Short Biography of Sumith Kumar Puri - The Professional
 
It goes all the way back to 1995, when i was aged only 13. My father had purchased an Intel 80386DX/33MHz CPU, ~512KB RAM, 540MB HDD, 3.5" FDD with a (Mono) VGA Monitor. He had purchased this for his Business Use, as he had a Small to Mid Sized Business Enterprise. The important computing needs of his business were Inventory Management and Financial Accounts; apart from Spreadsheets and Word Processing.  It had a MS-DOS v6.2 operating system installed on it along with a few DOS based software, intended for its core purpose. I started playing around with it at that age and slowly learnt all DOS commands including some Batch Programming and some Computer Programming aspects using qBasic. Furthermore, a different want of mine was fulfilled which my father would not have fulfilled otherwise - Electronic or Video Games. I had particular liking to Prince of Persia and Pacman - especially the first few versions.  Later, this computer was upgraded to ~4MB RAM, Dot Matrix Printer, Mouse and Windows v3.1 (MS-DOS v6.22). During this time, I also had a Programming Tutor - who took me through the programming language Clipper and dBase III Plus. This was the first and an almost formal introduction to Computer Prorgramming - other than my own informal efforts on qBasic.

My first full fledged software development effort was an Inventory Management System, with Basic Invoicing. This was meant for all facets of Inventory such as Product Categorization, Stock Reports, Damaged Goods, Supplier and Customer Reports - apart from a Basic Invoicing System. This was used by my father sometime, for his Regular Inventory Management, when i was only 13. Beyond this, the next Software Development Effort was a Letter Management System, which incorporated Mail Merge. This was used by my father for Typing, Printing and Sending Letters, with Merging of Addresses that were created in the earlier Inventory Management Software, to both customers and suppliers. Another system which I developed was a Financial Accounts System, which was quite complex at that point in time. It remained Incomplete. The System was to be used by my father for Sales Invoicing, Purchase Invoicing, Reporting, Ledgers and Accounting. I also developed some other software systems, which remained incomplete, such as trade game (monopoly) and cricket game (textual). All of these were based on the Clipper Programming Language with dbase III Plus as the Database.  I was involved in local hacks to unlock certain DOS Games and Software, primarily using the File System and Hexadecimal Editors - that is all for the Dark Side of a Programmer until now! I also used to help in fixing Database Issues, Timely Backup, Data Retrieval and also in Developing some External Utilities related to other Softwares used by my father. These 'Other Softwares' were Developed by Local Commercial Software Vendors. I passed my Secondary and Senior Secondary from Naval Public School, Kochi. This built good foundations in Mathematics and Science. As I had taken up the Computer Science stream during my school, I was re-introduced formally to Computer Software, Computer Hardware and also to C Programming. This period from age 13 to age 17 laid the foundations for a Formal Professional Career, both as a Computer Programmer and as a Software Entrepreneur.

In 1999, aged 17 years, I got admission for the Bachelor of Engineering, Information Science program at Sri Revana Siddeshwara Institute of Technology, Bangalore. During my Engineering,  I furthered my knowledge of Algorithms, Data Structures, Operating Systems, Information Systems, Networking and Databases; as part of my Curiculum. The Programmer in me continued the Learning and Development during this Phase. In 2001, my father bought me my own Personal Computer, for the Purpose of my Studies. This was an Intel Pentium III/933 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, 32x CD-R and SVGA Color Monitor (Windows 98). I got into more of C, C++, Assembly, COBOL, CGI, Perl, and Visual Basic; which were either part of Theory or Practical Curiculum. I had also joined a course on Visual Basic 6 & Oracle 9i Development at Software Specialists Institute, Bangalore, which remained Incomplete. I also got introduced to Unix, Linux, System Programming, Client-Server Programming as part of my projects at Undergraduate Level. I did my Internship or Final Year Project at National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore; a project titled 'Single Instruction Multiple Data on Pentium' which was developed on C/C++, Inline Assembly, Linux. The time from age 17 to age 21 laid firmer Academic Foundations for a Professional Career ahead.

In 2003, aged 21 years, I started off my career with one of India's top IT services company; Infosys. Here, I got introduced to Real-World Enterprise Software, N-Tier Architectures, Software Processes and Methodologies. Since then, I have been more of a specialist in one set of Programming Language + Technology Stack.  This has been Java, J2EE and Related Technologies. I am a Hard-Core Java Professional/Enthusiast; Twice Certified on Core Java, as Sun Certified Java Programmer on Java version 1.4 and 5.0 and twice on Enterprise Java as Sun Certified Business Component Developer on EJB/J2EE version 2.1 and 3.0. I now have more than 17.5 years (October 2022) of software experience post my graduation as an Entrepreneur, Architect, Engineer, Developer and Scientist. During this period, I have worked with the World's Top Software Product Companies (or Software R & D Units); Symantec, Oracle*, Yahoo, Huawei, OpenText* & Finastra. The period  from age 21 to age 26 was spent in Employment and Career with these Software Companies.

From age 26 to age 30, the Core Focus in my life was my Own Startup.  I started my own company, TechArmy (Sumsoft); roughly in 2008. I envisioned a entire Software Product Suite and had Multiple Software Product Ideas. Few of them have gone ahead into some form of execution. The contribution has been mostly as an Architect and Developer in my startup. The areas which my company delved into were Search Engines, Survey and Analytical Software, Social Networking and Online Advertising. Of all the experience gained during this period, my skills are Java, J2EE, EJB, Spring, Hibernate, Struts, JAX-WS, Web Services, JAAS, Linux and mySQL. Also, I have gained expertise on Design Patterns, Software Conceptualization and Ideation, Software Architecture, Software Commercialisation and Real World Software Issues. In my own startup, I designated myself as the Chief Technical Architect. I formally closed the Operations of my first company in 2012; with the Last Legal Day of Existence being 30th of March, 2012. 

From age 30 to age 32, I worked for multiple Software Startups and Product Companies. During this period, I also completed 6 Programming and Technology Certifications, Published 8 Papers, Contributed to Open Source and also completed a Short-Term Course in 'Intelligent Agents'. My Highest Designation in the Software Industry, until this time was Senior Java/EE Technical Architect. The Professional Certifications that I completed during this period include Quest C Progrmamming, Quest C++ Programming, Quest Data Structures, Brainbench Spring 2.x Certification, Brainbench Hibernate 3.x Certification and Brainbench JEE 6.x Certification. I was rated as India Top 10* (Professional Certification) in each of Spring 2.x, Hibernate 3.x, Java EE 6.x.

From age 33 to 34, I was employed as a Software Development Architect at Aptean, Bangalore. At the start of 2016, I completed my Executive Programme, Data Mining and Analytics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. During this time, I also completed the Proficience [Innovative Product Design and Development] from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

From age 35 to 36, I ran two startup(s) again - They were named Vajrin Software (Focused on Software Product Development, Designated myself as the Chief Technology Officer) and Java Shiksha (Focused on Providing Corporate and Non-Corporate Java Trainings, Designated myself as the Chief Java Trainer). I also completed by Executive Certificate Program, Entrepreneurship from the Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur. The last legal day of existence of my startup(s) was 30th of June, 2018.

From age 36 to 39, at close to 15 years of Industry and Entrepreneurial Work Experience, I was employed very briefly as a Senior Software Architect (Java/Java EE) at Collabera, Philippines.Later, I was the Head of Product Engineering at Agiledge Neoffice, Bengaluru. Herein, I worked on complex Java/Java EE Product Performance, Stability and Scalability challenges - Managing/Leading a Team of 17 Members. Followed by this, I was a Senior Product Development Manager at Zycus-iContract*, Bangalore. Herein, I was playing the role of a Principal Architect to technically lead the Microservices Adoption/Strategy. It involved Architecture Review, Prototyping, PoC, Research & Implementation of the Microservices Infrastructure. Later, I had a very short sojourn as Enterprise Architect (B3 L7) at Mphasis, Bangalore. From age 39 to 40 (2021 to 2022), I was a Principal Consultant at Xebia IT Architects, Bangalore. I played the roles of Platform & API Development Lead, Framework Architect and Technical Architect across projects.

Now, at age 40, In October 2022, I have 17.5 years of experience as an Engineering Leader, Architect, Developer, Scientist and Entrepreneur. I will ideally fit into the role of a Director of Engineering. I am a Java/Java EE/Microservices Expert and can Mentor/Manage/Lead Engineering Teams. I am also open for the roles of Principal Architect, VP (Engineering) or Chief Technology Officer. I am open for Full-Time Permanent Positions in Bengaluru Only. My overall experience of 17 Years 06 Months is aligned ~77% to Product Development and 23% to IT Consultancy/Services. I continuously build my abilities into Engineering Leadership, Software Architecture, Microservices, Java (v10-v20), J2EE (v7-v9), Cloud, Containerization, Agile, Spring (Boot/Cloud/Data/Security), Data Science (AI/ML/DM), Performance, Stability and Scalability.

Please do take some time to visit my LinkedIn Profile. Please also take time to visit my Technical Blog at http://www.techilashots.blogspot.com My Blog is recgonized under the DZone Most Valuable Blogger* program and under the Java Code Geek Program. I also contribute to the developer.com, jGuru.com, foojay.io among others. Also, In the Year 2017-2018, I was promoted / elevated to the Senior Member Status in IEEE / IEEE-Computer Society and then as a Senior Member in ACM / ACM India*. Refer my Leadership CV, Cover Letter, Detailed Resume and Work Portfolio.

That's it, in short, about the Informal, Formal, Foundational, Entrepreneurial and Employment Aspects of my Professional Life.