First Flight, First Sprint: A Week of Code, Cricket, and Chaotic Uno at Tech4Dev
My journey started on March 16th, 2026, when I joined Project Tech4Dev and became a part of the Kaapi team. Akhilesh, Shamoon, Himanshu, and Amisha are all from my college, just from different batches. Akhilesh, Shamoon, and I already know each other in person because we have worked together for 3 to 4 years before this, so it felt good to join the same team.
After joining, the organization planned a team sprint in Bangalore. We stayed at a resort located at Hosur – Malur Rd (NH 207), near Nisarga Vision City, Seethanaikanahalli, Malur, Karnataka. This was my first time taking a flight from Uttarakhand and visiting Bangalore, so my excitement was at its peak.
Meeting the Team in Person
On the first night after we landed, I met Siddhant, Ishan, Himanshu, and Akhilesh. We spent time talking, getting to know each other better, and honestly just enjoying the moment with lots of jokes and fun conversations. It made the first day feel very comfortable.
The next morning during breakfast, I met the rest of the Tech4Dev team. Every day during the sprint, I got a chance to meet someone new, hear about their work, and learn from their experiences. It never felt like I was meeting people for the first time because everyone was very welcoming.
I also had good discussions with Prashant, Nishika, and Prajna about the product and the work we were doing. I got to understand the features they were handling, and I also shared the infrastructure-related work I was working on. They are very friendly, supportive, and always ready to help whenever needed. Along with work, we also had a lot of fun together.
I finally met Kartikeya from the Kaapi team as well. He is very professional, but at the same time very easy to talk to. He shared some of his past experiences, and we also discussed the tasks we needed to complete during the week.
Hitting the Ground Running: The Tech Journey
Before talking about the Bangalore sprint, I want to mention the work side as well because a lot happened during this time and I genuinely feel good about it.
While working on Kaapi, I got exposure across different areas of the product.
- Frontend Magic: I worked a lot on authentication and onboarding flows, including user invitations and improving the guardrails flow. I also spent time fixing and improving the Evaluations UI, especially around OpenAI model configurations. Along with that, I worked on refactoring parts of the codebase, like route restructuring and centralizing API handling, so things stay cleaner and easier to manage.
- Backend Hustle: On the backend, I worked on Google authentication flow, provider integrations, and credential management for different Org and Project levels. I also handled a few important Docker-related fixes.
By the time the Bangalore sprint started, my focus shifted more towards DevOps. During the sprint, I worked on setting up the VPC for Kaapi and moving our instances into the new setup. I already had some understanding of it, but I still spent time learning more deeply, checking different approaches, and making sure the implementation was done properly. It was a good learning experience because it gave me more confidence in handling infrastructure-related work.
Bridging Tech and Design: The UI/UX Deep Dive
One of the best parts of the week was the UI/UX discussion with Noopur. We spent around two hours talking about how Kaapi can feel better from a user perspective.
Right now, some parts of the platform feel too technical, and the goal is to make the experience smoother and easier for users. We discussed important features like Evaluations, AI Assessment, Guardrails, and Theming, and got very useful feedback on all of them.
We also talked about the Kaapi logo and the idea of redefining it. Since the logo connects closely with the product identity, changing it would also influence the overall platform theme and feel.
That session was very helpful because it made me think less like a developer and more like a user, which is something that really matters while building products.
The Tech4Dev Premier League
Of course, the sprint was not only about VPCs, deployments, and pull requests. Every evening, once work was done, laptops were closed and we all headed to the ground for cricket. It honestly felt like our own Tech4Dev Premier League.
The matches were full of energy and completely unpredictable. Every game kept changing till the very last over, and you could never guess who was going to win. Watching Ishan and Himanshu batting while Akhilesh came in bowling made every match exciting.
The final match on Friday was something else. It was the most intense game of the week. We needed 6 runs from the last 2 balls to win. Ishan was on strike. He played the ball and took a single because he thought we still had two overs left instead of two balls. We ended up losing the final because of that one misunderstanding.
At that moment, everyone was shocked, but after that, we could not stop laughing. Honestly, that moment became funnier than winning would have been, and it is probably the one thing everyone will remember from that match.
Friday Fun: Archery, Paintball, and Uno Warfare
Friday was planned more for fun and team activities. We started with archery and then moved to paintball. Playing paintball with the team was honestly one of the most fun experiences of the trip. Everyone became super competitive, and for some time it felt like work stress did not exist at all.
But the real competition started at night with Uno.
Our Uno group included Radhika, Akhilesh, Himanshu, Shijit, Priyanshu, Fawaas, Amisha, Vignesh, and me. The rules we played with were honestly unbelievable. Even the smallest mistake could get you a 2-card or 4-card penalty.
Priyanshu somehow became the main target every single time. Akhilesh, Himanshu, and I had our own silent teamwork just to keep attacking him with +4 cards, while Vignesh kept trying to save him. And then there was the Flip card, which completely changed the game every time it appeared. Every round felt like it would never end because something unexpected always happened.
“Horrr” and the Garhwali Virus
Before the trip ended, Kartikeya got introduced to our Garhwali style of speaking, and that became another fun memory.
We were explaining how we naturally use filler words in almost every sentence without even realizing it. Himanshu has his famous “bhnkrrr,” Akhilesh always says “hein ki…,” and mine is “or ko horrr.” We use them so often that normal sentences feel incomplete without them.
The funniest part was that by the next day, Kartikeya had started noticing it and would catch us every time we used them. It became a running joke, and we called it the Garhwali virus because once you notice it, you cannot ignore it.
Wrapping Up
Looking back at the whole week, I feel genuinely grateful for the experience.
From taking my first flight, to solving technical challenges, setting up infrastructure, discussing product improvements, playing cricket every evening, and laughing over Uno at night, everything made this sprint memorable.
It was not just about work. It was about learning, bonding with people, sharing experiences, and creating memories that will stay for a long time.
I know I still haven’t included everything here, like the AI in SDLC session, the Friday night party, and a lot of other small moments that made the sprint even more memorable. There were so many fun conversations, random jokes, and little experiences throughout the week that are hard to put fully into words.
Honestly, this sprint was much more than just work updates and meetings. It was a mix of learning, fun, teamwork, and a lot of unforgettable memories. Some moments are better experienced than written, and this week definitely felt like that.
This was my first sprint, and honestly, it went by so smoothly that it is hard to believe it is already over. If this is what the journey at Tech4Dev looks like, I am really looking forward to the next one.
