Mohnish Jadwani

Joyful greetings for the day! :) My name is Mohnish and it's nice to have you here :)

I'd like to start with sharing a story of how I met my first tech industry mentor:

When I had gone to a tech conference in Bangalore, India, that's where I met my first industry specific mentor in a more casual setting of life. After that event, he wasn't actually my mentor officially, nor was I his mentee but over a period of staying in touch, he did become my mentor even though I don't remember officially asking him the question - "Will you be my mentor?". This person shaped my thinking and perspectives for the better in tech and also played an important role in making me a better person overall.

Why do I care about mentorship?

At different times in my own career, I've found myself in situations with not enough clarity to decide what's the right thing to do as a next step. What I've come to realise is that mentorship has given me a perspective to consider things that I may have not factored in or sometimes it has been helpful to me to even validate my own thinking process at different occasions in my life & that in it's own ways has been very helpful to me and is something I'm truly grateful for 🙏.

I find true joy and happiness in enabling people to be a better version of themselves 🙂 I'm very grateful to have had my first mentor and many other mentors in my life and through this platform I intend to do the very little I can to pay it forward by sharing a perspective for your consideration and I'd be really glad if that is useful to you and/or your growth in one's life journey 🙂

Recent highlights

— Gave a talk at FirstFriday Co-op Networking on "A Systematic Approach to Job Search" that was publicly praised by attendees for its practical, framework-based approach. One attendee noted: "People need something practical and grounded right now, not more generic advice."

— Contributing code and product feedback to GitLab (one of the world's largest open-source platforms), with contributions accepted and acted upon by the core team:

• Code: Identified and fixed an N+1 query performance issue using structured root cause analysis that leverages GraphQL Batch loading(https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/228803)

• Product feedback: Tested GitLab's experimental AI/MCP feature end-to-end, identified hidden user friction, and suggested improvements that the team created a follow-up issue to address (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/593219)

What's my professional experience been like?

I've been a hands-on software developer for 12+ years, working across international teams in India, Singapore, the UK, and Germany. I started as a junior programmer and have grown into roles spanning senior backend engineering, lead development — wearing different hats as the situation demanded.

What makes my experience distinctive is the combination of technical depth and people skills in one person.

On the technical side, I actively contribute to Ruby and Elixir language, Rails framework and other open-source projects including Codebar, GitLab etc., bringing both code contributions (identifying and fixing performance issues using structured root cause analysis) and product-minded feedback that improves the user experience. I have 12+ years of backend programming experience, 10+ years with Ruby on Rails, and have delivered work including Rails Engine architecture, PSD2 SCA-compliant payment systems under tight timelines, and 32% performance optimization on revenue-impacting pages.

On the people side, I've led teams and projects, built cultures of trust and psychological safety, navigated conflict, facilitated feedback conversations, managed incidents tied to delivery, and directly coached colleagues through challenging growth moments — including mentoring a woman through community workshops to help her land her first tech job.

In addition to drawing on first principles thinking, systems thinking, and other ways of thinking, I draw on Toyota-inspired quality frameworks — A3 thinking, PDCA/SDCA(Standardize, do, check, act) cycles, quality circles — adapted for software teams. I believe the strongest engineering cultures emerge when people develop ownership of quality themselves, through structured thinking, continuous learning, and an open feedback culture. The best results come when people are intrinsically motivated to work towards the company's mission and vision.

What I'm currently focused on

I work as a freelance software developer and consultant, with a growing focus on helping engineering teams build quality culture through coaching, structured problem-solving, and a combination of systems thinking and other thinking forms that might be applicable situationally. I'm particularly interested in how Toyota Production System principles — originally developed for manufacturing — can transform how software teams approach continuous improvement thinking.

I also continue to contribute to open-source projects and tech communities as a coach and facilitator — including Rails Girls Bangalore, Code Curious, Open Tech School and Codebar in Berlin, Codebar in the UK, and as a mentor on Exercism.io's Ruby track.

My approach to mentorship

"Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't" - Bill Nye. As much as I may be able to share my two cents, I'm sure there's something or the other that I will get to learn from the other person. I value asking the right questions and having open ended discussions instead of telling what one may have to do. I believe in the power of hope and in enabling people to think for themselves and own their decisions through the two cents of inputs I may be able to bring up for their consideration.

Last but not the least :)

If I can be of use in any way, even if it doesn't cover one of the mentoring topics mentioned below, please feel free to ask 😊

I've come to realise there are certain things in my life that I cannot see/come to know for myself, as much as I may attempt to try. Those are the things that have been truly eye opening for me in many ways in my life and I've come to only realise them through the means of one's valuable feedback to me and that way I request and invite you to catch me and be honest with me:

1. If something that I said or did (or didn't say/do) that contributes less to your well being.

2. Similarly, I invite you to catch me when through the role I attempt to play through this platform contributes to your well being.

I intend to have open ended conversations in the service of mutual learning and in an attempt to both of us trying to be a better version of ourselves through each session that connects us.