I’m Ankush Garg. I studied computer science for my graduation. Growing up, I lived in a small town called Bhiwani in Haryana, India and moved around a bunch of cities before finally settling in Pune.

I joined ValueMomentum in Oct 2020 as a Senior Technical Lead, and within no time, I fell in love with the culture here since it was easy to access amazing leaders and interact with diverse teams, which resulted in an exponential learning experience.

What do you work on within the CoreLeverage team at ValueMomentum?
As a Duck Creek Practice Lead, I develop ‘Proof of Concepts’ for interesting business problems. I analyze customer requirements and challenges from both a technology and business process perspective by interacting with the customer's architects/SMEs. Occasionally, I act as a Duck Creek Architect, providing guidance on architecture decisions/problems and suggesting solution-focused directions and approaches. I also help the team to identify and adopt the best practices.

Simultaneously, I’m leading a Duck Creek project for one of our insurance customers. The primary focus of my team is to assist clients in their Modernization and Digital journeys by designing and implementing customized solutions in the Duck Creek platform for various business problems.

At ValueMomentum, we have a well-established Duck Creek COP (Community of Practice) that shares best practices, adds value to the clients, and creates knowledge to advance the Insurance domain of Duck Creek professional practice.

What does a typical day look like for a Sr. Technical Lead at ValueMomentum?
Typically, my day starts with checking my emails and responding to the ones that need my immediate attention. This is followed by morning scrum meetings in which team members share updates on their work. Together, we identify any impediments and brainstorm solutions.

Over the course of the day, I interact with the project stakeholders to discuss any outstanding issues or roadblocks, as well as the next steps and resolutions. I get to meet with Core Leverage Leaders frequently to discuss Duck Creek opportunities, including building Duck Creek practices.

What are the technologies that you are most excited about in your current project?
Currently, I am working on a few projects with latest Duck Creek Platform (DC version 7.1 and Express 3.0), to migrate legacy systems into Duck Creek for various commercial lines of business such as i.e. Worker Compensation, Commercial Property, General Liability etc.

What it takes to become a good tech lead?
A good tech lead understands the technology, understands and communicates business requirements well, is able to think outside the box, and gets excited about taking up challenges as they present opportunities to learn and grow. You will need to show others how you are doing it, be an example of a great leader and help your team members fill any skills gaps they may have.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
My biggest challenge in my job is to motivate my team to develop a value addition mindset and to grow their skills in these two areas. Since I believe in leading by example, I must add to my knowledge and experience in these fields as well to be able to motivate them effectively. To achieve this, three components must be addressed simultaneously: self-awareness of where you stand with regard to the skill, identification of the skill component that should be further developed and finding ways/steps to help achieve the growth.

What's something you've worked on at ValueMomentum that you're proud of?
My two most proud accomplishments after joining ValueMomentum are:
1. Continuously building competencies on Duck Creek technologies for various Insurance carriers that caters to the clients’ growing demands for these capabilities
2. Actively contributing in LOB initiatives - Pre-sales, Community of Practice