This document discusses the role of a web/mobile developer and provides an example of Hari Gopal's career journey in this role. It begins by outlining three core startup engineering skills including design, product management, and web/mobile development. It then profiles Hari, describing his interest in gaming from a young age and path from college to his current role as Engineering Lead at SV.CO. Key abilities for a web/mobile developer are listed, such as developing front-end and back-end systems, contributing to UX design, and understanding web deployment infrastructure. Hari's experience transitioning from a junior developer to technical architect at Mobme over six years is also summarized.

1. April 5, 2017

2. • Three core skills in the Area of Startup
Engineering;
1. Design (UI/UX) (we discussed this last
week)
2. Product Manager (we discussed this
already)
3. Web/Mobile Developer
That are
taught and
nurtured in
our SV.CO
Program

3. Why is it important that
you know about this?

4. You must be wondering that
this is not relevant for you,
but

5. What if you don’t get your first customer?
and
What if you are in your final year?
and
What if you are thinking should you be getting a job in the
interim?

6. How do you know you
are job ready?

7. Demystifying Industry
Expectations:
Job Title: Web/Mobile Developer
Suma Sundararajan

8. One of the Graduation
Outcome for you

9. Seek employment or
Get Acquihired

10. A Web/Mobile Developer
is

11. responsible for building a web-
based Startup product end-to-
end.

12. What are the Attributes?

13. This job requires the individual to
have:
• excellent communication and
analytical skills
• ability to plan complex changes in
iterative, simpler steps.
• An inclination to rigorously
document planned work is a bonus.

14. Key abilities

15. 1. Understand Web Deployment Infrastructure, Data Storage
and Networking
2. Plan & Develop Web-based Front-end and Backend Systems
3. Understand and Contribute to UX Design
4. Understand and Contribute to Operations & Product
Development
5. Understand and Contribute to Pragmatic Engineering
6. Understand and Contribute to Startup Ethos and Culture

16. Understand Web
Deployment Infrastructure,
Data Storage and Networking
Level 1
Decide on Alpha Technology Stack
Reverse Engineer a Competitor
Level 4
About deploying web applications to appropriate
infrastructure based on a sound understanding of
data storage and transit mechanisms and the web
networking stack.
List Engineering Skills
Level 2
Get Feedback from a Customer
Trial Engineering Moving Parts
Report Engineering Progress & Roadblocks
Plan & Develop Web-
based Front-end and
Covers engineering both the backend (server-side)
and the front-end (client or browser-side) code for a
web-based Startup product.
Design a Great Customer Onboarding Process
Polish your Product: Engineering Debt
Launch a Beta to a Real Customer

17. Enough of Theory!

18. Will walk you through the
journey of a Web/Mobile
Developer

19. Hari Gopal
Engineering Lead
@ SV.CO
Early
Years
• School years, interest in Gaming started as young as 7 or 8
years when Hari’s Dad bought a computer for home
• GAMING - Escapism into the games world and Playing it for the
sake for it
• Chose science/with computer science
• Part of the geeky bunch - What is geeky? - intellectual/
analytical/see something new/you want to know/break down
things in simpler pieces - find reasons for things.
• At school - messed around doing small stuff

20. First
Experience
• BTech Computer Science, 2009, SETCE, Trivandrum
• Peaking Interest: Game developer
• Should have worked for 4 years instead of college
• In College - Events - Design
• Picked up skills completely on his own - online courses
• Made some money in college
• Made a bunch of websites, sold it, designed logo (a friend
contact who got him jobs)
• Getting money. Customer satisfaction way back then gave that
confidence to seek a career as a Developer

21. Full Fledged
Developer
Next step after College?
• Did his own online Research on game development
• Logically Concluded that Gaming Industry is crap
• Very high drop out rate - long working hours/pay not good/
• Tip: Gain experience as a programmer, w.r.t gaming industry
Post Graduation - joined Mobme, it was either infosys or mobme.
• Joined as Junior Trainee Engineer (2009) to Lead Technical Architect
(2015)
• Experience
• Telephony Platform, PHP, USSD, Got a patent USSD Renderer
(Application platform written in Python to manage USSD conversations
with users), Ruby Development set-up, designed mobme website,
India Tweets and Cricket on Demand (mobile based), SV Labs (mobile
application, 2014) the same repository is being used right now (lot of
iterations) - 3 years old now, SV Labs to SV.CO, completely online,
since April 2016 spun off as a company.
• 2016 joined SV.CO as Engineering Lead

22. • Startups that Hari thinks are interesting:
1. *Scripbox* - solid product that is clearly improving over time - very good
example of iterative development, from an engineering perspective.
2. *Postman* - he didn’t know this was an Indian startup until recently - have been
using it for years and counts as an essential in my toolbox - another example of
good iterative development - they address a pain point that affects only a small
segment of the population (developers who deal with web APIs), but their
execution is top-notch.
• Hari’s Strengths:
• Persistence and above average intelligence
• Hobbies: Gaming, Reading
• Hari recommends:
• https://egghead.io
• http://rubyweekly.com (there are links to weeklies for other languages /
frameworks / interests at the bottom of the page)

23. Can it be you?
Of course…
Take cues
and
begin figuring out your game early