Varun Shivakumar
Senior / Staff Software Engineer
varunshkumar@gmail.com · (516) 225-4353
The most fun I've ever had writing code is when I'm building something that I'm passionate about which is why I always try to have a side project. Lately, I've been working on The Standard App and Thirdspace, a platform for creating and managing your community for self-improvement.
I've always wanted to accumulate skills beyond just product and backend which is what led me to DevOps and platform engineering. I've loved being able to wear many hats and learn new things every day.
When thinking about system design, people always think about autoscaling and load balancing. But alot of these solutions that always come up in interviews are configurable with a button click. I've been lucky to see a split-brained Openstack (Neutron) or a thundering herd on Istios control plane.
I always thought I'd end up in San Francisco since I haved loved working at startups. Regardless of company and industry, the energy, pace and impact is unmatched. But to my pleasant surprise, I've found amazing companies, people and opportunities outside of the biggest tech hubs.
I used to worry that I wouldn't be able to solve challenging problems in GovTech compared to Big Tech. But after building a unicorn-scale platform while meeting strict compliance requirements, I believe I'm a much better engineer now than I would have been if I took a different path.