# Hey, I'm Advaith
I am a [generalized specialist](https://fs.blog/generalized-specialist/#:~:text=A%20generalizing%20specialist%20has%20a,and%20a%20few%20shallow%20ones.), like to do many things, and specialize in things that interest me. I am an engineering graduate and have a background in coding and design. Apart from this, I create vibrant communities and impactful programs. when it comes to work, ***I like the 0 -> 1 journey of things***, it's not limited to just building a product but also a new initiative or campaign or a small feature in the product, i like to go all in on that journey from ideation to completion **domains I like to work on:** SaaS tools and Education *(will never work for a company that sells courses)* are two spaces I deeply care about, would love to work with companies solving problems in these domains. I also admire companies building products that people use in their daily lives.
**things i have done in a nutshell:** * scaled the [friends of figma program](https://friends.figma.com/) to 4x in india in 2 years, it was fun to solve the challenges in covid times * led the learning initiatives at [tinkerhub](https://tinkerhub.org), designed and executed over 5 programs * built a product [mendor space](https://www.producthunt.com/products/mendor-space), had a few users but didn't take off * raised a sponsorship worth over $15000 for [ ingress hack](/journey/ingress-hack) if you want to take a broader look at things i have worked on checkout the [Journey](/journey) or if you want a short version checkout my [linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/advaithu/) profile > currently on a sabbatical to upskill myself and figure out what's the next step in my career, pursuing [***stoa's alt mba***](https://www.stoa.com/) to understand business fundamentals and non-engineering domains # Journey #### Why this style of portfolio? I thought this would be the best way to capture the whole picture of things I have worked on and the progress made over the years, in the case of LinkedIn the societal norm of showcasing success in terms of metrics suffocates me, it doesn't show the effort of or reasoning of what I did I know it's too long to read the whole journey but if someone wants to deep dive into how I think and operate, this would be the best way to do it ps: for me, it also serves as a reflection of where i started and the progress i made over time :) #### How it's structured? * [internet & me](/journey/internet-and-me) - getting access to the Internet and how the exposure shaped me * [hack.io](/journey/hack.io) - a small team of 5 and my first attempt at entrepreneurship * [GDSC](/journey/gdsc) - a community that changed me and taught me that I could be a lead * [ingress hack](/journey/ingress-hack) - 0 experience in sponsorships to raising $15000 for the hackathon * [Tinkerhub](/journey/tinkerhub) - making an impact and working for a reason that I deeply care about * [Figma](/journey/figma) - a random email to leading Figma's community program in India # Internet and Me TLDR: access to internet was a big gamechanger in my life :) #### 🌐 Access to Internet This may sound surprising, but I'm one of the few people in my generation who didn't have a Facebook account when growing up and still don't have one. I was a late bloomer to the internet and got proper access to the internet when I joined the college in 2018, that was a [*canon event*](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2024/02/03/what-is-canon-event/72177248007/) in my life. In my school days, I had limited internet access, 2GB per month for the whole family, but when I joined college, I got a new SIM which had 1.5GB per day, which was a huge jump However, I didn't instantly become a coding prodigy the moment I got internet access. I was just a regular individual with a keen interest in programming, which led me to choose computer science and engineering in college. Despite my interest in learning about website and application development, cybersecurity, hacking, and more, my first college lecture was on the basics of mechanical engineering, though it ended up being my favorite subject that semester. *Initially, I used my internet access mostly for entertainment, watching interesting videos on YouTube. It wasn't until the end of the first semester when I had to self-learn Python because the lectures were not helping me, that I began using the internet as a learning tool. I found numerous YouTube tutorials and Udemy courses, but I was stuck in a cycle of endlessly following tutorials without making real progress. I only realized this when I attended my* [*first hackathon*](#first-hackathon)*.* Despite these challenges, having proper internet access was the starting point for many significant events in my life I strongly believe that today, providing someone with a good internet connection and a laptop is the best way to grant them access to education. Digital tools have made learning much easier and more accessible. > When I have enough financial resources, I want to support underprivilieged students via a scholarship which provides access to internet and laptops and a grand amount they can utilize for education purposes *** # hack.io first attempt at entrepreneurship # GDSC # Ingress Hack # Tinkerhub expanding my work beyond campus and creating impact #### 💡About TinkerHub Tinkerhub is a community of tinkerers, makers, policy geeks & students who are working towards mapping and empowering people who share a passion for innovation. If you want to know more about Tinkerhub check out the website. {% embed url="" %} #### ✍🏻 My journey with TinkerHub I have known TinkerHub and its activities since my sophomore year but I never imagined I would get an opportunity to lead the [Learning Initiatives](https://tinkerhub.org/learn). After my tenure as a GDSC Lead in my college, I was looking forward to contributing to communities outside my campus, that's when I got a call from Rahul, a good friend of mine and community manager at TinkerHub. He informed me that TinkerHub is looking for someone passionate about technology to lead the learning initiatives, this sounded interesting to me.\ \ Then I got on a call with [Mehar Ikka](https://www.linkedin.com/in/meharmp/), Founder of TinkerHub, and that call went on for more than 2 hours. Until that call, I thought of TinkerHub as yet another student community in Kerala, but during that call, he explained how TinkerHub was founded, the vision they have, and what they are looking forward to. I got hooked on the [Philosophy](https://www.tinkerhub.org/philosophy) of TinkerHub. # Study Jams # TLF # Learning Stations # Maker Stations # Figma # Knowledge Projects Side- projects I am working on to share my knowledge ## Currently working on ### Kurious Kathakal It's my humble attempt to capture the journeys of amazing people in tech from Kerala. I want this podcast to be helpful for students and early career professionals. The first episode is out now <3 {% embed url="" %} ### Hackathon OS Collection of resources inspired by the one we used to run [ingress hack](/journey/ingress-hack) * Notion template to easily manage the entire operations of a hackathon * Collection of best tools and resources to host a hackathon * Potential ways to raise sponsorship and find partners # Products things I have built and currently building ### Mendor Space A platform for you to connect with mentors from your domains and learn from them. We launched the MVP on ProductHunt and got a lot of positive feedback, unfortunately, we were not able to pursue that idea then but I'm still proud of what we created. {% embed url="" %} ### Currently working on #### Happy Cloud In our busy lives, we often forget to cherish the little moments in our lives. These moments could be significant achievements or simply spending time with friends. I'm building an app to document these little moments and look back at them when we feel low {% embed url="" %} # Contact {% hint style="info" %} Email works best. You can drop me an email at **** {% endhint %}