finding a job through community w/ appwrites nishant jain

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Sean, one of past every you who are you what do you do and we will dive in Morning morning. How's it going over there? How's the weather first? Well, it's great, but you know what it's beautiful It's warm. I actually went golfing yesterday, which was great. So it's fantastic Awesome awesome. So by the way for the folks who don't know me and the shunt as Taylor introduced and I have been working as a Integration engineer at Apprite for a while now and I have been part of the Apprite community for like three years I've been a community and to see us for a while Where you know I have seen how deaf communities can open those and create amazing opportunities From just being you know a community member to now at now and you know indications engineer at Apprite It's it's been a while right And by the way for the folks who don't know Apprite is a Open source backend as a service platform or should I see cloud platform?

Well, you know, I should not give a lot of hints for that by the way Yeah, so my work at Apprite mostly, you know, they've also around different text tech and and it's amazing How much I get to learn from Apprite and you know how the community is very supportive? It's been amazing so far and to the folks who have tuned in Thank you for joining in and I hope you enjoyed this thing. I love it. I love it. You're a program I can tell you've done this before you you you you kind of got your thing down to so I love it I love it.

Two streamers. I love it. All right, so let's talk about Apprite What's some cool stuff going on? What's some cool stuff you can talk about? How can people use Apprite more? Let's obviously plug it a little bit. I love the crew over there I already love you and I've known you for like 17 minutes But yeah, talk about what's going on in the Apprite ecosystem real quick Yeah, sure so Apprite offers a lot of functionalities and features such as you know storage databases messaging functions And even a lot more and I'm pretty sure like there's a big feature that is coming very soon that is going to you know take Places and it's going to you know transition Apprite to a whole different place and it's going to be amazing I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell you know as about yeah, but like you know it's going to be like really huge And I'm really excited for that.

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, so let's kind of get started in your journey, right? I mean so we're chatting backstage. You've been kind of community first for four years now You know I had Lee on the well in the show talking about community Had a lot of people talk about community and like I don't kind of plan this right this podcast is for the job search But community always comes to the forefront. Can you talk about just let's talk about Pre-initi pre-community in the shop. What what did you see? What prompt did you To get involved in community? So let's talk about before the four years of community first mindset That's really a great question.

So you know for me specifically before community. I was no one I did not have a public presence. I didn't know you know how to interact with folks I didn't know you know how to Socially get well with people how to grow in Korea. There are there were a lot of aspects that I was not aware about So community itself has brought me a lot of you know a lot of In general guidance. I would say so when I was you know starting out in my college I didn't know how to you know really get a job or let's say you know how to get how to contribute to a product itself Whether it be you know open source or something else so community itself, you know played a huge part Within you know getting me at the very first job So how I started as a whole different journey where you know I just Collaborated with a few folks from my college itself where we went to a hackathon.

We were just you know three folks Over you know really having fun from the ideation phase to you know winning the hackathon itself was my very first second on and After that, you know a lot of folks started you know showing interest So from the four folks we we became eight and then 12 and the number went to like 50 to 100 and then we actually decided You know to you know to have our own community Which we named as hackaws, which is you know a funny name for hackers So yeah, we transitioned it and you know from like you know hundred members to now it's 10 so we're like you know 2003,000 members over different socials.

Yeah So you started this in college Yeah, right and it was mainly just you getting some friends together Just a good one. Yeah So you went to hackathon and you're like hey, this is fun We should keep this going And so then you and your friends just start and then you got like so so what what have you learned Kind of being around people all the time like this like like what have you learned about your career about yourself Being in community with others Yeah, that's a great question again. So I think you have a You know a perfect aspect for it to be is you know how it transition me from you know Being like not aware about a lot of things that is going within the market So communities are you know you can also think of it as the updates that are you know Going within the tech field itself.

So for me I got to know that you know there is this whole different domains that you can you know Explore whether it be front and back and technical You know technical field or non technical field there are a lot of things that you can explore in general and you know Having folks who are very like-minded in terms of you know who have Good knowledge of tech space So you can also make you know senior folks around the community as well as junior folks So what you can do is always learn from the senior folks and pass it through the junior folks itself So that helps a lot And that also helped me when I was junior.

Yeah, I really like that because you're like yeah like I just know what's out there You know it's interesting. I've been a part of some conversations online, but it's like You don't know what you don't know Yeah, and I think coming out of college like I didn't know what a recruiter was I didn't know anything about the tech industry like part of me is wonders if like I mean I'm exactly where I need to be don't get me wrong, but part of me wonders. What if I had exposure to A whole other field right could I have been a doctor? Probably not could I have been something other in tech probably not But like just even the exposure is so underrated Anymore thoughts on that Yeah, yeah, actually you're very correct at this point, you know So I when I was in the college I was not aware of you know the folks and you know how big the communities are So I didn't know who who you know Eddie had a different open source community, which is like quite huge hundred deaths That it'd be you know different communities, which I was not aware about right?

Yeah, so the very first community I think was like you know the Eddie's community Eddie Hub, so I joined and then I got to know that you know there are folks who are hiring in the market You know who are looking for you know like minded individuals to participate in the hackathons and There are folks who are you know very open to you know speak about their personal growth career growth So that is something that you know I really look forward to because the very first conversation I had was a lot of mentorship That I got from a senior engineer and that you know change my path Moving forward So so so you're so what I'm hearing you say is as somebody in college You got partnered up and got to talk with senior people and that Transform your career Yeah, very correct huge huge so how did you get your first job in tech?

Let's talk about that how did you get your first job in tech? Very interesting question again So the thing is that you know There's a huge Good that you know goes around the community In general that is you know learning public and building public That's a huge motto So you know I have been sharing blocks and videos on my social media and the very first job that I got was you know I made a video for Apparite itself It was about a login form and that got that caught an eye from a founder Who was it's a startup from India and they approached me after seeing that video You know, why don't you join us and you know create something similar Work around contributing the product that you have been doing to you know different products as well So they offered me and you know like that was an instant hiring So they they messes me in the evening and by the night I was sent an offer letter and I was Yeah, all because one video Yeah, one video and you know my work around the community is end with the contributions that I have been you know What was what was the video about do you remember like the technical subject?

Yeah Yeah, it was it was a technical video. It was around. You know how you can quickly create a login form within five minutes So yeah, I still just got yeah They just all the video and they're like hey Yeah, I think they also you know did a background check with on my GitHub and the contributions that I've made around the open source Products, so I think they really like that as well and they were also you know keenly interested You know seeing me active over the public or social medias. So yeah, yeah, I love it. I love it And then my dear friend is in the chat this morning He is fantastic.

Please go reach out to him I want to go to hackathons real quick I mean something that we're talking about with Jason at torque as well Can you talk about the importance of hackathon specifically? I know we talk about community a lot Can you talk about why hackathons are so good? Yeah, so hackathons in general are you know So you know imagine working in a professional environment But you can do it in two days you can deliver something that you know you are supposed to deliver with in a month You just supposed to you know work around and you know you can deliver it within two days So you get to work you know work in a very fast-paced environment where you want to be Yeah, basically you know that there's this rush that you have to deliver but that the same you have to deliver something great That would make an impact.

So I think hackathons in general, you know create a lot of Sensibileness in terms of engineering and You know contributing because you know that there's this whole team that you're gonna work with and this is the same environment that you will You know come across when you're working in an office or let's say in a remote job or when you're collaborating with the people So hackathon is like you know the way to go if you are you know really seeking to collaborate with you know You're your folks around you like you know, let's say a team of four and you you have something You know amazing at the end of it Do you do you feel like when you do hackathons?

Do you feel like you almost bond with people faster because you have to work with them so intensely? Yeah, I think So Don't in the fire like you kind of have to just go Yeah, right. So yeah, I believe yes, you know the bonds become great Because you know that from the ideation phase itself So you get to decide you know what you are gonna work on and then everyone you know comes around and things Okay, this is something that sounds right and that this is something that we can deliver so you know that all Inclusiveness of delivering or you know thinking about an idea itself You know this starts this park to contribute till the end So I think yeah, you definitely get You know good go to bond and that really helps in a long-term connection as well I love that Brian.

It's good to see you brother Brian comes in here feels like there is so much pressure around hackathons How can you encourage more people to contribute what your thoughts on this to Sean? Yeah, good point so I think the the reasons specifically behind you know so the term pressure coming around the hackathons is because you know Hackathon sounds so complex. So for the folks will have a you know party separately. Yeah, like it sounds it sounds complex To be honest with you. Yeah Yeah, it does and I think that's why you know folks feel like you know it is something really huge. It's just like a Global computing event that you know you can't really and it's a really complex But it is not like that, you know for every hackathon.

There's a beginner friendly theme And I'm pretty sure like a lot of MLH hackathons in general support a lot of you know, there's a Different track price for the beginners project as well So everyone can contribute irrespective of their tech stack. Let's say if someone is good at writing So they can you know possibly possibly write the contents of the websites and the headings and you know that they can collect the images throughout The you know Google and provided to the team so that they can use it in the website So I think like you know, it's it's all beginner friendly and it doesn't have to be too complex Do you do you think the complexity comes in with how the companies may be positioning the hackathon not necessarily the hackathon itself Do you think it's probably more of like the companies branding and messaging around it?

potentially Yeah, that that could be like that is true in fact because yeah, I believe that a lot of A big companies, you know You know brand it as competitive events. Yeah, but that's not Yeah, yeah But that is completely noted. Do you think like I mean, I guess like then I mean I know we're kind of going off the the rails here But this is this is why I like doing this and taking people from the audience is that Like do you feel like hackathons even a hackathon could be super simple too? Like could it be like hey? We're trying to work on this project.

We just need like five people for I mean Could could a hackathon even be super small and still be effective? Do you do you think that's possible? Yeah, I have a very great example for that. Yeah, please go ahead. Yeah, so I created a website in a hackathon where it was You know, so the website wasn't like super like there were not not a lot of features in the website It was just a simple landing page But the idea behind the hackathon was to you know make impact for the environment where we were gonna use old clothes So let's say, you know use clothes and Do-nated to the folks and you know And once you do it your old clothes, or you know this the idea was to rebrand Clothes so that we can provide it to the fashion industries And I think that idea was impactful itself So we were awarded like you know be warned over all hackathon just for the idea You know the passion behind it.

Yeah The passion behind it. So yeah, we did put a lot of efforts as a beginner and they did see it So yeah, we were awarded the so I think yeah I love it. It has making back. That's awesome. That's awesome All right, so we have 10 minutes left. So I definitely want to get to you know you and our chatting backstage You you said you have a pretty You know really a pretty good story um in your career going from What would you say going from fifth try to green rider is that correct? So the position before app right You said you had a really good job search story.

Do you want to talk about that story now? You got the job at green rider? Yeah, I think I think there might be some confusion confusion, but it was like most really related to fifth try itself Oh, sorry, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. Fit try. Yeah Yeah, yeah, so I think yeah, you know, I already talked about it, but I'll just you know come again So the motive Behind, you know the communities as to share your work With the books around the community and outside the community, right? So You can go so my very first LinkedIn post was me making a simple HTML landing page which was like really bad And I also did yeah, I knew it was bad, but I still shared it because I knew that you know It's good to build in public There might be some people who don't even know this and they might be looking forward to learn that So yeah sharing this on the social media, you know creating content and blocks and videos I think that caught the eye or That caught the eye of the founder Perfect trip and then then you know, I got the job for that as I told you know learning public building public The video was catchy They got me on that team and it was amazing because I I also grew their community from a like, you know From few hundred members to thousands.

So yeah I don't know okay, so your first job in tech Was because you posted something And then the opportunity you got it fifth fifth try Was because you posted something Yeah, post is so the thing is that you know, it's it's all together. So the contribution The public You know all the content that I shared All you know brought everything together to you know making a good presence and the good profile that you know caught the eye of the founder Man, that's crazy. That's so awesome. So talk about Talk about kind of your journey to app right Obviously, I think it's incredibly important to have an ambassador program here as program As app right colleague because you have been in the program now for how long before you started working there I think I have been here for like one year, but before that, you know, in general with the app right community I have been contributing like you know, it's been three years.

That's awesome. And even that's awesome. Yeah, so so Talk talk about why companies Like like an app right like a torque should have an ambassador or a hero program talk about the importance of that as somebody who was in it And then got a job because of it Talk about the importance of having a hero program So yeah, you know, so So back when I started in the community I was just remembered then I you know I got upgraded to being a discord slash community moderator then I've I've you know came into the program So where you know as a hero or as a developer ambassador.

I have you know created content I have hosted events and sessions around the community I have you know, so the commute so the contributions within the developer ambassador programs Means that you know it really shows how well you're connected and you know how you are seemingly or you know deeply there with the product itself in terms of Let it be contribution or The communication or you know the bond with the team itself It shows it all because that's how you interact with the folks in the community and outside the community And you in general also, you know, I have done a lot of group Things

to you know drive people to the program itself because I love the product like it's genuinely amazing The very first instance why I joined the app right community is because how Their engineers, you know when I was in the hackathon the very first hackathon I was talking about I was facing some errors in the app right when I was integrating app right because it was the first time integrating Back in the server platform and they helped and they came together helping me out You know and since this is this is the thing about the community folks in general They always want to contribute back So

I choose the same I promise their engineer that you know I'm gonna make blocks and videos around it.

Yeah, and yeah, and I'm gonna contribute back in the community And I did so and it's been three years and I finally transitioned That's so awesome. I love that. I love that so much Talk about talk about I mean, I don't know if you've done this But talk about the importance of just actually having one-on-one conversations, right? I mean, you're in just networking right you I mean, we've talked about hackathons we've talked about building public You know, we've talked about ambassador programs Um Have you taken on networking like one-on-one conversations? I mean have you really done that throughout your career? Yeah a lot of them.

I would say yeah Yeah, talk I think how about the importance of that Yeah, I think it's really important to you know So there are a lot of folks in general in the community That you are probably talking On the let's say discord server It could be a public discussion where you know four to five folks as in general You know contributing to it to the conversation itself But you know, so if you think that you know there's this person who can help you Out you know in terms of Let's say guidance or mentoring Regarding your career or related to your you know personal growth So I think you should so I have been doing this stuff So if you see anyone who is you know more experienced or in general even if it's not experienced But there's something that you can learn from them.

Yeah, just hit a DM and you know just ask them Let's let's get on a call. Let's do one-on-one and let's discuss things Let's you know talk about this stuff that stuff and I'm pretty sure You know they would like it does I'm pretty sure like it's it's it's going to be really positive people I Incorrect me if I'm wrong. I feel like people genuinely want to help Yeah, I think like and and and and I feel like if there's enough And this is why I'm so big on people commented on this live show and like obviously the torque this chord and like Jason's working on a directory for us so people can reach out more intentionally But I really feel like if you have something in common I really feel like people are Like want to help you and want to have a conversation with you, right?

So that's why I encourage people to reach out because I really think people will have more conversations with you than you think buck on that Yeah, I think you know folks really want to help even I myself You know if I have a game Someone was seeking you know personal guidance or you know just well You know want to ask something related to career. I'll never deny You know this is this is the best part of being a you know community guy So you know that you know you have been there like you have been at that place where you were sitting in the sea mentorship from someone So yeah, so I'm always open to that.

I'm pretty sure like a lot of folks are open to that So so never be shy or operate to you know send a DM. I were asking about graduate And let's yeah, I love it. All right, so we're gonna wrap up here in three minutes I got a question from SL on TikTok I have a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Purdue graduating 2023 any tips in Nashville Send me an email and I'll get you some tips So Taylor at torque.dev you can find it in my profile Taylor at torque.dev. Shoot me an email So and I'll give you some advice for the Nashville market specifically All right, so last few questions first off If I told you tomorrow You woke up you could not do anything in tech What hobby would you pursue for a living?

I think yeah great question. I would do it for sure HR for HR Yeah, I think and that do a non-tech one for sure like you know I Yeah, because you know I love in general To you know having a conversation with folks and knowing more about them You know how they are how they think of this thing how they are going to perform there How how they are going to you know shape things up So yeah, I would definitely you know pick something up that would do make me you know Have conversations with different provokes from different regions for different roles. I love that that's awesome second question What do you like to do outside of work?

I Love playing ping pong a lot really so yeah, so I have been you know I played some good levels You know I've been to state and district levels in my real. Yeah. Yeah, so I have clear Yeah, so I do love ping pong. That's my thing and yeah the games of course Yeah, hit me up if you're you know playing something and I'll be there online in a while I love it. I love it for ever in person. I'll play in ping pong and just get wax by you Third question. I want to give somebody a shout out in the community Who do you think is doing a good job in the community right now?

You want to give a shout out to? I would give a huge shout out to just Jason Jason has been a part of you know communities for a long long design He has been doing great. I have seen him. You know putting a lot of efforts being consistent That is something that you know everyone can learn from Jason that you know how to be consistent You know that he takes everything you know very like work related in general and you know he thinks of Making sure that you know he's providing valuable content and making sure that you know he's been Nicely he's been in touch with everyone for a long long time.

So yeah Jason has been doing amazing. I love it Final question and I got to answer this meeting What's your biggest piece of career advice you would tell yourself? Tell young Niss shot as he's getting started. What's your biggest piece of career advice? Talk to people join communities learning public well in public I love it. I love it. We all thank you again for today Hey, you did it you listen to an entire episode and I am very grateful because you know why there's a lot of podcasts out there There's a lot of episodes and I myself Rarely finished an entire episode So I appreciate you so so much for listening quick reminder Please rate and review this podcast in the app store I want this to be discoverable to others and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it Please like right now Unless you're driving then don't do it.

So thank you again If you need to reach out to me at t-dasting on all social media handles and I hope you have a fantastic day