- About Me
- Ask Me About
- My Years in Books
- My Years in Training
- My Latest Blog Posts
- My Life in Cyberspace
Hi There 👋,
I am Bala, an enthusiastic explorer, a passionate programmer, and a pragmatic architect with 18+ years of IT experience in the FinTech realm. (more in 
- 📚 What I like to Read/Talk About: Favorite Topics - Software Architecture, Craftsmanship, Productivity, Science & Technology
- ✨ What I Love: problem-solving, book-reading, creating visual arts, continuous upskilling, and disseminating knowledge via tech talks & blogs (just for the love of the tech).
| Category | Tools & Technologies |
|---|---|
| Observability & Analysis: Monitoring |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  |
| Observability & Analysis: Logging |  |
| Languages |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  - |
| Frameworks |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  *,  ,  *,  - |
| Test Tools |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  |
| Data Stores & Search Engines: |  ,  ,  ,  ,  |
| Service Integration Platform: |  |
| Build and GitOps Tools |  ,  ,  ,  |
| Deployment & Runtime Ecosystem |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  |
| Other Dev Tools |  ,  ,  ,  ,  *,  |
| Dev Environments |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  *,  ,  |
| Misc. Tools |  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  |
- Software Architecture Practices & Styles
- Design Principles & Patterns
- Test-Driven Development
- Cloud Computing
- Agile Framework
- SRE Principles
- Technical Writing and Blogging
- N-Tier Architecture
- Microservice Architecture
- Event Driven Architecture
- Aspect Oriented Programming
- Object Oriented Programming
- Domain Driven Design_
- Actor Based Model_
footnote...
The above list shows the tools & technologies that I used through building enterprise applications (or hobby projects)- * => not recently used mainly because it was outdated, or my current projects didn't require them
- _ => currently learning and exploring
-blue){kind=icon}
Click here to see the list...
- Clean Architecture [⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Clean Coder [⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Designing Event-Driven Systems [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Implementing Service Level Objectives: A Practical Guide to Slis, Slos, and Error Budgets [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Incident Management for Operations [⭐⭐⭐]
- Complex Enterprise Architecture: A New Adaptive Systems Approach [⭐⭐⭐]
- The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python: Best Practices for Development [40% and the rest is reference]
- Effective awk Programming: Text Processing and Pattern Matching [60% and the rest is reference]
- Learning Shell Scripting with Zsh [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Tmux 2: Productive Mouse-Free Development [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Getting Started with Tmux [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- The Tao of tmux: and Terminal Tricks [⭐⭐⭐]
- Painless Tmux: A Sane Person's Guide to Command Line Happiness [⭐⭐]
- tmux Taster [⭐⭐]
- The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones [⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World [⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success [⭐⭐⭐]
- The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less [⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing [⭐⭐⭐]
- The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting [⭐⭐⭐]
- The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future [⭐⭐⭐⭐]
- Head First Design Patterns
- Apache Maven
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
- Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
- 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: The Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs
- Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind
- The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
- Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done
- The 4-Hour Workweek
- The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
- Norse Mythology
- Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
- The Little Blue Reasoning Book: 50 Powerful Principles for Clear and Effective Thinking
- Mid-Career Crisis: Why Some Sail through While Others Don't
- 10 Steps to Mastering Stress: A Lifestyle Approach
- Fish!: A remarkable way to boost morale and improve results
- Business Grammar, Style & Usage: A Desk Reference for Articulate & Polished Business Writing & Speaking
- What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You
- Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook
- Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel
- Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight
- Losing It! Making Weight Loss Simple
- 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck
- 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
- My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions
- The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions
- Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
- What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings--and Life
- The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
- Head First Object Oriented Analysis and Design
- Effective Programming: More Than Writing Code
- Head First Java
- iBATIS in Action
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
- Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
- How to Be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations That Dominate
- How to Lie with Statistic
- The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life
- Do the Work
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Changeree Productivity
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
- A Brief History of Time
- Cosmos
- Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
- The Selfish Gene
So far, I took around 100+ Trainings from LinkedIn-Learning, PluralSight, Harvard-Manage-Mentor, and Udemy Platforms on various IT industry and soft skill topics to keep myself updated.
Click here to see the list...
###### **_2020 to present_**- Advanced Comprehension Memory Course
- Python Object-Oriented Programming
- Learning Python
- IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition Essential Training
- Visual Studio Code for Python Developers
- Developing with Visual Studio Code
- AWK Essential Training
- Learning Bash Scripting
- Learning nano
- Learning NGINX
- Learning Apache Tomcat
- Learning SSH
- Linux: Multitasking at the Command Line
- Learning zsh
- Learning Linux Command Line
- Introduction to Linux
- Learning Ubuntu Desktop
- Learning Virtualbox
- Craft a Great GitHub Profile
- Docker and Kubernetes: The Big Picture
- DevOps Foundations: Monitoring and Observability
- Continuous Monitoring: The Big Picture
- Learning the Elastic Stack
- Elasticsearch Essential Training
- Making Quick Decisions
- Problem Solving Techniques
- Time Management Fundamentals
- Time Management Fundamentals with Microsoft Office
- Time Management: Working from Home
- Managing Your Time
- Balancing Work and Life as a Work-from-Home Parent
- SurveyMonkey Essential Training
- Learning Audacity
- Audacity: Cleaning and Repairing Audio
- Design a Compelling Presentation
- PowerPoint: Silicon Valley Presentation Secrets
- PowerPoint: From Outline to Presentation
- Designing a Presentation
- Creative Video Editing Techniques
- Learning Premiere Pro
- Managing Your Personal Investments
- Money in Excel: First Look
- Programming Foundations: Object-Oriented Design
- Programming Foundations: Design Patterns
- Programming Foundations: Test-Driven Development
- Learning S.O.L.I.D. Programming Principles
- Advanced Design Patterns: Design Principles
- Clean Code: Writing Code for Humans
- Pair Programming
- Picturing Architecture: UML (The Good Bits) and More
- Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- Kotlin Fundamentals
- Gradle Fundamentals
- Getting Started with IntelliJ CE
- Java 9 Modularity: First Look
- Learning Java 9 Modularity
- Java Platform: Working with Databases Using JDBC
- Java: Testing with JUnit
- Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Class Loading and Reflection
- Learning Cloud Computing: Core Concepts
- Centralized Logging with the Elastic Stack: Getting Started
- Getting Started with Docker
- AWS Developer: The Big Picture
- Scrum Development with Jira & JIRA Agile
- Scrum Fundamentals
- Increasing Productivity by Beating Procrastination
- Productivity Tips for the Busy Tech Professional
- Visual Communication: Creating Engaging and Effective Technical Diagrams
- Introduction to Presentation Design
- Viewing and Manipulating Data in Excel 2016
- OneNote 2016
- Effective Modeling: Let’s Start Here Medium
- Power of Emergent Behaviour in a Complex System Medium dev.to (July-21)
- Multidimensional Scalability Model for Application Medium dev.to (July-21)
- Continuous Inspection: 3 Steps to Manage Complexity dev.to (May-21)
- tmux: 13 Cool Tweaks to Make It Personal and Powerful dev.to (Apr-21)
- Productivity Booster: Command Line Happiness with tmux dev.to (Apr-21)
- Why Kotlin: A Note From a Java Developer dev.to (Apr-21)
- Reliability: Two Mistakes High Medium dev.to (Mar-21)
To get in touch with me
To view my professional journey, experience and skill sets
To view my stance and favourite quotes on programming, design, architecture, technology, and science topics
To view my tech blogs on design, architecture, and reliability topics
To view my tech blogs on dev-productivity, programming, frameworks, and dev-tools topics
To see my consolidated profile and hobby coding playground (all incubation/practice repo are kept private)
To view what I read and review (it has my curated book reading-lists too)
