In Dec, 2025, I completed my 15th year of work. While there have been several learnings, in this blog I would like to share an important one — do not live on autopilot; be intentional.
My career in software development has been a journey of learning. I was fortunate to have been writing code professionally since 2010, and even more fortunate to have liked what I do. One and a half decades have passed smoothly. I think it is because I have been intentional about my choices. Making a choice about which programming language I want in a project, making a choice to get better outside of work, making a choice to challenge myself in new environments all the time. Choices are what made the journey engaging and deeply fulfilling. I have gotten to learn my potential, explored various domains, and learned how to be good at what I do. I have also learned to appreciate and measure myself objectively.
Being an employee is working for someone else. While you do not have complete independence in making choices, you do have some. You can still be intentional about how you lead your professional life. You can say no to bad projects; you can fight for good ones. You can choose good people by leaving bad ones. You can quit bad environments and double down on good spirit. You can learn outside of work if the work is not teaching you enough. Spending a great life on autopilot is the biggest tragedy. You do spend eight hours a day at work — life cannot happen without intention.
When I was 23 years old, working in TCS, I had the backbone to argue with an account manager. It was about not agreeing to switch to a project I did not want. I convinced him why I was better suited for another project. Out of five people who were being transferred, I was the only one who could convince him to give me the project I wanted. How did it happen? If I did not have conviction about what I wanted, I could not have convinced anybody. If I did not have skills, then I could not have had conviction. In retrospect, for a young 23-year-old boy to have such strong conviction that he could challenge a decision made by a 45-year-old professional required an intentional life. Back in those days, there was no social media and no one to guide. It was purely driven by intention. I refused to go on autopilot. It was one of the best professional decisions I made. I ended up getting a Java project. It is a small anecdote that may not be relevant for most of you. At that age, I did not think of it as courage; it simply felt wrong to let someone else decide what I would spend my time learning. The point is to be intentional in your choices. Do not be driven; drive your life.
Over the years, I have shared similar thoughts with young professionals in different forums. I remember answering a question on Quora once about advice for young professionals (https://qr.ae/pGSjU1). Writing that answer forced me to articulate what had been practiced quietly for years — that progress often comes from conscious choices, not dramatic moves. Many of us do not lack ability; we simply move through life without enough intention.
To develop intention, strong intuition does not come easily. There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Put in the work when no one is watching. Results are not about views; they are about satisfaction. Working on oneself is the only way to live an intentional life. In today’s internet world, living with intention becomes even more important because of the abundant availability of choices. It is a habit that one must install from the beginning.
Looking back, the moments that shaped the journey were rarely the obvious ones. They were the quiet points where autopilot was switched off, and attention took over. An intentional life grows from those moments.
