Behind the scenes

Everything that went into leaving Microsoft

This newsletter issue is specifically addressed to all my kids. If you are a NeoGrad or a prospective NeoGrammer or even if you have just applied to NeoG Camp, if you are someone from roc8 or invactHQ, if you follow my newsletters or my social media, if you are someone whose life I have been able to touch in whatever little form, this issue is for you.

It's been more than a month since my last day at Microsoft. The decision to leave this company that I absolutely love took a lot of thought. Today, I put everything that went into this decision forward, in front of you. I don't want you to think of me as some Messiah or even as a businessman. I just want you to think of me as an elder brother who cares about you, and as all elder brothers would, is explaining his career transition to his younger siblings. So let's start the conversation.

Optimizing the LX

What does a web developer do? The job of a web dev is to squeeze more web into fewer bytes so that the website loads faster. But the fastest website would be the most basic one, made with HTML and not beautiful at all. So a web developer needs to find the balance between the efficiency of the network and UX. Apply this same analogy to life. Life needs to be a balance of efficiency of work and life experiences, aka LX. I finished writing a book on productivity some time back, hence, I know for a fact that I am extremely efficient. It is the LX that I was missing out on.

What do I mean by LX? For the past two years, I have been continuously working. I have worked through all my vacations, sick leaves, and off days. Every meeting had to have a certain agenda. But if you want to build something great, you need serendipity. You need to spend time with people without agenda. You should not need to think about this 30 minutes or that 30 minutes. You spend time with yourself, your family, your loved ones and meet people to discuss and ideate. I realized that I had been missing out on life experiences, and I did not intend to anymore.

With great power comes great responsibility.

When the placements for NeoG students started, I was extremely nervous. I remember the day when Unacademy interviews were going on. Some of the students that we had expected to crack Unacademy had been rejected. My anxiety was through the roof. Unacademy was supposed to be the game-changer. What happens if no kid gets selected? And then we got the call. Kushank had cleared all their interviews and they were extending him an offer. Now let me tell you something about Kushank. He is not from IITs or NITs, he is not even from an engineering college. He has studied B.Sc. in Computer Applications from Patna Science College. His dream salary was Rs. 15000. Yes, you read that right. Just Rs. 15000. He had joined NeoG through financial aid and even a package of 6 LPA would have been life-changing for him. Today, he works for one of the top startups in the country with a top-notch salary and a bright future ahead of him. I remember my mother was sitting beside me and she had started crying. If God has given me this power to affect lives, I need to put it to good use.

So now that NeoG is successful, what do we do next? Keep it as a side business or expand it. That is when Ishaan got a job in Fountane. He had also joined NeoG through financial aid. He used to borrow a laptop from one of his father's friends and attend the classes and practice. I got a chance to talk to his father and he said that I may not know him but he and his family know everything about me. Ishaan considers me as his role model and tells them everything about me. I remember his exact words and I don't think I will ever forget them. Aapke liye ye bachcha h par iske liye aap bhagwaan ho. (He may just be another kid for you, but you are a God to him.) I knew that I could not work for Microsoft anymore. I had created something so powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility. I knew that I have to invest my all into this.

You die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.

The day before I joined Microsoft 4 years ago, I was walking under my apartment building. I had planned at that time that I would grow my personal brand and learn to develop software at scale. I always wanted to become a CTO of a big startup and I needed to become good enough for it. Coincidentally I had set a time of 4 years for it. Now that I had achieved both my goals at Microsoft, it was the right time for the next move.

It took time to reach the decision of leaving Microsoft because I knew that leaving MS would mean leaving behind the CTO dream. Staying at Microsoft would mean more promotions, but with teaching, I am able to impact so many more lives directly, which is very hard to do as a CTO. Impact is what drives me, so at this point in time, this career transition makes absolute sense. I don't know where life would lead me to, but I trust that God has good things in store for me.

What about the money?

Since most of you are college students or early career professionals, I know you often wonder about the financial aspect a Microsoft job provides that I am letting go of. I come from a very humble background. If there was a choice between spending 5 rupees on a glass of sugarcane juice or taking a bus, I would often choose the former and walk. My father worked in the press and as a child, I would insist him on taking me to his events because there used to be good food there. My dream monthly salary was Rs. 50000. When I got my first job that offered close to Rs. 1 lakh a month, I became financially content at that time itself. Then with the job changes, the salary went on increasing. I remember seeing bowls full of fruits at Microsoft and being awed by them. Even when we were living in a small house, we were happy. So are we today. And there's more than sufficient food for us. After some time, you really don't need a lot of money to lead a good life. What do I need on a regular basis? A house to live in, good food, one movie, one book, that's all. So I do not worry about money because I know I have earned enough to provide a good life for me and my family. And that's sufficient, I don't want or need any more than that.

Education is the key.

My mother had told me very early on, that we cannot do a lot for you, but we can educate you and education is the key. And that has stuck with me and brought me to this position where I am today. Education has changed my life. Education has given me prosperity, so much that my kids would need to be shown poverty. As an engineer, it becomes my duty to train other engineers and make them prosperous. From a nation-building perspective, education is the best service. If I improve the livelihood of a kid by 10x, and if I do that for 100 children for years, just imagine the amount of change that I am able to bring. And I know for certain that my students would follow suit and make much more impact on the country.

Seva wo h jo aap apne samarthya se kare, na ki saamne wale ki shradhdha se. (Service is what you perform out of your own capability, not out of the need of the one who's asking.) And that is why I am into education. Because it has changed my life and it is what I am really good at.

Here for you, always.

That was a long read, and if you have made it till here, thank you. I hope you now understand everything that motivated me to leave my job at Microsoft and get into education full time. It is what I need and want to do right now. And I hope you will support me in this new journey as you have always.

---

Stay tuned for the latest on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube!