EOS Nation Ambassador – Vijayta Bhatt

Starting off as a software engineer to now, a brand ambassador, today’s interviewee is a perfect example of “how to leverage your potential”. Yet another Winjitian has made us proud with her astonishing work. Vijayta Bhatt, the newly appointed EOS ambassador, has been in the industry for 8 years. Confidently moving from one technology to another, Vijayta has successfully carried out the roles of a Subject Matter Expert, a Team Lead and now an Ambassador. Proficient in various core and emerging technologies, Vijayta has given us a thing to boast about. We had a quick interview with the Ambassador herself, to get a glimpse of her journey and everything else in between.

What is blockchain and EOS in layman terms?

The blockchain is a database just like any other database which we use to store data. The only difference is that it is a distributed one. EOS is a platform that provides an ecosystem to build and deploy blockchain projects. The differentiating factor for EOS is that there is no transaction fee in EOS and it is way faster than its competitor platforms.

Why blockchain? How did you get into the blockchain technology?

It wasn’t a planned move at all. While working in Android technology, I once got a call from Vignesh,(Global Vice President at Winjit) that he required some help from me on a project. After finishing his task, I casually asked him if he had something that I should look into. That’s when he told me to have a look at blockchain. I spent a few days on blockchain, and I used to get my queries resolved from Vignesh. After some time, Vignesh started taking regular follow-ups regarding my learnings and research and that’s how I got into this.

What is the best thing while implementing any blockchain project?

Earlier, I used to code, knowing that there will be testing done after which I’ll have to fix a few things, but in blockchain if you don’t get things right initially, you’ll have to pay for it. You need to get things right in the first version itself. Blockchain projects don’t give you a chance to fix bugs. You have to think of all the scenarios beforehand, you cannot make mistakes, rectify them and then redeploy the project. Even if you want to give a provision for bug fixing, you have to provide it in the first build itself.

Why EOS? What is the difference before and after EOS on a very basic level?

There was a time when we were facing heavy congestion, transactions were taking days to settle and we were worried about how will we convince the client to go for such a platform which urged the network owners to keep cryptocurrencies always available and updated. We got a client requirement for EOS and I was going through EOS, two things that immediately caught my attention were that EOS did not charge any transaction fees and it was way faster than its competitor blockchain companies.

How are you planning to encourage EOS in Winjit?

I think each blockchain platform has a unique feature. Choosing a platform, generally depends on the requirements. We try and find the best match for the project. I’ll not suggest EOS blindly, but I will surely encourage EOS wherever I feel it is best suited.

How did you get into this? How was the process that took you to the ambassador position?

I saw the ambassador application form and the current ambassadors while scrolling through the EOS website and I discussed the same with Vignesh. He encouraged me to fill the form(which I was reluctant about) and I filled it after a few days(after a lot of reminders from Vignesh).

They replied with the schedule of the interview process. As per their rules, they do a background check which I cleared and then the next round was scheduled. I was updating Vignesh after each round and he was very supportive. In one of the rounds, they asked me to answer a few questions and share it with them. One after the other, I was clearing the rounds.

The last round was a video call with Stephane Bisson which went really well and I was very happy when he appreciated me for my technical knowledge. He told me to conduct a few meet-ups to become an ambassador. So, I organized a meet-up at Winjit’s Mumbai office and the response was overwhelming. The feedback was collected from the attendees and ultimately I was on-boarded as the ambassador.

What factors do you think make India capable of being a leader in blockchain?

It depends on the individual rather than a country as a whole. Here in India, however much intelligent we be, we always think that there is someone better than us and there is someone doing something way ahead of us. This perception was same when I was doing Android and even now when I am working in the blockchain technology. But, the fact is, there is very few information and expertise available globally.

In this era, it doesn’t work when you just say that you are an expert at something, you need to have had your expertise proven or helped someone through blogs, answers, videos etc. Now that I have the ambassador title, it adds value when we speak to our clients about blockchain.

Each individual is good at something or the other, but we keep it limited to a few people. I feel we should start looking at forums and social mediums where we can contribute with our expertise. It will take some time initially but will become a routine soon.

What events do you consider as the milestones in your career?

I have been very fortunate here as I got the opportunity to change technology after every few years. The two milestones in my life were when I shifted to mobility and when I shifted to blockchain. Coincidentally, when I shifted to these technologies, they were just emerging. We started with how to design things on the mobile screens, keeping the number of screens between the limit, the RAM capacity of 512MB was very less, the app size also had its own limitations.

In blockchain, it was different as you have to query each time whenever you have to view some information from the database. The retrieved information will be unstructured as compared to other databases.

Also, the idea of coding without any bug was very new to me.

How have things changed? Organization level, National level and personal level?

In my family, only my husband knows and understands my work. At the National level, I would say that it has given me a huge exposure. As an ambassador, it’s my responsibility to stay updated as I will be looked up to for query resolutions, advice etc. I am now contributing more on platforms like Telegram, LinkedIn etc. The title itself brings in value as well as a lot of responsibilities. After meeting people from different places, I feel we have a lot of talent but we lack in advertising our expertise.

Any message that you want to give to the readers?

I would want to request everyone to start contributing to sites like LinkedIn, stack overflow etc. as per their expertise and to learn to brand themselves in an efficient way.

 

Hope Vijayta’s story must have inspired you. Here’s a big thank you to Vijayta for giving us her valuable time. We look forward to a lot more learnings and achievements from you.

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