Hi, My name is
Akshay Kumar
I build things for the Internet!
I'm a Bengaluru based Software engineer.
01.About Me
Hello! My name is Akshay and I enjoy creating things that live on the internet. My interest in software engineering started back in college when I picked up programming to solve a problem — turns out hacking things together taught me a lot about HTML & CSS!
Fast-forward to today, and I've had the privilege of working at startups and larger organizations. My main focus these days is building reliable, high-performance distributed systems.
Here are a few technologies I've been working with recently:
Go
Rust
TypeScript
Python
Kubernetes
Distributed Systems
PostgreSQL
Redis
gRPC
AWS
AK
02.Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer@ Acme Corp
2022 – Present
GoKubernetesKafkaPostgreSQLRedisgRPC
- Designed multi-region replication protocol from scratch using Raft consensus
- Led migration from monolith to services, cutting deployment time by 60%
- Mentored 3 junior engineers; established code review culture
03.Projects
04.Achievements
05.Shelf
Posts I've written, papers I've read, and books on my desk.
Blogs
Papers
Diego Ongaro et al. · USENIX ATC 2014
In Search of an Understandable Consensus Algorithm (Extended Version)
Raft's key insight: decompose consensus into leader election, log replication, and safety. The 'understandability' goal shaped its design in important ways. The membership change protocol (joint consensus) is the hardest part.
distributed-systemsconsensusraft
James C. Corbett et al. · OSDI 2012
Spanner: Google's Globally Distributed Database
TrueTime API is the key innovation — bounded clock uncertainty enables externally consistent transactions without a central coordinator. The 2PL + 2PC combination for cross-shard transactions is worth studying carefully.
distributed-systemsdatabasestransactions
Giuseppe DeCandia et al. · SOSP 2007
Dynamo: Amazon's Highly Available Key-value Store
Consistent hashing with virtual nodes is elegant. The 'always writeable' design choice forces conflict resolution onto reads via vector clocks. Sloppy quorum is a pragmatic tradeoff between availability and consistency.
distributed-systemsavailabilityeventual-consistency
Books
Martin Kleppmann
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
The definitive book on building reliable, scalable, and maintainable systems. Kleppmann explains complex concepts like replication, partitioning, and consensus with exceptional clarity. Required reading for any backend engineer.
distributed-systemsdatabasesengineering
David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
The Pragmatic Programmer
Timeless advice on the craft of software development. The section on orthogonality and DRY principle alone is worth the read. I return to it every year.
software-engineeringcareercraftsmanship
John Ousterhout
A Philosophy of Software Design
A fresh take on software complexity. The 'deep modules' concept changed how I think about abstraction. Disagree with some of the comments about unit testing, but overall excellent.
software-designcomplexityengineering
06.Journal
Now.
Himachal Pradesh · 2026
Spiti Valley
High-altitude desert, monasteries, and roads that feel like they were drawn by a cartographer who hated straight lines.
mountainsroad-triphimalaya
Now.
Himachal Pradesh · 2026
Spiti Valley
High-altitude desert, monasteries, and roads that feel like they were drawn by a cartographer who hated straight lines.
mountainsroad-triphimalaya
Karnataka · 2025
Hampi
Boulders, ruins, and sunrise from Matanga Hill. A weekend that stretched into a week.
ruinshistorysouth
Karnataka · 2024
Coorg
Coffee estates, mist, and the quiet of a monsoon afternoon.
monsooncoffeehills
Uttar Pradesh · 2024
Varanasi
Ghats at dawn, a city that has been rehearsing the same morning for a few thousand years.
gangesold-city
Gujarat · 2023
Rann of Kutch
White salt flats under a full moon. The horizon is a suggestion.
desertsaltnight
07.Get in Touch
I'm currently looking for any new opportunities. My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I'll try my best to get back to you!