Visit Gallery to see pictures and albums of various events that have occurred in my life.
Read the (in)famous blog – Bizarre Prodigy.
I also write a lot about technology, and if you have come to my home page looking for technical stuff, then go over to my Scratch Pad.
I am a part of Javalobby on DZone as the Most Valuable Blogger. You can see all of my publications are available on JavaLobby on DZone.
Christened Kapil Ahuja at birth, I took my middle name in year 2001 (dont ask why).
I am Kapil Viren Ahuja who is a Son to Narendera and Saroj, Brother to Aparna and Manisha, Husband to Preeti and Dad to Aabhya. Of course, I do have a lots of Cousins and Uncles and Aunts, but the people who help me define myself are my closest ones.
Over the years, I have made a few friends: Rajat, Shallja, Deepika, Pankaj, Prashant, Samita and Babul. Not a whole lot, but they are the best and in have helped me in difficult times.
I am also a Technical Evangelist at heart working in IT industry for last 12 years.
I started my learning experience with Guru Harkrishan Public School, Fateh Nagar. I was with this school for 10 years of my life. after my 10th board exams, my parents felt that I need to make a switch and hence they were able to get me into Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute which was my high-school for next 2 years.
After finishing school, I struggled to think which stream I would join and I was between B.Com (Economics) and B.Sc (Statistics). My cousin Avni was already studying Statistics form Hindu College and I was able to clear that on first list (which is a big deal in Delhi University) I joined Hindu College in Delhi University.
However, God had other plans for me. And in 1996, I also joined NIIT Rjouri Garden for a computer diploma. It was a move out of trend, but in 6 months, computers was my life and I knew that I would be making a career out of it. And here I am 12 years 15 years later and still programming my blog.
Studies for me has not ended yet; after deliberating that technical certifications are no use I am currently studying for Spring Certification. Hoping my September 2011 I will be a Spring Certified Consultant.
My career had a mini kick-off when I was still in school. In 1994 I used to work part-time with my dad helping him with accounts in his business. I never got paid for it; but i loved managing accounts whatever he allowed me to do. It also allowed me to learn a great deal about accountancy which helped me in my 12 exams and also in Stock Markets.
In 1996, as I was still studying for Computers Diploma, I started as voluntary intern with NIIT. My job was to be a stand-up intern in the machine rooms (practical) helping students with their computer machine room exercises. While it was a non-paying job, it allowed me the opportunity to rehearse my skills with students as I helped them solve their problems. It also meant that I was able to try out my hands at hardware and networking too, which were not a part of the official NIIT curriculum.
After finishing up NIIT, in 1998; I joined hands with 3 friends – Rajat, Puneet and Deepak in freelance. And this endeavor carried on for a few years before I took my first position.
In July 2001, I started off my first job that would allow me to place experience on paper. On July 26, 2001 I joined eServe International. It was a sister concern of Citibank. I joined its IT division and was responsible for hardware and software. I spent 2+ years with the company and will a lot of mentoring from Pankaj I learned systems, software and most importantly people management. When I left the job on September 30 2003, little I knew that my people learning from this job would help me another year down the line.
For another year I did a lot of things and I do not like discussing this year of my life, so I am going to keep this out for now.
On October 18 2004, I joined Sapient Corporation after cracking a 7-round interview process. I am still proud of doing that and being a part of Sapient family for almost 4 years. My career spanned using the “Anything and Everything” approach. I did work on development projects and in most cases when things were new for me. I learned on the job and delivered 8 projects in my career spanning with Sapient. These projects were huge success and had a lot of impact for the company. During my tenure with Sapient in year 2006, I was also nominated for The Founders Award. However, like all good things come to an end, so did my relationship with Sapient.
On July 18, 2008, I joined UnitedHealth Care with their IT services in India as Technical Architect. In my role with Unitedhealth, I carried on the approach from Sapient and continued to work in variety of technical opportunities. I also was leading the Java Center of Excellence for the India office for a period of 1 year. Working closely with Babul, we did some great things for the JCoE. My most proud moment came when I prepared a POC using Adobe Flex technologies that integrated with UHG’s backend systems (Web services and Mainframes). This POC was presented to the Technical Leadership of the organization. It was a successful POC and we went ahead to evaluate as to how can this technology be used to replace some of the existing portals and save cost.
In 2011, I have started to pursue my technical dreams and am preparing to roll out a framework that will assist in improving the quality of Unit Testing – this is something that I have been dreaming for a almost 3 years and working on it for 2 years now. The framework is taking shape and I am confident that I will release it by the end of 2011.
I have tried many things over the years, but three things that continue to be with me are – Blogging, Tennis and Photography. These two keep coming back to me over the years. And I hope that I will be able to keep them at the core for time to come.
Blogging is one thing that is has taken a lot of emphasis for me over last few years; especially when I want to have things on the web to help me in my career or to have a legacy/timeline for my life so that my kid(s) have an opportunity to know me for who I will be. However, I have never blogged consistently – it has been an on and off affair. I want to leave it as a legacy and another things that people can remember me for. I want my daughter to know her father, his life and his thoughts as he grew old. I want her to have a part of me with her when I am not there.
