Cool, isn't it? One hundred REST API endpoints in just one hundred days.
Wow? Just… wow!
You might think I'm just bragging. Frankly, if someone else had said the same thing to me, I would have given a smirk:
“Is he kidding? What a joker.” 😏
I totally get it. Most people would react the same way, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Everybody knows building a world-class product is not easy and we can't afford to take shortcuts. It takes an immense amount of boldness and willingness to even try to run a startup these days. And if you've started during a pandemic… hats off, brother. That's next-level courage.
Now imagine just being around a person like that—someone who brings great energy.
Then imagine a team full of such people.
Incredible, isn't it?
This reminds me of a scene in Dragon Ball Z where people from all around the universe share their energy with Goku to create a huge spirit bomb for a greater purpose.
Here I admire Goku's exceptional willpower and pure intentions, which made everyone share their spirit energy. Nobody does that unless they deeply believe in that person.
Culture & positivity. I love these things. I'm especially passionate about engineering culture because I believe a good culture creates a unique environment that positively affects everyone in it.
From Bureaucracy to Generative Culture
I come from a totally different background—a bureaucratic culture. Anything you wish to have or do isn't easy, which makes you less likely to go after what you really want.
If you've worked at more than one company, you probably know what I mean. You've likely seen such a culture before.
I started to miss generative approaches and their positive effects—the kind that naturally excite people and align them towards a common vision.
I really want to write more about generative culture vs bureaucratic culture. If I start now, I probably won't stop. 😅 So I'll save that topic for another story.
With all this in my mind, I started at Rocketlane with a simple distinction:
Rocketlane Engineering - A place where people can aspire, build, break, and improve.
Tea Time: The Meeting Everyone Actually Loves
Early on, Deepak (our CTO) wanted to meet the team at the end of every Friday between 4-5 PM to go over the week.
When he shared this plan, I was excited and casually suggested a name for the meeting: “Tea Time” - a space where everyone gathers to eat, talk, and share:
- What happened this week
- What they learned
- What they plan to do next week
(I could have called it something else… but you know, NSFW 😜, so we stuck with Tea Time.)
Over time, I never imagined it would become the most looked-forward-to hour of the entire week.
And no, not because we're sliding into the weekend. 😅
It's because we get to see how our idea is evolving into a real, beautiful, clickable product.
Every Friday, we run internal product demos where engineers present the features they've been hacking on day and night. Oh man, you've got to be there to feel that vibe.
Every. Single. Week. It's unbelievable.
It's a special feeling to see each tiny little contribution adding up toward the bigger vision. It feels like you're one step closer to your goal every Friday.
Sometimes, during the demo, Sri & Vignesh share stories from their previous journey—like when they launched Konotor (now Freshchat). Just listening to it is incredible, and I'm ambitiously looking forward to experiencing something like that with this team again.
Maslow's Hierarchy (Sorry About the Pyramid 😅)
Speaking of needs and wishes…
As per Maslow's hierarchy of needs, every common person's needs go something like this:
- Food
- Safety (a job)
- Love and friendship
- Esteem, achievement, a sense of accomplishment
- Realizing one's full potential
Trust me, the last two are the hardest to get.
We often ask ourselves:
- Am I productive?
- Am I living up to my potential?
- Am I using my creativity and passion?
The answers to those questions lead us toward realizing our full potential.
Unlike the bottom three layers, the top two cannot be found. They must be created.
This is where I feel generative culture* plays a crucial role. It helps team members feel:
- Productive
- Valued
- Confident that their time and energy are being invested in something meaningful
That, in turn, boosts their self-esteem in a way many other work environments don't.
The Fun, the PITA, and 100 Endpoints
After all these paragraphs of gyaan 😂 I almost forgot the tech part.
As I said earlier, building a world-class product is not easy. Some of the tech problems we work on are amazing—and they also come with their fair share of PITA.
How Kannan handles backend API problems every day:
😂🔥 (insert exhausted-but-epic gif here)
Till date, all of us at Rocketlane have been working fully remote. I haven't met anyone from the team in person. Not even once.
We're working from all over India—from Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh to Kerala. Yet somehow, we've managed to land in a great rhythm** together.
Last Tuesday, September 22 marked my 100th day at Rocketlane since I joined as the second official founding engineer.
To make it even more epic, Kannan (the man behind the backend) dropped a message in our engineering group:
We've crossed more than one hundred functional REST API endpoints.
So…
Hey you. Yes, you. Still think 100 API endpoints in 100 days is a joke?
Now show me that smirk again.
I didn't think so. 😎
Peace out! ✌️
Want to Join the League?
Interested in being part of a passionate, high-velocity engineering team?
We have open positions.
Good luck impressing the team. 😉
Notes
* Generative culture - How do you create a positive work environment for a high-velocity development team?
** Rhythm - How do you find the right rhythm with your team while working remotely?
I'll be back with more stories on these topics sometime later—and I'd love to have you here again. 🚀