Avindra Fernando

Yep.

Yep.

Oh, one of my specialties, yes.

Oh, one of my specialties, yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Mostly front-end, yeah. I would say React, Next.js, do a lot of playwright tests, Cypress for my clients. Yeah.

Mostly front-end, yeah. I would say React, Next.js, do a lot of playwright tests, Cypress for my clients. Yeah.

Yeah, since 2021. How'd you get there? Great story. So back when I was working at Cerner, I got to meet a lot of architects and senior engineers, which I had learned a lot of knowledge from. And then this journey goes along. At one point, I decided to join another big company. At that point, I started to feel like I was attending a lot of meetups locally.

Yeah, since 2021. How'd you get there? Great story. So back when I was working at Cerner, I got to meet a lot of architects and senior engineers, which I had learned a lot of knowledge from. And then this journey goes along. At one point, I decided to join another big company. At that point, I started to feel like I was attending a lot of meetups locally.

Because I wanted to spread the knowledge that I was gaining from the other people. And I spoke to a couple of directors at RSA at the time, and then they were like, yeah, you bring the Meetup in-house and we'll let you host it, we'll let you have people in it. So it was awesome, right? So I was really motivated by all of that.

Because I wanted to spread the knowledge that I was gaining from the other people. And I spoke to a couple of directors at RSA at the time, and then they were like, yeah, you bring the Meetup in-house and we'll let you host it, we'll let you have people in it. So it was awesome, right? So I was really motivated by all of that.

But then I realized what I'm missing is I'm seeing how big companies run, how they operate, but let me see how the small companies run. So I took the risk and I said, okay, let me just go join a startup, a product startup. So that was my journey into seeing how a product works.

But then I realized what I'm missing is I'm seeing how big companies run, how they operate, but let me see how the small companies run. So I took the risk and I said, okay, let me just go join a startup, a product startup. So that was my journey into seeing how a product works.

From a startup level, there was only like five people at the startup, and everyone was wearing different hats, getting started with it. Learned a ton there, right? Constant innovation, constantly grinding. Great, great, great time there. What I was thinking to myself at that time was, okay, now I got the product startup perspective. What if... How does services or consulting work, right?

From a startup level, there was only like five people at the startup, and everyone was wearing different hats, getting started with it. Learned a ton there, right? Constant innovation, constantly grinding. Great, great, great time there. What I was thinking to myself at that time was, okay, now I got the product startup perspective. What if... How does services or consulting work, right?

Let me go experiment that. So I joined a services startup, which their motto was consulting. A couple guys, amazing, amazing dudes. Got to work with them, see how they negotiate contracts, you know, bring in different contracts. One of the contracts was so interesting to me. I was working on an app for someone. That was his hobby. He wanted...

Let me go experiment that. So I joined a services startup, which their motto was consulting. A couple guys, amazing, amazing dudes. Got to work with them, see how they negotiate contracts, you know, bring in different contracts. One of the contracts was so interesting to me. I was working on an app for someone. That was his hobby. He wanted...

this idea of a virtual bar, so he was mapping out all the bars in the cities that they go to, and would give the ability for someone to purchase a seat in the virtual world, which was a fascinating idea. I was like, people pay for this stuff? It's like, yeah, this is cool stuff, right? So I got really motivated by that, and then

this idea of a virtual bar, so he was mapping out all the bars in the cities that they go to, and would give the ability for someone to purchase a seat in the virtual world, which was a fascinating idea. I was like, people pay for this stuff? It's like, yeah, this is cool stuff, right? So I got really motivated by that, and then