In this third and final episode of our "Standing Out as a Developer" mini-series, we dive deep with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta into the art of continuous learning while juggling a day job. With AI reshaping the industry and technical skills becoming obsolete faster than ever, this episode is a masterclass on staying ahead of the curve.In this episode:
- Why junior engineer roles are decreasing with AI advancement
- The "algorithm hacking" strategy for curating your learning feed
- Building a learning funnel.
- The single word that can transform your upskilling approach
- Research papers as your secret weapon for cutting-edge insights
- How to approach mentors the right way (and avoid generic advice)
- Project-based learning lessons from building Criclang in 20 days
- Why you need to stop relying on your job for knowledge growthchapters
00:00 In this episode
01:03 Breaking Prod intro
01:27 The upskilling crisis in AI era
03:05 AI impact on junior engineers
03:37 "Deer in headlight" moment
08:21 Algorithm hacking masterclass
09:13 Curating your feed for tech discovery
10:01 The learning funnel strategy
11:05 The power of asking "WHY"
12:02 International interview insights
12:46 Research papers: The hidden hack
14:03 How to approach research papers
15:09 Reading books the right way
16:16 Project-based learning approach
16:55 Criclang: 20-day programming language
18:13 Breaking the "it's too hard" mindset
18:25 Swift Mac app project example
20:26 Finding the right mentors
21:01 Mentor misconceptions
21:29 How to approach mentors correctly
22:24 Showing up and building reputation
23:04 AI tools lowering learning barriers
24:03 Final advice: Stop relying on your job
24:25 Asking "WHY" as a superpowerManthan's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa
- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa
- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/
- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -
https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003
- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this second episode of our “Standing Out as a Developer” mini-series, we have a chat with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta who took a 8 month sabbatical in his early career to deal with burnout.in this episode
- how do you identify burnout?
- how do you deal with developer burnout?
- manthan's sabbatical experience in early career
- productivity hacks for preventing burnoutchapters
00:00 in this episode
00:45 breaking prod
01:10 signs of burnout
07:00 breaking out of burnout
09:13 taking a sabbatical (in early career)
16:08 confessing burnout to your manager
18:28 hacks to prevent burnout before you crash
22:38 closing noteManthan's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa
- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa
- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/
- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -
https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/breaking.prod
- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this first episode of our “Standing Out as a Developer” mini-series, Vivek chats with founding engineer and Criclang creator Manthan Gupta about the art of getting noticed without the cringe.Manthan breaks down:
- how every job he’s landed started with a tweet thread
- using Twitter & LinkedIn as a living resume.
- mindset for showcasing your work to the world
- cheat code to get confidence on your workand much more.Chapters
00:00 in this episode
00:24 about this mini-series
02:11 authentic personal branding
06:52 network effects of posting online
08:15 unlocking opportunities
10:24 easiest way to post online
12:44 building presence inside a company
15:49 cheat code for getting approvals
17:08 understanding your audience
19:53 start doing this todayManthan's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/manthanguptaa
- GitHub https://github.com/manthanguptaa
- CricLang https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/criclang/
- Website https://manthanguptaa.in/Manthan's latest AI Project -
https://manthanguptaa.in/posts/water/Vivek's Socials
- Twitter https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003
- Website and blogs https://www.viveknigam.io/About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In the season finale of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Arun, a blockchain developer at Fungify, joins us to demystify the world of Web3. From NFTs and MemeCoins to DAOs, Web3 can often feel overwhelming, especially for those coming from a traditional Web2 background. Arun breaks down these decentralized concepts from the ground up, helping us understand Web3 from first principles. By the end of the episode, we even create our own blockchain. Tune in to explore the world of Web3 with Arun on Breaking Prod.
Socials
Arun https://twitter.com/CleanPegasus
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Kritika shares her journey through the tech world, from being an engineer at Disney+ Hotstar to her current role as an SDE at Zepto. Firsts are always special—whether it's a project, a relationship, or a job—but they can also be the hardest to move on from. Kritika reflects on her experience making her first job switch and the valuable lessons she gained from working at these leading startups. Tune in to explore her story and insights into the world of tech.Socials
Kritika https://twitter.com/kritikatwtss
Breaking Prod https://www.instagram.com/breaking.prod/
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Akash Hamirwasia, a frontend engineer at Razorpay, shares his journey of turning side projects into successful products. While many developers leave their projects in GitHub repositories, Akash has managed to build, monetize, and continuously improve his creations, including popular projects like Blaze and Slant it. The conversation covers his experience in building these products, generating revenue, and the technology behind some of his apps. Tune in to hear Akash's insights on balancing a day job with product development.
Socials
Akash https://twitter.com/blenderskool
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, we dive into diversity hiring and women in tech with our guest Haimantika, a developer relations expert at Hashnode. Drawing from her extensive experience working with various teams, Haimantika sheds light on the realities of being a woman in the tech industry, sharing valuable insights on challenges and progress. We also explore her remarkable career journey, from her time at Microsoft to her current role. Join us for this enlightening conversation as we uncover the impact of diversity in tech and what the future holds for inclusion in the industry.https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Socials
Haimantika https://twitter.com/HaimantikaM
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Ishan, who works on Generative AI at Adobe, shares his insights on the evolving world of AI. As AI has become a hot topic over the past two years, many are curious about how this era of AI with large language models differs from traditional machine learning. Ishan helps answer these questions, discussing the fear surrounding AI, how it’s transforming industries, and whether there’s reason to be concerned. He also delves into how AI helps teams achieve unexpected results at scale and shares his thoughts on the trend of building AI wrappers. Tune in to hear Ishan's perspective on the future of AI.
Socials
Ishan https://twitter.com/ishandutta0098
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Ojasvi, a backend engineer at Uber with 10K+ followers on Twitter, shares her experiences with solo traveling and balancing work. Known for her candid takes and humor, Ojasvi discusses how she started traveling alone, manages meetings and work expectations, and how Indians are treated differently while traveling. She also shares fascinating travel stories and her unique perspective on these experiences. Tune in to hear all about Ojasvi's journey and insights.
Socials
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
This episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1 features Aditya Oberai, a prominent figure in the Indian Developer Relations (DevRel) community. Currently at Appwrite and recently honored as the CMX DevRel Professional of the Year, Aditya sheds light on the often misunderstood role of DevRels. The discussion explores whether DevRels actually code, if their work is just marketing, and why they face criticism on social media. Aditya also shares insights into the challenges of this unique job. Tune in to uncover the realities of Developer Relations with Aditya on Breaking Prod.
Socials
Aditya https://twitter.com/adityaoberai1
Vivek https://twitter.com/viveknigam_
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/viveknigam3003/
Yashank https://twitter.com/Yashank18
About Breaking Prod
Breaking Prod is the no-fluff tech podcast where curious builders break down real-world systems—and themselves—to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more human. It's a home for anyone who's building, breaking, or just figuring it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Ashish Jha shares his fascinating journey. From maintaining a 900+ day streak of learning Spanish on Duolingo to achieving financial independence by building Alexa apps, his story is full of intriguing twists. Currently working at Okta as a Solutions Engineer, Ashish also actively trades in the stock market as a side hustle. The episode covers his 6 years of freelancing as one of the first Alexa developers in India and offers a glimpse into the mindset that helped him achieve financial independence at a young age. Tune in to explore Ashish's unique path.
Anuj (SDE @ Microsoft) met us at a Seedhe Maut concert. One day we were talking around his life at Microsoft, experience at Amazon, and contrasting it with our experience at a startup. We recorded it, and thought lets post it out.
In this episode of Breaking Prod: Season 1, Yajas Sardana shares his journey and insights. With over 44K followers on LinkedIn and a role at Microsoft, he offers hidden gems on growing a following, recounts fun stories from his time at Harvard, and discusses the origins of today's desi hip hop scene. Tune in for a deep dive into Yajas's experiences and the world of desi hip hop.
SocialsYajas (Twitter) (LinkedIn)Yashank (Twitter)Vivek (Twitter)Breaking Prod (Instagram)Breaking Prod: The unhinged tech podcast, hosted by Vivek and Yashank, where we share honest and unfiltered conversations on tech scenes in India. Built by devs, for the devs.
