README.txt

Hi, I'm Sid — nice to meet you!

README is a standard file included with most code libraries that explains how they work and how best to use them. Since I'm lucky and get to work with a lot of people, I figured I'd just put together one for myself too.

Work Ethos

• I usually work from home since Helmer doesn't have an office yet. You can sometimes find me working from Third Wave near Maharaja Signal in Koramangala, Bengaluru.
• My preferred place to talk shop is Discord and Github. You can ping me 24/7, I try to respond quick but prefer to keep work-convos away from other platforms as much as I can.
• I often work late nights or on weekends. It is my choice, and I don't expect it from anyone else. Don't feel compelled to answer until your next working day if I ping you during them.
• If for any reason I do urgently need you outside of your normal working hours, I will call on your phone/Whatsapp. This is also very rare, because I struggle with Phone-anxiety.
• My calendar is public to all my teammates + friends. Most of my meetings aren't private or confidential, so if you want to ask anything about em, please do!
• If you need me, please block my calendar without hesitation or permission. Let's just skip the "what time works for you?" dance, it's really unproductive and any of us can always reschedule if the timing doesn't work out.
• I take vacations. Usually as solo-trips. You should, too! They're fun and rejuvenating.
• I'm quite picky about what to work on, and go all-in on the things I like. I prefer to exercise my judgement instead of just reacting to instructions. This sometimes means choosing to NOT do something, which is equally important.
• I'm heavily biased towards action. People who are go-getters command all my respect and the exact opposite is true for people who are all talk, no show.
• Leadership ≠ Management. Great leadership can come from anywhere, regardless of title. The best leaders know this and proactively lead themselves, and those around them.

Feedback

I'm ever evolving as a person and feedback goes a long way to help me.

• Imo frequent course correction (via critical fb) and acceleration (via positive fb) in small amounts is far more effective than an unexpected surprise once a quarter.
• I prefer to give and get feedback in small chunks regularly. If you'd like to share some, doing so in-person works best.
• If you're not comfortable giving me feedback yourself, I'd love for you to give it to either Vivek or Advait and they will relay it to me anonymously.
• If we've worked together and you'd like feedback from me, all you have to do is ask.

Strengths

• I do my best work when the goal is clear, but we still need to figure out how to get there.
• I hold a very high standard for myself + my team. I go out of my way to raise the bar for craft and execution for everything I do. Tiny details matter to me.
• I pride myself in inventing creatively simple solutions to complex problems. It could be a process, a tool or even a simple conversation. Small role, big impact.

Weaknesses

I believe that doubling down on your strengths is better than trying to patching all the weakness you have. But being aware of them and correcting as you go is a solid practise.

• I am an introvert and I get exhausted when I'm with a lot of other people. An outing with 2-4 folks is perfect, any more and you'll find me unusually quiet. I tend to run from parties early.
• Feedback I share sometimes emerges more brash than I mean it to be. I'm working on improving this, but if you see it happen please call it out.

Personal

Some random misc info. Any of the following will make for great topics if you ever want to chat!

• I belong to India but no city in particular. My parents both served in the military and thanks to them I've been brought up across many different places and cultures.
• Sound design and music-making drew my interest in 2012. I co-founded a record label in 2015 with internet friends and released some cool music. Still dabble with my OP-1 today.
• I have a degree in Design (not Engineering) because I hate studying. I'm not a fan of academia and prefer to learn things on my own accord. f?@k around and find out.
• Sometimes I build things that seem nonsensical, but solve a random annoyance in my life. From an absurdly miniature PC to a standing desk with wheels that I can cart around.
• I'm a fairly skilled home-chef who finds more joy in cooking than eating.
• I love cats! Fostered and raised 10 kittens to adulthood till date.

Closing

I wrote the first version in June 2022, decided to open source it in April 2023 and last updated after starting Helmer in 2025. Hopefully this helps us to get to know each other quicker. Thanks for reading!

I'll stress that this is not a guide on "how to work". I do a ton of things wrong, but find it very rewarding to discover my ways of working that bring me joy — you might too.

This doc evolves as I become more aware about my own quirks. The sections for Strengths and Weaknesses are direct outcomes of my peer feedback. Grateful to everybody whose inputs helped put this together.

Looking forward to do better. Cheers!