Finding Love, Dealing with Fussy Eater Kids and Work-Life Balance with Gaurav Jain

• [00:39] - Introduction of today’s guest, Gaurav Jain
• [1:30] - How did you meet your wife?
• [4:14] - The biggest surprise in being a parent in tech
• [8:09] - Raising kids with different behaviors
• [9:02] - Dealing with a fussy eater kid
• [13:54] - Challenges of moving to Singapore
• [15:55] - How Gaurav’s wife also landed in Autodesk
• [18:21] - Managing work-life balance
• [20:39] - Most challenging thing about being a parent
• [22:39] - Punishment on children
• [25:02] - Gaurav’s side projects
• [26:56] - Book recommendations
• [28:15] - Lesson on being a parent in tech
• [29:19] - Connect with Gaurav Jain

TRANSCRIPTION

Qin En 00:07 

Hi, I am Qin En and this is the Parents in Tech Podcast. 

Welcome to Season Two, where we interview dads who are technology company leaders, based in Southeast Asia. After hearing from moms in Season One, now it's time to speak to dads who are raising kids while striving in their careers. Let's find out the stories, challenges, and advice they have for us.

In this episode, we speak to Gaurav, Director of Engineering at Autodesk. Growing up in India and East Africa, Gaurav is a technology leader with 15 plus years of experience at companies such as Adobe. Throughout his career, he has also started several side projects, such as an online social platform for creative professionals and EduTech mobile apps and games.

Gaurav is a father of two children, ages 11 and six. 

Qin En 1:10

Hey, Gaurav. Welcome to the Parents in Tech show. To begin with, could you tell us a bit more about your family? 

Gaurav 1:15

Thank you. Thanks for having me here. My family, I have my wife. Her name is Anniquity. I have two lovely kids. My daughter, who is 11 years old and her name is Arshia. And my son, Sharia, he is six years old. 

Qin En 1:30

Wonderful. So Gaurav, how did you and your wife meet? 

Gaurav 1:35

So it was an arranged marriage. So, I was looking for prospective partners, going through profiles on some social media platforms at the time. And I chanced at her photograph and I really liked it. I knew that she was the one. After that, we met a couple of times. We got to talk and interact with each other and we decided to tie the knot, ultimately. 

Qin En 1:53

That's wonderful. Okay. You're going to tell me what kind of site was it then? 'Cause I guess that was a while back before you had these mobile apps and maybe, can you describe to us, how did those sites look like at that point? Just to give us some flavor? 

Gaurav 2:06

Yeah, I think at that time the sites were pretty basic. You would have the ability to search, I think, based on the city or based on what characteristics you were looking for? I honestly don't clearly remember what it used to be like, because things have changed drastically since then, but we also had offline mediums. So we had magazines where you could actually look at profiles of prospective brides and grooms and make a match. I don't think that exists anymore. 

Qin En 2:34

Magazines. That's so fascinating. Okay. So did you meet your wife through the offline channel or through the online channel?

Gaurav 2:40

I believe we met through the offline channel. If I remember correctly.

Qin En 2:43

The offline channel. That's your magazine. 

Gaurav 2:44

Yes. 

Qin En 2:46

 

Wow. Okay. So, let's say, you see certain profiles that you like. So do you pick up the phone to call, do you write in, what does that look like? 

Gaurav 2:53

Yeah, we just pick up the phone to call and many times it is our parents because it's an arranged system, right? So the parents would call the parents on the other side and they'll talk if they feel like it looks good, then the boy and the girl would talk to each other or they'll meet and interact.

Qin En 3:06

Gotcha. Gotcha. And so when did children come into the picture for you and your wife? 

Gaurav 3:12

You know what? We didn't plan the kids the way we would have liked to, but the honest truth is that when we look back now, it all turned out perfectly. So, my son was born after we moved to Singapore. I think it was about five, six years ago. And my daughter was born in India when we were still in India. So, yeah. I don't think we would have planned anything differently now that we look at it. 

Qin En 3:31

Wow. Okay. So it sounds like you had a certain plan, but that didn't really happen, but it turned out for the better. So maybe bring us back to more than a decade ago, what was the original plan, so to speak, and what didn't go according to plan? 

Gaurav 3:46

Honestly, we didn't really have a plan for the kids. 

Qin En 3:49

Got it. It just happened. 

Gaurav 3:51

It just happened, but we are happy with where we landed. 

Qin En 3:54

That's awesome. So, I guess, you have two kids, how did the number come about? Was it two, would it be three, did you have a discussion around that with your wife?

Gaurav 4:02

Yeah, we did. So after the first kid, after our daughter, we didn't really feel that we wanted a second child and then we happened to move to Singapore and the second child happened and we were really happy having the second child. 

Qin En 4:14

That's awesome. That's awesome. So I guess looking back as a dad who is working in tech, what's perhaps one of the biggest surprises that you have had experienced so far?

Gaurav 4:25

As you have probably seen in my profile, I graduated with a Computer Science background.

I did my Bachelor's in Computer Science Engineering. I've been coding for more than a decade. I've been involved in technology. So I know how computers work. I know how software is basically running the engine behind everything today, but what surprises me as a parent in tech today is that the kids are still one step ahead of us when it comes to technology.

They may not know how to code yet, but I won't be surprised if they're able to code at the age of four or five very soon. We are seeing those kinds of tax forms available for children, young children these days. But even otherwise using technology, my daughter, for example, today she's in grade six and she does most of her classwork, homework on an iPad.

And if you ask her to do an assignment and she has an option to do it offline or online, she would be able to do that immediately on the iPad and she just knows how to figure it out very quickly. So that's the biggest surprise for me, which I was not expecting, especially coming from a technology background, thinking that I know everything, but that's not the case.

Qin En 5:32

So, was there a particular thing that your daughter learned or picked up much faster and perhaps even, maybe you weren't expecting that, or maybe you weren't even sure how to go about doing that. But she was like, "Hey, Dad, I got it. I figured it out." 

Gaurav 5:46

So she's very passionate about art and drawing. So, for me, when I grew up, obviously there were no screens at peace at that time. I used to like sketching too, but that was the traditional charcoal sketching. You'd have a canvas or a paper. You take a fencer and you start sketching. But in her case, if she has to draw something. Or even to, well, the quick frame for her assignment, she would spin up an app sketchbook or any app on her iPad and she would just have it ready within a few minutes.

And so, yeah, that's something that really amazed me because I haven't really learned these tools yet. I still prefer to do it the old school way, where you take a pen and paper or a paintbrush and colors and you paint on a canvas. 

Qin En 6:25

That's wonderful. And you have the artistic flare. It sounds like your daughter has that. How did you discover her interest in this area? 

Gaurav 6:32

For her, it was very obvious. As typical parents, especially I would say, Asian parents, we tend to want our kids to do well in specific subjects like maths and science. But in her case, no matter how much we try to encourage her or motivate her to do maths, she still always go back to drawing and painting and listening to music.

She also likes music a lot. And she's been doing that for many years, not just now. So she has been doing that since she was three or four, and it was obvious to us that's the area that. Now we have come to the point where we encouraged her to do that and let her spend time being creative, building things.

She also likes doing the 3D painting. We've got a 3D printer, so she likes experimenting and playing around. 

Qin En 7:18

Right, right. Nice. That's wonderful. And, well, I guess Gaurav, they obviously your first and your second, or rather if you have multiple children, they always turn out to be very different. So what does it look like for your son? Does he have this artistic flare or are his interests somewhere else? 

Gaurav 7:34

Oh, yeah, you're absolutely right. I think he's the complete opposite. So, he actually likes, he's very loud, first of all. So my daughter is on the quieter side. In fact, I would say her nature is similar to mine. That's how I was and still am to an extent, but in my son's case, he's loud, he is, he wants to be in the middle of a crowd and he's very sporty.

And so he likes to run around, play in the playground. In terms of what he likes, he likes building things. So he likes Lego, for example. He likes playing with cars, like building tracks of cars and all of that. So his interests are very different. 

Qin En 8:09

I see. I see. And so what have you learned because, of course, you started parenting your daughter first, then your son came along, growing through this journey with two very different children growing up in the same household, what are some of the takeaways or your reflections as a parent? 

Gaurav 8:25

Yeah, you're right. We asked parents after the first one, we assume that the second one will be a breather. It'll just be easy. But in our case, it wasn't the case, but it was for a good reason. Actually, we really enjoyed watching both of them grow in their own way.

In fact, even in their eating habits, my daughter is a fussy eater, but my son is not. So, some things worked out well with him. It was positive. It was really nice to see that he likes to try different cuisines and different tastes, and that influenced her in a positive way. So, what we learned as parents were, it's great to have diversity within your family and the children learn from each other and they get influenced by each other as well.

Qin En 9:02

Absolutely. There's almost that exchange of nights. Okay. You mentioned fussy eating. I have to double click into that. Tell us a bit more about what that looks like and how you are addressing it. 

Gaurav 9:15

Well, that's going to be something that I'm going to charge you for. Just kidding. But yeah, my daughter is a fussy eater, has always been a fussy eater.

She likes some things. So, we are Indian and we mostly eat Indian cuisine at home and we are also vegetarian. So we don't have a lot of options from that perspective. So one, she has a very limited menu that she likes. And second, she takes a long time when she is at the table, she would take sometimes an hour, two hours to finish a meal.

And so, earlier when she was young, one mistake that we did make was we let her because she was a fussy eater, we allowed her to watch, let's say something on YouTube or a tablet or screen just to help her finish a meal. But we realized that didn't really help in the end because she's still a fussy eater, but it hasn't really helped us.

So in our son's case, we didn't do that. We consciously avoided that. I don't know if that was a solution or you just don't have to be different. But the fact of the matter is that there is no, we have concluded that there's no solution to it. I mean, what we try to do is just try to give her what she likes, most of the time, but also encourage her to try, do something different from time to time.

Qin En 10:22

Right. Right, right, right. So maybe can you share what are the things that she loves to eat and what are the things she wouldn't touch for a ten-foot pole?

Gaurav 10:30

So she loves pasta. So she likes things like pasta, pizza. She likes some Indian foods as well, some specific ones, but she mostly likes fast food. So give her a packet of chips, she'll probably finish it up quickly. 

Qin En 10:43

And vegetables?

Gaurav 10:45

She doesn't like vegetables except for a couple, but most of the vegetables she stays away from, she also doesn't like fruits as much, except for a couple. 

Qin En 10:53

Okay. Okay. But it sounds like you are pretty understanding. You don't really come down hard on her, which is nice. 

Gaurav 11:00

It doesn't work. I mean, that's what I've come to realize over the years that it doesn't really work. It just creates stress for us and for her. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really help. So we are just trying to take it easy with her in that sense. And in fact, when I talked to my parents, they tell me that my sister was a fussy eater.

So apparently my daughter has taken on some of those traits from my sister. And so my mom tells me that don't worry about it. Just let her be who she is. She'd come around it when she goes. 

Qin En 11:26

Got it. Thank you for sharing that. Now Gaurav, you had a very colorful career, so maybe it's for the benefit of our audience, can you take us very quickly through your career? And then also when you first became a dad, where were you in your career? 

Gaurav 11:40

Sure. Maybe what I can do is I can just share the most interesting parts of my career because I don't want to go into a rabbit hole. So I spent a fair bit of my time with Adobe systems, which I think a lot of people know is the creator of PDF and Photoshop.

And this was back in India. So I was working with Adobe in India. I started my career as a software engineer, building features for the desktop software on Unix, Windows, and Mac. And then later on move into a management position. I started leading the mobile leaders' team. That was the first team at Adobe batch to build something on mobile.

And that was the time when the smartphones had just come around, iPhone and Android. So that was definitely an important part of my career because I was experiencing a completely new domain. Like mobile and smartphones. I think that is also the time when I got married. So my daughter was born around the time when I was involved in the mobile readers at Adobe.

And then I took an opportunity to move to Singapore with Autodesk where I'm currently working. So we moved in 2014 and here I got, again, an opportunity to work on something different. This was a new project that the company was launching in the middle of its transformation to the subscription model. And so I started a team here.

We built lots of great stuff and released it. And over the years I've moved on and grown in my career. I'm currently managing, what we call the delivery platform, which is supporting all the subscription customers to get access to their Autodesk products. And my son was born in fact, I think a year after we moved to Singapore.

So, at that time I was in my first year at Autodesk in Singapore. And as I said earlier, he just happened. It wasn't planned. And, but I think it turned out really well for us. And in terms of career, I've also built a number of things on the side. So I've built platforms, I've built mobile apps. I've also done some experimentation with e-commerce early on in my career.

I built a site and I sold it off for a profit. So I've done some of that. And I continue to do that. I have some projects lined up this year, but yeah, I keep myself busy outside of work as well as outside of my family, as much as I can give time for. 

Qin En 13:54

That's wonderful. Okay. So I've got to dial back a bit to the point when your son was born. That's when you, I guess, just moved to Singapore, settling down, settling also in a new career. Looking back, you mentioned it worked out well, but at that point, was there any fear or concern that, oh, my career might be slightly affected, right? Given that I have this newborn and I'm still adjusting to all of this. What were any of these challenges or these concerns? 

Gaurav 14:21

I feel that we were lucky. My wife actually decided to take a break when we moved to Singapore. So she was working. She's also in the software industry. And in fact, she happens to be working in Autodesk currently.

It's a coincidence. It's not planned, but when we moved to Singapore, she took a break and I think that really, really worked out well for us. And that was a family reason because she was at home and she was able to manage fees, the first few years of my son being born and growing up. And that really helped me in keeping me from being distracted as much. So I want to thank her for that. Now she's back in the workforce. Both the kids have grown up and now we're able to take care of them and manage it.

Qin En 14:59

What was the decision for her to come back into the workforce? Because I'm sure there was not just one decision or they just happened one day. It was probably quite a lengthy conversation and decision between you two. So could you give us some insight, because I think some of the parents on this call might be interested in what that looks like?

Gaurav 15:16

Yeah. It was not an easy decision. One thing I've heard and I've also heard this from lots of my friends. In fact, my sister who lives in the US, she went through a similar phase several years ago. What I hear, you want to take a break, but then once you're in the break, you want to come back. So it only lasts as long.

Yeah. So I think in my wife's case, what happened was she took the break. My son was growing and she took care of the family. But within a few years, then she started to feel that maybe she needs to be doing something. And she started getting bored. And she had the skills and she wanted to use those skills to do something.

And so that yearning started. And then she gradually started looking out and came back. 

Qin En 15:55

Got it, got it. Tell me of all the companies out there, her landing at Autodesk. How did that happen? 

Gaurav 15:59

So this was not the first company, so she's worked in other companies in Singapore before she came here. I think, as I said earlier, it was a coincidence. It just happened that way. Yeah. Autodesk is a great company and she knows that for sure because I'm here and I'm a testament to that. And so from a cultural standpoint, it was perfect for her. And I encouraged her to try when there were positions and she tried and she got an opportunity. 

Qin En 16:19

Very nice. Very nice. So maybe on that note, especially also because they are leading teams at Autodesk, could you talk to us a bit more about work-life balance and also engineering dad for yourself followed by your team?

Gaurav 16:33

Yeah, so work-life balance is actually, at least for Autodesk, it's a big priority and it is part of the culture code at Autodesk.  And I do the same for my team. So, yes, we go through a lot of stressful times. We have back-to-back releases. We need to work extra hours from time to time, but we also then encourage and give time off to our teams and employees so that they can relax and rejuvenate and come back recently, what we have done at Autodesk is also, we have moved to a hybrid model, in response to the pandemic. So earlier we used to have dedicated seats and we used to be in the office five days a week, but now we move to a hybrid model where you can decide if you want to go to work to the office or not, you don't have a dedicated desk anymore and you can just book it and you can on demand.

And then you can go to work maybe once or twice a week as works best for you. So I think these are some of the policies that a company and organization level have really helped to keep the work-life balance in mind. And also we have learned a lot through the pandemic. We may not have imagined going into this mode earlier, but I think the pandemic has taught us a lot.

Qin En 17:35

Got it. So it must be one thing you have learned from this pandemic being a leader in this hybrid work setting. 

Gaurav 17:41

Yeah. Well, one thing I've definitely learned is that it is possible to work in this environment where everybody's working remotely. Not that it is perfect. I do feel that at least as a leader, always sitting in front of a screen and talking to the screen is not the same as meeting your team members face-to-face in the office, but the pandemic has definitely taught us that it is possible.

It's not something that is unthinkable, and I feel the hybrid model is perfect. You're able to meet your team members once in a while. But at the same time, you're still working in a hybrid model where you're working remotely as well as from the office. So I think that is definitely learning for me, which I was not anticipating before the pandemic.

Qin En 18:21

And one of the things that also I've heard, I'm curious to hear whether you go to this, it's the blurring of work-life boundaries because as we speak right now, you are in front of a screen by yet at home. And it's so easy to plug yourself back down and just get back to work after dinner. What does that look like? Did you face any challenges with it and what worked for you?

Gaurav 18:37

This could be very individualistic. And so I'll tell you what works for me. For me, I have seen some people who have their child on their lap and they'll join a meeting and it's all fun, but honestly, that doesn't work for me. So, if I have my son on my lap and I'm on this call, I will not be able to participate in either of those areas. 

So what I like to do is I like to plan my day in a way that I carve out some time for work. And I carve out some time for spending with the family, or if I want to go for a run or whatever it is.  I have an allocated time for it because I can focus on that completely. And that also gives me a chance to balance work life, being at home, it's easier to do that also because, in the middle of the day, I can go for a half an hour run if I want to, which is not possible if I'm going to work. 

Qin En 19:25

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that flexibility but I think what you pointed out is very interesting, the idea of almost not multitasking and being present with whatever you are, where you work, it's work. Where if it's family it's family. So perhaps what is one other productivity hack that you like as a dad, as a tech leader, something that you use to make yourself more efficient? 

Gaurav 19:48

So I like to plan ahead in terms of, I think I mentioned that, but I like to plan my weeks and my days. So rather than having things in my mind, I have a list of things that I want to do when I start my calendar or have a list of prioritized items. And then during the day, I just execute so that I don't have to worry about, okay, what's next? Or what did I forget, or who did I need to call or, and so on and so forth.

That to me has worked really well for me. In fact, I'm also training my daughter to adopt some of that. And she likes it too. What she likes about some of these to-do checklists is the fact that when she gets it done, you can check it off and then it just disappears and it gives you a nice feeling. So she's enjoying it as well.

Qin En 20:28

Got it. Got it. And how about your son? Have you started, have you tried? 

Gaurav 20:33

Not yet. Not yet. I think he's a bit young for that, but probably when he grows, I'll probably include them in that as well. 

Qin En 20:39

Got it, got it. So if I asked you, Gaurav, over the past, let's say one year, what do you think is the biggest parenting challenge that you have had to face thus far?

Gaurav 20:49

Biggest parenting challenge, I think, there are lots of challenges that we face every day. One thing that I find challenging for sure is managing the expectations of the kids these days, especially with the advent of devices, access to online games. So there's just a lot of access, easy access to information.

And some of it may not be appropriate also for the children. So that's one of the biggest challenges that I feel we are facing. And it's kind of a balance we need to maintain because we also don't want to restrict our children because their classmates are doing it and they have access and so on and so forth.

And it's also, I feel that all these tools, the same tools are also actually pretty useful if you use them in the right way. So for example, the child could be spending an hour on YouTube watching some music video, or they could actually be watching some interesting area of interest, which might increase the knowledge.

So that's, I think one of the biggest challenges as parents, where, how do you balance that? How do you make sure your child doesn't feel that they are being restricted, but at the same time, you know, doing the right thing as a parent.

Qin En 21:55

Yes. Yes. So where has that balance been sought and found by you? It does have, let's say screen time. That sounds like a big problem. Especially tech is so prevalent around us. 

Gaurav 22:03

Yeah, that continues to be one of the challenges. One thing that we have agreed on in the house is that we have agreed on some free time, fixed free time every day for the kids. And there are some conditions that the kids need to complete. For example, their homework. They need to complete any pending assignments. And after that, a dedicated hour of free time and they need to be in bed at a certain time. So those are some of the conditions we have put, but it's flexible. It's not very strongly enforced. That works more or less. Sometimes, it doesn't, but we work around that.

Qin En 22:39

You try your best. Okay. So let's talk about when it doesn't, that's when the topic of disciplining punishment comes in, what's your approach to it as a dad? 

Gaurav 22:46

That's a tricky one as parents, we want to discipline our kids, but I always stop short of it, the way I want to do it is I want to encourage my kids to look for something positive.

So for example, if they don't follow a certain routine that was agreed on, then maybe they will not get something that they want to get. Rather than punishing them, they need to work. They need to prove that they are disciplined and then they will get that. Maybe they'll get pocket money or they'll get that one thing that they wanted to buy from the store.

So something to motivate them to work and be disciplined that has worked for us. Although, yes, we do get tempted to punish them from time to time but we try not to as much as possible. 

Qin En 23:30

It sounds like the carrot works better than the stick in these kids. Gotcha. And all of this parenting, learning how to parent, over the past 11 years, where do you get your source of knowledge from? I guess one way is of course you could figure it out. Does it come from your parents, your in-laws, advice on the internet? Where do you consume and absorb all of this knowledge? 

Gaurav

It's a combination of everything that you just mentioned. There's no one source for it. We talked to other parents, friends with all in similar age groups and we have kids of the same age.

So we talk, we get advice from our parents. I talk to my sisters, they have slightly older kids and yeah, it's a combination of all that wealth of knowledge. And then we process that knowledge and come up with a magical formula and then we apply it to them. 

Qin En 24:14

So I would like to ask, what is perhaps one thing that you heard after you try it, you maybe realize, uh, does it work so well for me?

Gaurav 24:22

One of the things that we heard and talked about was my daughter being a fussy eater.

Yes. One thing that I'd heard was don't give them anything to eat if they're not eating. So, I mean, let it be, she's not eating this, it's okay. She will feel hungry at some point. And we tried that actually, it was difficult not to give anything to our daughter to eat, but what we realized was that it wasn't working. And she, even after a day of not eating, was still not hungry.

She was not asking for food. And so we thought, no, this is not working. We scrapped it. And we went back to, you know. 

Qin En 24:56

Wow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think after one day without eating, that starts to get quite unhealthy. And so-- 

Gaurav 25:00

Exactly. 

Qin En 25:02

Gotcha. You also mentioned how you've pursued your side project, some of which, of course, turned to businesses and one you even sought off, how do you find the time to do this while balancing work and family? 

Gaurav 25:16

Yeah, it's very difficult. I like to keep myself busy. It's a lot of times. So as I said, I plan things. Even my weekends have been planned. I know it might sound a bit absurd, but I like to do it that way. Sometimes I like to keep myself completely free.

But for example, I like to go to the libraries, sit there for a few hours and work on something just for fun, because that gives me some encouragement and motivation. I am an early riser. So sometimes I work early in the morning or maybe late in the evenings. So I have this inner motivation to continue to do something or to learn something.

And I'm able to find the time. I feel like we are able to find time if we are motivated enough to find it. So, yeah, I'm able to find my time by doing that. 

Qin En 25:58

Agreed. I remember someone once said, it's not that you don't have time. It's just not your priority. Right? 

Gauruv 26:02

Exactly. 

Gauruv 26:04

So what is something that you're learning these days? What is a topic? An area that's of interest and pique of curiosity? 

Qin En 26:14

So one area that I'm spending a lot of time, on these days, I'm reading a lot of books on leadership and business. And so this is obviously even directly applicable in my current role, I'm managing teams and it applies. So I'm reading a lot on that topic.

I'm watching a lot of videos. I have some ideas that I want to translate into something concrete. I cannot disclose them in this call right now, but yeah, this is an area that fascinates me, how we can build engaged teams, how we can build a successful business by keeping the motivation of the teams at a really high level, how to lead in the right way, because we've all met bosses, some good, some bad.

So how we can be a good boss, those kinds of topics are of real interest to me currently. 

Qin En 26:56

Okay. So book or video recommendation, please? 

Gaurav 27:01

Well, I think graded work is a really good book. I like Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It's one of my favorites. I also like classics like Stephen Covey's 7 Habits.

Yeah. I also read a lot of finance books like Peter Lynch, but yeah, I think I like to read a lot, mostly the most popular best available books. Because I trust the reviews of all the other readers who read them. And I also like to gift these books to my teams from time to time. So every quarter, I gift a book, which I found really interesting.

So my teams can also learn and grow. 

Qin En 27:34

Got it, got it. So on the topic of books, let's say, in time to come, you are able to write a book for your child, what would be in that book? 

Gaurav 27:43

Well, for my children. So by the time I write it, they'll probably be grownups. I don't know. Maybe it'll be a reflection. It'll be reflections of the way I see my story.

It would probably be my story, my lifestyle. So it will be probably the cusp of moving from a non-tech or the career of the transition for a software engineer. Pre-internet to post-internet to post smartphones and what that meant for me. And I think that might be of interest to them because they haven't seen the pre-internet or the pre-smartphone era.

So that might be of interest to them. 

Qin En 28:15

Got it, got it. So go, I have to sum up our conversation for today. If there's one lesson you've learned as a parent in tech, what might that be?

Gaurav 28:23

So one lesson I've learned, I think is that it's really hard, especially for a parent in tech, to work from home. And the reason for that is that as tech parents, we are able to work from home.

So the very fact that we are able to work literally from anywhere in the world with a laptop, that kind of comes with its own cost, where it becomes difficult for us to actually compete cut off. I know some people who are in not tech environment, where they need to be in the office in order to work. And so for them, it's much easier to manage work-life balance, but for parents in tech, it can be difficult, especially because you are able to work from home.

And then you have, especially in the pandemic, you have kids and family roaming around and it's really difficult to concentrate. So I think that's one lesson that it's difficult for parents and tech. 

Qin En 29:19

Yeah. For example, if you are a chef, there's no such thing as virtual work, you have to be in the kitchen. And it's very clear when you're out of it, out of chef white, get just there, but, uh, agreed that for us, the line is so much blurred. 

Cool. Well, thanks so much for sharing about that Gaurav. This is really enjoyable speaking with you. If our audience would like to connect with you, how can they best do so?

Gaurav 29:33

Yeah, it was really enjoyable connecting with you as well. Thanks for having me. I am usually available on LinkedIn. So if anybody wants to connect with me, they can follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm also happy to meet people in person. If they have some interesting ideas in, let's say tech or business, happy to connect. 

Qin En 29:49

Sure. We'll do so. And we include your LinkedIn profile in the show notes.

Well, thanks so much for joining us Gaurav on the show today. It's a pleasure having you. 

Gaurav 29:57

Thank you Qin En.

Qin En 30:02

Thanks for listening to the Parents in Tech Podcast with me, your host, Qin En. We hope you were inspired on how to raise kids and build companies. To catch up on earlier episodes or stay updated with upcoming ones, head over to www dot parents dot fm to join our community of parents in tech. 

There, you can also drop me a question, idea, feedback or suggestion. Once again, the website it's www.parents.fm.

That's all for this episode, folks. See you next time!