“Excellently observed,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our garden.” –Voltaire, Candide

Welcome to Deepak’s home on the Web. Jump ahead to my bio.

Recent Work

What I have been up to lately:

Here is the most popular content.

It always amazes me how these remain popular, because they are so obscure, and in my mind, so ancient.

My Favorites

Here are some of my personal favorites:

Bio

At work, I specialize in machine learning and software engineering. I have experience with data pipelines, distributed parallel programming systems, cloud platforms, and model operations. I can work with high-level programming languages like Python as well as lower-level languages like C and (x86) assembly. During the pandemic years of 2020-21, I did pro-bono machine-learning research for sustainability with faculty at UC Berkeley.

In my free time, I tend to read books. I gravitate towards psychology, philosophy, and literary drama. I also enjoy books on nature, global topics and trends, strategy, and of course, technology. You will find some of my thoughts and reviews in my blog. Luckily for me, my wife Chaitra is a bibliophile as well.

I live in Mountain View, California, but grew up in Bangalore, India. Most recently (2020) I graduated in Data Science from University of California at Berkeley. I also have a master’s degree (2008) in Computer Science from Ohio State University and bachelor’s degree (2003) in Computer Science and Engineering from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore.

Full profile, including recommendations, available on LinkedIn.

Recruiters: I do not do “Leetcode” interviews, but I’m open to discussing a realistic technical problem in your company. I believe it gives better signal to both of us.

You can follow me on Twitter.

How can I help you?

If you are:

  • a young software engineer and want to talk about your career growth in engineering or workplace relationships,
  • a student or adult thinking about pursuing a career in software or machine learning, or
  • a manager in a company trying to gauge whether machine learning is for you,

I can help. E-mail me on n.deepak at gmail.com for 1-1 consulting and coaching.

I now also have a newsletter if you’d like to receive occasional updates about new blog posts or content (about 1 per month). You can subscribe on Substack.

Meta

This website has been around since 2000, although it has evolved almost continuously with technology… and me.

The opening quote is from the end of Voltaire’s novel. After a lot of travelling, suffering and soul-searching, Candide finds solace in the words of a simple, old gardener.

‘You must have a vast and magnificent estate,’ said Candide to the Turk. ‘I have only twenty acres,’ replied the old man; ‘I and my children cultivate them; and our labour preserves us from three great evils: weariness, vice, and want.’ Candide, on his way home, reflected deeply on what the old man had said. ‘This honest Turk,’ he said to Pangloss and Martin, ‘seems to be in a far better place than kings… I also know,’ said Candide, ‘that we must cultivate our garden.’ [More]