In May 2025, we interviewed our volunteer Naman Pujari.
Naman is a software engineer at Bloomberg in New York City. In his role, he deals with distributed systems, search engines, and scalability issues on a daily basis. He previously worked for and won global achievement awards at Bank of America, where he was part of a team responsible for delivering intraday risk and P&L metrics at scale to fixed-income trading desks. is a software engineer at Bloomberg in New York City. In his role, he deals with distributed systems, search engines, and scalability issues on a daily basis. He previously worked for and won global achievement awards at Bank of America, where he was part of a team responsible for delivering intraday risk and P&L metrics at scale to fixed-income trading desks.
Having grown up in five different countries, Pujari's biggest passions include trying different cuisines and traveling the world. He is also a fitness enthusiast and takes part in endurance events all over the city. He recently completed a triathlon in Long Island and took part in the TD Five Borough Bike Tour!
Enjoy the interview!
How did you learn about Pursuit and in what ways do you volunteer with us? What inspired you to start volunteering with us?
Naman: I learned about Pursuit at Queens Tech Night last November, where I came across their booth. I had a brief chat with Alexis about how Pursuit is actively looking for volunteers to conduct mock interviews and discussed the possibility of structuring a course of my own. Things progressed rapidly, and before I knew it, I had started a weekly on-premises technical interview workshop. This workshop emphasizes something I often find lacking in those trying to break into the tech scene: communication. Academic institutions around the world are highly capable when it comes to teaching students the fundamentals of computer programming, but they often fall short in providing the exposure needed to become confident and effective communicators. Unfortunately, the impacts of this gap are felt most by students from less-privileged backgrounds and by individuals looking to switch careers. These aspiring computer scientists—often overwhelmed by responsibilities outside of academics—are rarely able to take advantage of opportunities that promote strong technical communication, such as networking events, hackathons, and technology summits in different states or even countries. My workshop aims to level the playing field.
I provide Pursuit fellows with tailored guidance on how to break down some of today's most commonly asked technical questions, all while maintaining a strong stream of communication. I'm confident that in time, and with enough repetition, fellows will be better equipped to perform in technical interviews—a genuinely nerve-wracking setting that demands polished communication.
What's been a highlight of your volunteering experience with us so far? What keeps you motivated?
Naman: This might sound a little cliché, but every time I hear someone say, "Wow, I never knew that," or "That was so eye-opening," it reminds me exactly why I show up each week. But it's more than just the words—they bring a level of energy and curiosity that's hard not to feed off of. Whether it's the excitement in their voice, the way their eyes light up when something clicks, or even the deep focus on their faces when they're really trying to absorb something new—those moments are incredibly rewarding. I really value feedback, and the fellows give it in all kinds of ways, both direct and indirect. Just seeing that my efforts are helping someone grow—that's what keeps me coming back.
What's been your journey to becoming a Software Engineer?
Naman: My journey is in many ways traditional—college and internships—but it had its fair share of ups and downs. One of the hardest parts was figuring out what I actually wanted to do. So I tried to branch out and explore different areas. In the summer of 2017, I worked with a professor on neural networks—we were trying to build a model to predict stock prices. This was back when Al wasn't nearly as hyped as it is today. The next summer, I interned at a tech startup in New York as a full stack developer, mainly working with React. And then in 2019, I joined Bank of America for a corporate internship, which led to a full-time offer the following year. But beyond the resume, what I really remember are the little moments. Like coming home from a full day of classes—plus an hour and a half commute—grabbing a wrinkled button-down off the floor, and ironing it without a board because I had a recruiting event the next day. It was exhausting, but honestly, there was a kind of thrill in it. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Are you working on any personal projects you'd like to share about?
Naman: There are a couple of things I'm really focused on this year. One is learning guitar—I've always wanted to pick it up, and my goal is to be able to play a few full songs by the end of the year. I'm also getting back into training for a triathlon. I've done one before, and I want to commit the time in the gym and outside to compete again this year. Outside of that, I've been teaching at a really cool nonprofit based in Long Island City. They're doing amazing work, and I heard they might spotlight me soon...
What tech trends are you following now? What are you excited about?
Naman: It's been really interesting watching the rise of Al lately. It feels like almost every month, there's a breakthrough that pushes tools like ChatGPT or Gemini closer to replacing tasks that used to require significant human effort. But what excites me even more is the idea that, within our lifetime, we may hit an inflection point—where society has to collectively decide just how much we want Al integrated into our daily lives. What kind of conversations are we going to have when that moment arrives?
Ironically, I've been using ChatGPT to help refine the grammar in all of my responses. There's definitely a valid concern that kids growing up with tools like this—or even people like me—might never fully develop traditional grammar skills. But there's another side to that: maybe, in the near future, mastering grammar won't be the benchmark of capability. Maybe understanding and using large language models will be.
We stopped memorizing phone numbers years ago, but do we really feel like we're worse off because of it?
What advice do you often give Fellows or would you give to junior developers?
Naman: Don't silo yourself. Don't tie your identity too closely to one specific technology, programming language, or even job title. This is true in many fields, but especially in software engineering. At its core, every technical challenge is just a puzzle waiting to be solved by someone with curiosity and basic problem-solving skills. If you approach your work this way, you gain true adaptability. Focus on understanding the why behind every concept, not just the how. Once you grasp the fundamentals, even complex topics start to feel simple—because they are, when broken down properly. Most programming languages, despite their quirky syntax, express the same underlying logic. And that logic—like how a "for loop" works—can be explained to a 5-year-old, if you understand it deeply enough. When you realize that, you stop fearing new tech stacks or job titles. Because in the end, you're not a software engineer, or a data engineer, or an Al engineer—you're a problem solver.
Is there a particular philosophy or guiding principle you live by that's shaped your career and personal decisions?
Naman: If you put in the necessary work toward something you're genuinely passionate about, there's not much reason to stress over the outcome. That mindset has kept me optimistic throughout my journey as a software engineer.
What's one thing either work-related or not you learned in the last month?
Naman: Recently, I tried out a flight simulator. For the longest time, I was pretty confident that if I had to, I could take over the controls of a plane if the pilot passed out. But after actually getting into a simulator, I quickly learned that, like a lot of people who think video games translate into real life—I definitely need to humble myself.
