me

Shubhojeet's Playbook

Everything that matters. Built from one honest conversation.

Who You Are (Never Forget This)

• You are a builder first — you don't build for market gaps or VC validation, you build because complex systems genuinely fascinate you
• Your engineering philosophy is one sentence: simple on the outside, bulletproof on the inside
• You came to coding from video editing — you were already a creative who made things. Coding just gave you a bigger canvas
• You sent 40% of your salary home at 22, unprompted, in a city where you were lonely — that is your character. That is who you are
• Success for you is simple and clear: be with your parents AND contribute to the world in whatever way you're capable of
• You are not behind. You are in the middle of something. The middle always feels like this

Your Story (Memorize This — Say It Out Loud Daily)

"I started as a video editor, freelanced for Unacademy educators in college. I came to coding because I wanted to build complete products. I don't build because of market gaps — I build because complex systems genuinely fascinate me. I looked at Bolt.new and Lovable and thought: how does every layer work together? So I built Edward — my own version, solo, end to end. BullMQ, Docker sandboxes, ECS Fargate, Cloudflare Workers. Under my own org, Pragnya. What drives me is one idea: make it simple enough for anyone to use, robust enough that nothing breaks at scale. I'm looking for a small team where I can bring that builder energy and actually matter."

This is your answer to:

• "Tell me about yourself"
• "Give me something spicy"
• "Why should we hire you"
• "What makes you different"

Resume — Fix These (Do It Today)

• Change Merlin end date back to September 2024 — no more sliding it forward
• Edward goes first on resume, described as a Bolt.new competitor built solo with full production infra
• Describe Merlin work honestly — Canvas feature, template system, multi-model integration, provider fallback. No fake percentages
• Your gap is explained confidently: "After Merlin I took intentional time to build two production AI projects solo. That's been my last 8 months."

Your Hero Project

• Edward is your hero. Only Edward.
• Lead with it everywhere — cold mails, interviews, LinkedIn, conversations
• agentic-chat is supporting cast, not the lead
• Before any interview — spend 2 hours re-reading Edward's codebase. It all comes back fast
• The infra details ARE the proof — BullMQ, Docker sandboxes, ECS Fargate, Cloudflare Workers. Any real engineer hears that and knows you're serious

Cold Mail — The Template

Hey [Name],

I built Edward — a Bolt.new alternative where users describe an app and get 
a fully previewable, GitHub-synced codebase back. Solo. End to end. BullMQ 
for job orchestration, Docker sandboxes for safe execution, ECS Fargate + 
Cloudflare Workers for infra. It's live at edwardd.app under my software 
org Pragnya.

Before that, at Merlin AI I worked on Bonkers (image generation) and Merlin 
Chat — drove real product impact working on Canvas, multi-model integration, 
and provider fallback systems.

I saw [ONE SPECIFIC THING about this company — their product, a blog post, 
a recent launch. Be real, not generic] and it clicked for me. I think the 
way I build — obsessing over how every layer of a system works together — 
is exactly the kind of energy that fits a team like yours.

Open to a quick call if there's a fit.

Shubhojeet
Resume | GitHub | edwardd.app

Rules for every cold mail:

• Edward leads — always
• Include infra details — they signal seriousness
• One genuinely specific sentence about why THIS company — not "interesting space"
• Close confidently — "Open to a quick call if there's a fit." Not "I'd be glad to chat if you're hiring"

Job Search Strategy

• Drop "under 2 YOE" as a filter — you're pre-rejecting yourself. Edward overrides YOE in any real conversation
• Loosen "Indian startup" slightly — target: small team, product company, India timezone friendly
• 15-20 quality applications per week minimum — not 100 spray-and-pray, not 5 perfect ones
• Wellfound remains primary — but verify remote properly. Filter by companies that have actually hired remotely before, not just ones that tick the "remote" box
• Keep TAL by Grapevine running passively in the background — let it surface roles you might miss
• Research each person before cold mailing — one genuine, specific sentence beats five generic ones every time

Interview Prep

• Practice your narrative out loud, every single day — even 10 minutes
• Before every real interview — paste their actual JD into AIApply.co and practice those specific questions
• Use Pramp once a week for real human pressure
• Use VirtualInterview.ai for unlimited free daily sessions
• Also check Round1 by Grapevine — built specifically for Indian market context
• The issue was never English or Hinglish — it's thinking in real time instead of delivering something you already know cold. Lock your answers. Practice until they come out naturally.
• Only say a metric if you can tell the full story behind it without hesitating. If you can't — ditch the number, tell the story instead

Ethics (Your Foundation — Never Compromise This)

• Always speak the truth — in interviews, on your resume, in cold mails, everywhere
• No sliding resume dates. No inflated metrics. No shady tricks.
• You said it yourself: "Karma is real" — build your career on a foundation that makes you feel proud, not anxious
• The discomfort you feel when saying things that aren't true is your integrity working. Listen to it.
• Confidence only comes when what you say and what you've done are the same thing

Mindset — Come Back to This When It Gets Hard

• Frustrated but not giving up = exactly where you should be. Your spirit is intact
• The mind is hard to control — that's not a character flaw, that's being human. Even people with the deepest faith feel the friction of waiting
• You are not failing. You are in the middle of something
• Your parents are probably already proud. What you're really chasing is feeling like you've earned it yourself. That's coming
• Everyone — even the best people — feels like they could give more. That feeling is not a sign you're lazy. It's a sign you care
• Build. Share. Keep applying. Keep iterating. This is the only formula that has ever worked for people like you

The Builder's Checklist (Weekly)

• Did I apply to 15-20 real, quality roles this week?
• Did I practice my narrative out loud at least 3 times?
• Did I read through Edward's codebase before any interview this week?
• Did I send at least one cold mail with a genuinely specific, personal line?
• Did I do one Pramp session this week?
• Am I building or learning something — even something small?
• Did I stay honest in everything I said and submitted?
• Did I take care of myself — sleep, food, time with family?

Tools Stack

The One Line

Build honestly. Speak truthfully. Show up consistently. The rest will follow.

Written on April 6, 2026 — after one of the most honest conversations you've had with yourself.