Introduction

The latest to join Skuad's enriched talent pool is Frontend Engineer Chetan Verma, an introvert who has a zen-like focus and is a fitness freak. In a candid chat, Chetan opened up about being a digital nomad who wants to live his life exploring places and technologies. Read on to find more about his life mantras and his idea of a perfect day!

Please give us a sneak peek into your journey so far and how you came aboard at Skuad.

I am a Delhite with passionate genes. After acquiring my B.Tech degree, I took to gigging and contract work. In a nutshell, my two years of work experience cover graphic design, UI, frontend development, basics of digital marketing, and backend development.

I love my home office and find it very comfortable to work in the gig economy. But, I wanted to commit to a full-time role at an organization and work on newer and bigger projects. Skuad happened at a time when I was looking for this transition. All of these factors contributed to taking up the opportunity at Skuad.

What has the lockdown due to COVID-19 taught you, and how do you manage to keep yourself motivated?

Since I worked as a freelancer, the lockdown hasn’t impacted my routine, but yes, I miss hanging out with friends on the weekends. But now I call them often, so you can say that the lockdown has taught me the importance of connecting with people and building more meaningful relationships. Remote work during COVID-19 has also emphasized that time is vital. Maintaining work along with some play can add the required balance to work-life. I achieve this by practicing the Pomodoro technique of infusing 15 minutes of playtime after 1 hour of hard work.

Umm…so while I try to follow my schedule, it does get monotonous sometimes. Then I find motivation in my work. I jump like a happy kid when my coding assignment gets a green flag. Besides that, daily, I stay charged up with a session of morning workouts. Listening to Ted Talks and reading self-motivation books have been my go-to thing. My personal favorites are Deep Work by Cal and Newport, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. They inspire me to work harder and contribute to my go-getter attitude. On and off, I even look back at my idols David Goggins and Michael Jordan, who help me stay on track.

How do you find Skuad’s culture, and what can you offer to the organization?

For a frontend engineer like me who prefers structure and schedules, it's good. The culture is balanced. I love the "All Hands"~ Town Hall meetings at Skuad. The founders give us general updates of the company’s policies and where we are heading as an organization. That’s one thing I would want the organization to keep focusing more on.

As for my share, I am full of creative ideas and equipped with technical capabilities. I can say that I am a team player as I have played football nationals in my school time. Empathy and understanding of everyone's perspectives will always be in my approach. Oh, and have you heard Nike's tagline "Just Do It"? That’s the kind of attitude I have joined Skuad with.

How do you collaborate with your desire to work remotely and the spirit of teamwork you imbibed in your football days?

Technology is key in making this possible. Different tools available today have made it easier than ever to collaborate with teams, even from a distance. I indeed like working alone in my pajamas, but I haven’t forgotten the lessons from my football days. I have realized that winning is a combined effort of leadership and communication. Acknowledging the diversity in people’s opinions, thoughts & backgrounds is a must. It shapes the leader in you and helps deliver tasks in a collaborative yet successful manner.

Would you rather go back in time or get transported to the future?

My definite pick will be to go back in time. I would right away set my time machine to 5 years back and motivate my not-so-inquisitive-self to be more curious. In our prime days, our life choices tend to get influenced by those around us. So that's something I would like to change and do a head start once again. I am a firm believer in the idea that the choices we make today affect our tomorrow.

Besides this, I would advise my younger self or anyone in their late teens not to overthink and learn and learn. We are lucky internet gen. Everything and anything we need to learn is on the internet! In my early days, I had confined my learning to paid courses, but you should not. The free world internet is our oyster. Just Google or YouTube your area of learning, and you'll be flooded with materials.

On a final note…

The entire team of Skuad is thrilled to have a frontend engineer like you. We hope you will bring your high energy to your desk daily and help us create wonders. Wishing you good luck in your everyday endeavors of trying and winning!