Prajyot Mainkar is the founder of Andocid Media, and is synonymous with Android in Goa. Prajyot was also the only Indian to speak at the Android Developer Days conference in Turkey, which had an audience of over 4000 android developers. We got an opportunity to have a quick chat with Prajyot. Here’s what he had to say:

Tell us a little about yourself:

I’m a normal man who loves to convert coffee to code and who works with the team in a startup of which I’m the director.

How did you get started with Androcid:

I have been part of the blogging ecosystem since my early days of engineering and so was passion for coding. The Android bug bit me when I wanted to build mobile apps and my startup was the result of my passion. My parents owned a business so the vision was clear. Though I was placed in an MNC already, it was a critical decision to chose the startup life instead of choosing a job. I am happy to say, I made the right decision to start up because startup teaches a lot more during the course of its built-up.

Regarding working in android, I realized that the Android team at Google Inc. has ample resources to help developers to build apps on their platform. I could sense that Android had a potential to be the next big thing and it certainly has come a long way now. While working on Android, I realized, I should also write about android for other people to read and contribute.

Androcid doesn’t just build mobile applications but also provides regular android news to the readers. Backed with a strong developer community, Androcid also organizes Goa’s largest tech fest and the only android dev conference – Nitrodroid. We soon realized the potential in other cities and we introduced Droidsync in Mumbai.

How was your experience of speaking at Android Developer Days in Turkey:

One of the best conference i have attended and spoken at. Of Course my preparation for the talk began well in advance as i knew what i was heading to. I was happy that people liked my session based on the feedback i heard post my talk. What i loved about the conference is the way the conference was organized to bring in the amazing crowd. Not just the session, but the whole atmosphere out there was about android. It was great to meet developers, audience and speakers.

You attended the Google IO in San Francisco Bay, what were your personal highlights at the conference?

If you love Google, this is one place that you must visit. The whole synergy is at its peak. This year there were couple of interesting things besides the expected announcements. My favorite was the Project Brillo – Google’s IoT initiative- which is an an operating system built on the “lower layers of Android,” and Weave to be the communications system that will let smart devices talk to each other. Google aims to help users by making their homes to “smart”t homes using the both above. I kinda liked the concept of Cardboard for Classroom. Google Cardboard is a ‘simple, fun and affordable way to experience AR,’ and with Expeditions software on board, students can explore places they can’t be physically at. The places could be History monuments, Tourist Places etc.

What does a day in the life of Prajyot consist of ?

Everyday starts with a coffee and writing few articles on androcid at home. The office is more like the android ecosystem where we eat:sleep:dream only about android. I plan my day in advance and the agenda & discussion points for the team is planned. Couple of stand up meetings between the core hours pretty much plans the tasks for the team; and understands the progress of the projects. We follow scrum methodology. During the core working hours, i prefer to spend with the team doing code reviews or helping team members in their code-proceedings in case of any blocks. During the end-hours of the working day, i check if all the commits have been made for the day in the repository before the team members leave. Post that, i prefer to give a space for my personal experiments in android. Not to forget, the whole day pretty much has 4-5 cups of coffee consumption. Like they say, developers prefer to code over coffee.

Whats coming up next?

I will be speaking at 4 more conferences this year out of which 3 of them are international conferences and 1 of them is being hosted in India. Besides the conferences, since I am also part of Goa’s Google Developer Group – The Goa Android Users Group ( GAUG), I will be speaking at monthly meetups.

Any advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs in Goa?

Two things stop you from starting up: firstly fear of failure and secondly the clarity of vision. For the first case, let me put it straight, startup is a roller-coaster ride. You will have fair share of success and failures. But what’s most important is how you and your startups evolves under each circumstances. If you fear failure, think of stories of these two people: Thomas Edison and Sindbad -the sailor. One who kept trying to realizes he knew ways NOT to make mistakes, until he found the right one and the other, who feared no one to reach his destiny.

The second is the clarity of vision. Have a clear vision of what you wish to achieve in life and don’t stop until you achieve it. Don’t give up. Be nice to people who have been supportive in your journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: androcid, Goa, interview, Prajyot Mainkar