Saurav is twenty-six and lives in Delhi. For five years he's worked fully remote for companies in Israel and the Czech Republic, and he gets flown out to developer conferences across three continents.

The part that stopped me cold: he's never once clicked "apply" on a job portal. Not once.

So how does a kid from a government school in Delhi end up speaking on stages in Nigeria, Prague, and San Francisco? That's the whole episode.

The job is DevRel — developer relations, or developer advocate if you want the fancier title. Most Indian devs have never heard of it. Meanwhile companies across Europe and the US are scrambling to fill these roles, and plenty of them pay in USD. (Yes, from India. Yes, fully remote.)

Saurav walked me through his actual playbook. How he built public proof through his content and community work until hiring managers came chasing him instead of the other way around. How he got companies to invent a role for him when they weren't even hiring.

We also got into the stuff nobody warns you about. The DevRel interview has a coding round most people don't see coming, and Saurav explains how to walk in ready. He breaks down what this remote tech job looks like on a normal Tuesday, not the conference-stage highlight reel.

Then there's the AI question. Everyone assumes AI is coming for these jobs. Saurav makes the opposite case — demand for good developer advocates is climbing, and he explains why.

If you're an Indian developer staring at LeetCode and wondering whether there's another door in, this one's for you. Saurav started exactly where you are. He learned Python, did the work in public, and built a remote career that pays globally without a single resume submission.

Worth your forty minutes? I think so. 🎧

If real career paths with no fluff are your thing, subscribe and stick around. New episodes every week.

Saurav's links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sauain/Apify: https://apify.com

Podcast Website: readysetdopodcast.com

Timestamps:00:00 The Rise of Remote Work and Developer Advocacy03:09 Building Developer Content at Apify06:09 Saurav's Path From Software Developer to DevRel09:39 Learning Python and Breaking Into Tech13:09 Landing Remote Roles Without Applying17:09 Getting Hired Through Public Work21:09 Making Companies Create Opportunities for You25:09 What DevRel Actually Involves Day to Day29:09 DevRel Interviews, Coding Rounds, and Community Proof33:09 Remote Work, Travel, and Getting Paid Globally37:09 How AI Is Changing DevRel41:09 Advice for Indian Developers Starting Out

Shriya left India for Germany to do a master's in Human-Computer Interaction. Her tuition bill came to zero.

(Read that again. Zero — not "discounted," actually free.)

If you've been stress-googling "masters abroad" at 2am, stuck in the loop most Indian students hit after a B.Tech, this is the conversation you needed. US debt, Canada's wait times, or the rumor that Germany is some kind of cheat code — we sort out which parts hold up.

She walks through why Germany won out over the US and Canada, and how the German public university system actually works. A free masters in Germany isn't a trick. Public universities charge no tuition to international students, full stop.

The real masters in Germany cost is rent, a blocked account for your German student visa, and the slow work of building a life in a town where you might not know a soul.

Shriya also explains what HCI even is. Most people file human computer interaction masters work under UX and move on, but the field is wider — AR, VR, data visualization, research roles that don't sit neatly on a job board. For one project she turned survey data into comics (yes, comics).

Then there's the part nobody markets to you. The German language requirement quietly decides who gets hired after graduation, no matter how sharp your portfolio is. We get into that honestly, plus how she funded independent research as a student and what an HCI degree opens up beyond a standard UX role.

And the human stuff: safety, the loneliness of a small German town, and learning to read a culture that says what it means and little more.

So if you're weighing Germany vs USA masters, sizing up the best country for a master's as an Indian student, or just want a straight answer on a UX masters in Germany before you sign away two years — start here.

Timestamps:

00:00 Shreya's Journey from CS to HCI

04:04 Understanding HCI and Its Curriculum

07:04 Why Germany Made Sense for Grad School

10:49 How HCI Programs Are Structured in Germany

12:57 AR, VR, and Visualization Projects in HCI

16:49 Comicification: Turning Surveys Into Comics

23:41 Career Opportunities After an HCI Degree

27:19 Grants, Research Funding, and Student Opportunities

31:49 German Language Requirements for Jobs

36:34 Navigating Safety, Loneliness, and Social Life in Germany

42:34 German Culture, Communication, and Stereotypes

50:49 Final Reflections and Advice for HCI Students

Find ShriyaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shriy-singh/

Ready Set Do podcast: www.readysetdopodcast.com

Six thousand followers. That's the number that should not work.

Most people would look at Alisha Gupta's Instagram and assume she's stuck. Too small for brand deals. Too niche to get booked. The kind of account you scroll past on your way to someone with a verified checkmark.

She's spoken at Harvard. She books out university stages across the country. Brands pay her to post. And she did all of it while holding down a full-time job in AI.

So how does someone get paid as a creator without a big audience and without ever going viral? That's the whole episode.

Alisha built Beauty and Balance from a single Instagram page into something companies want their name attached to. In this conversation she breaks down why engagement beats follower count every single time, and how brands actually pick who they work with (hint: it's not the number you think).

We get into the post that opened the door to Harvard, and the exact system she used to turn one yes into fifteen more stages. If you've ever wondered how to get sponsorships with a small following or how to get booked to speak, she lays out the mechanics plainly.

Then she flips the script. She runs her Power of And exercise live on me, the same one she teaches at universities, so you can map your own strengths against your passions and actually figure out your next move tonight. (Yes, I'm the guinea pig. It's a little uncomfortable. That's kind of the point.)

If you're a student, a recent grad, or anyone trying to build a real personal brand on the side without quitting your day job, start here. 🎯

Chapters:

00:00:00 Alisha Gupta's 6K-follower playbook

00:03:10 Why your niche has to be obvious fast

00:08:40 The origin of Beauty and Balance

00:12:30 Starting small and listening to the community

00:15:40 First events and proving demand

00:20:00 Fear, cringe, and being judged online

00:25:10 Turning criticism into creative momentum

00:30:05 How Harvard found her

00:34:55 Designing talks for the actual room

00:38:40 What to do when you fall off

00:44:45 Create like the room is full

00:50:00 Turning one yes into many more

00:52:20 The Beauty and Balance curriculum

00:55:00 Naman becomes the live example

01:00:05 Mapping passions and what grounds you

01:05:00 Connecting strengths, passions, and creativity

01:10:05 Self-understanding as the real win

01:13:10 Final advice: give yourself room to explore

01:15:00 Where to find Alisha and Beauty and Balance

Find Alisha: https://www.instagram.com/alisha_g9/

More from Ready Set Do: readysetdopodcast.com