointed and shouted: “Look! But the King has no clothes on at all!” ...

This is more of a self-reflection than some AI-generated slop I wish to shove in your face. Less than 5% of my friend circle has enough patience to read an article, let alone debate the topic. I’m trying to spend more time around people who have clarity on these topics. Thankfully, at work I was blessed with a friend who shares and discusses these ideas. I mostly find myself defending the values and lessons shared in those articles (Thanks Aditya!). One such article is the catalyst for these thoughts. ...

This is an elaborated version of my talk at Google Developer Group Chennai’s DevFest2025, where I shared my journey from rock bottom to becoming an Android Developer at Zoho and how the “Solutionist Mindset” can help us thrive in the age of AI. Presenting the Solutionist Mindset on stage Standing on that stage at DevFest2025 in Chennai, looking out to you all, I asked a simple question: “How many of you are worried about AI taking over your job?” ...

The Developer’s Box For too long, we’ve confined ourselves to a title: “developer.” We write code, we fix bugs, we build features. We are the architects and construction workers of the digital world. And while that is a noble and essential craft, the label itself can become a box. It can narrow our focus to the how – the languages, the frameworks, the systems – and make us lose sight of the why. ...

Software development is often seen as a discipline of pure logic and rigid structures. We talk about architecture, frameworks, and design patterns – the building blocks of a rational and predictable process. But what if there’s another side to it? A more intuitive, artistic, and dare I say, philosophical approach to building things? This is the story of my journey with “vibecoding” while building a personal project called Dhanika. What is Vibecoding? The term “vibecoding,” recently popularized by Andrej Karpathy, describes a software development approach that is less about rigid plans and more about the “vibe” of the project. It’s about letting your intuition and the feel of the product guide the development process. Instead of detailed specs and roadmaps, you work with a general idea, a vision, and you let the project evolve organically. ...