Dileep

For over 15 years, I’ve dedicated myself to the craft of building software. My speciality is architecting scalable, distributed systems and powering intelligent, AI-driven platforms. I grew up in India with one dream: to build world-class technology in the United States, a country I saw as the pinnacle of innovation. Many years after studying CS at The National Institute of Technology, Calicut one of India’s premier technological schools. I realized that goal. I landed a job at Ebay in America helping millions of users make purchase decisions easier on the View Item team. Yet, I wanted more. This is when I took my career to the next level landing a job at Google in Mountain View, California. At google I worked on App crawl team where we crawled mobile applications to determine signals about whether or not the apps follow Google's app publisher guidelines or not and mastered distributed computing and data science technologies. I was living the American dream.

A middle class kid from a village in India found himself building software that was changing the world. I had an amazing wife and newborn baby boy named Ashwin. I had even enrolled and completed a graduate program in ML and AI from the University of Texas, Austin. I had it all. Until one terrible decision cost me everything.

Between March 2020 and October 2024, I experienced one of the most difficult and formative chapters of my life. What began as a decision I underestimated, placing a trade involving a company my cousin worked at. Set off a series of events that changed everything. The trade was financially significant, and while I didn’t fully grasp the legal or ethical weight of the situation at the time, I quickly learned that intent doesn’t erase responsibility. In the years that followed, I was investigated for insider trading and ultimately served a six-month sentence. The experience was deeply humbling. It forced me to confront uncomfortable truths about myself, my decisions, and the systems I was a part of. It also gave me space to reflect, grow, and understand the kind of person I want to become. This is also the period when I learned that.
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There is more to life than having more in life.

More than anything, it reminded me of the value of integrity, accountability, and the power of second chances. That period shaped how I now show up in life, in leadership, and in building things that matter.

My American dream that I worked so hard to cultivate had slipped through my fingers because of one wrong life choice. In the wake of my sentence, I had to relearn my purpose. For so long I had worked tirelessly to build my life, and now I was starting over again. For years my purpose, my ikigai, was my American dream. My purpose was developing technology I was proud of, it was to be a great husband and father. My work and my family gave me meaning and guided me in life and I had jeopardized all of this. Following my sentencing I had to start over. My dream was shattered, my life was in pieces.

Starting anew I returned to India with my wife and now my two young sons. Unsure of my next step in life, the guiding principles that helped me build my American dream remained the foundation of my Ikigai. My loving family and my desire to build incredible technologies is what pulls me out of bed every day. It is my purpose and my Ikigai. I am thankful for the lessons I learned in this difficult chapter, It clarified me. I emerged more grounded, more self-aware, and deeply appreciative of the things I once took for granted, especially my family and my health. I now wear my past not as a scar, but as a badge of honor. A reminder of how far I’ve come, and how much I’ve grown. Today, my passion for building is intrinsic; it is sharper, purer. I’ve rediscovered joy in solving hard problems, in creating tools that serve real people. I'm no longer driven by proving something to the world, I'm driven by a quiet, steady commitment to integrity, creativity, and impact. I realized after my isolating time serving my sentence that my Ikigai is rooted in my family and stems from my deep desire to build things that have a positive impact on those around me.

I’m ready for the next chapter with eyes wide open and purpose fully aligned. I believe in second chances and in rediscovering my Ikigai I realize I have the power to help others do the same.

- Dileep Kamujula

My Story