So Abhiroop, how did ShareChat happen?

In the midst of the pandemic, ShareChat's TA team approached me while I was working at another organisation. Initially uncertain, I decided to explore the opportunity and was pleasantly surprised by the impressive interviews and the appeal of managing operations at a massive scale, which is crucial for my DevOps role. Joining ShareChat in August 2020, I found the experience to be nothing short of phenomenal. Navigating the challenges of scale became a constant source of learning, transforming my scepticism into enthusiastic engagement.

Why do you say that scale is important for DevOps?

In DevOps tools, the primary goal is to create scalable solutions that effectively function. Currently, our architecture supports around 70 million daily active users across both apps. However, it’s important to note that the architecture suitable for 1 million users may not seamlessly scale to accommodate 10 million, 15 million, or beyond 50 million users. That’s why it’s all the more important.

The significance lies in making the right architectural changes, taking hard calls, and building for a scale of around 300 + million MAUs, which poses a major challenge for the DevOps team. It offers the opportunity to tackle complex problems on a much larger scale than in smaller settings. 

What would you say was one thing that convinced you to join and stay with ShareChat?

I had a detailed discussion with my potential technical lead during the final interview rounds. It went exceptionally well, leading to a follow-up conversation with the VP, who typically conducted the fourth round. The communication and explanation style resonated with me, and I was intrigued by the overall process. Reflecting on the journey, it's been nearly three years now and over this period, there has been substantial growth both professionally and personally. The learning curve has been significant, and the experience has been gratifying. To answer your question, open communication and a conducive environment for learning have been pivotal in choosing ShareChat for the first time every day.

How would you describe your three years at ShareChat?

When I joined ShareChat, I joined as an SDE2. The work was challenging and required deep-dive into specific concepts and after a year, I got promoted to SDE3. About six months ago, in April, I received another promotion to Staff Engineer/Architect. The journey has been incredibly satisfying and gratifying. The growth, learning curve, and evolution have been phenomenal. Roles within the team are fluid, and team dynamics are excellent. Although I did not expect it, I got an opportunity to play a significant role in building the team. The people and culture at ShareChat are the best aspects for me. They are my primary motivation!

(Group picture of our team celebrating an award)

What’s one example of an idea you have been able to scale to reality?

I cannot comment on the specific numbers, but our infrastructure spend is substantial. The DevOps team plays a crucial role in cost management. In the initial rounds of cost-cutting, we achieved significant reductions. This involved taking a holistic approach to system and organisational analysis. Dealing with actual numbers that go into cloud spending is usually required by those two levels above me. Being at ShareChat, with one of India's highest daily active user counts, exposes us to top-tier applications.

How has your experience been working with external partners?

It has been good since many quality vendor partners look forward to the association and strategic partnership with ShareChat. The exposure here is quite beneficial as I found that I had a flair for managing and dealing with vendors that allowed us to connect with a much broader network of professionals. Another positive aspect is a project I undertook involving a major redesign in system monitoring. I'm preparing a separate tech blog for that. We re-architected the entire system, adopting a much cleaner and cost-effective approach that still scales for our use cases. Initially, it began as a simple redesign in monitoring, and now I oversee observability for the entire company, driving the resiliency charter from the DevOps perspective.

What’s your advice to Engineers looking to join ShareChat?

Keep an open mind and be prepared for the journey. Embrace suggestions and take complete ownership of your responsibilities. It's that simple. We are effort-driven, and you’ll hardly see any affinity for politics in the workplace. Also, from my personal experience, ShareChat has a fantastic bunch of people and offers continuous growth opportunities, making all the difference when you want to achieve big.

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