Dhiraj Prajapati on Table Mountain
Dhiraj Prajapati is a Development Team Lead with Salesforce and Google Cloud experts CloudSmiths, part of the Dynamic Technologies group. As a remote worker, Dhiraj is based in Mumbai, India, and works with CloudSmiths’ South African clients.
In his role, Dhiraj helps guide the development team to achieve effective development and solution design, team compliance with relevant client standards and processes, and the required revenue targets for each project. He says, “I am motivated by the fact that I feel valued by my team, and I enjoy working with a talented group of people who are humble and kind, and who make work fun.”
Being a fully remote worker – there are a total of nine CloudSmiths employees spread across India, and there is no physical office in the country, so this is a truly remote role – brings with it both challenges and benefits. So, what made him choose CloudSmiths as an employer? He says, “I am a Salesforce developer experienced in building products and systems for an array of clientele. I wanted to join CloudSmiths because of the diversity of technology that is being leveraged by the company, as well as the quality of the clients with whom the company works.”
He explains, “For me, commuting to an office was a major pain point and a time-consuming part of my day. Being able to work remotely means getting 2 hours of my day back to spend on exercising, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.”
However, there are times when the difference in time zone between Mumbai and South Africa is challenging – South Africa is three and a half hours behind India. It has also been a challenge to stay connected with the rest of my team, as there is obviously not a lot of scope for team building given the nature of remote work. One of the things that does help is video calls with the team. There are plenty of positives though, including the team he enjoys working with so much. He says, “The varied clients we get to work with exposes me to a very different market and culture. The fast-paced work environment is something that is new to me and it is great to experience it and learn to adapt to it.”
Growing and developing within the company is high on his priority list. “I would love to be able to explore new technologies within CloudSmiths and to experience future opportunities to grow as a leader. Learning to find a balance between maintaining my skills as a developer and being a leader is something I aspire to achieve in my career here.”
It is clear that the globalisation of tech workers is opening up a lot of markets to remote workers. Despite the challenges this can bring, the overall positives make this an excellent option for employees across the globe to work with top-notch companies.
Dhiraj’s advice for anyone looking to go into remote-based work? Find a company that is the best fit for you, with top quality clients, and invest in a great work-from-home setup!