Some engineers build software. 
Some build systems. 
A few rare ones quietly build the stage everyone else performs on – and never ask for the spotlight. 

That’s Maneesh for us. 

Fifteen years ago, when Maneesh joined SecPod, there wasn’t much in place. No rules. No rigid infra. Just questions waiting for answers, and a chance to build something that could hold up – not just for now, but for the long run. 

A decade and a half later, you can still feel his fingerprints on the platform. Not loudly. Not obviously. Because that’s not what he is. But in the fact that things work. That services talk to each other. That the hard parts often go unnoticed – because they were thought through fifteen years ago. 

In this edition of the 10 Years Club, we sat down with the one person who’s probably built more behind-the-scenes than anyone else here. Maneesh, now Director of Platform Engineering, talks about architecture, long-term thinking, invisible success, and the personal rewiring it takes to lead in a space where “nothing broke today” is the ultimate win.

The Systems Mindset 

Where good infra is invisible – and the best ideas age well. 

What’s something you architected years ago that’s still holding strong – and something you’d rewrite tomorrow if you could? 

“In the early days, we had the luxury of trying things people hadn’t tried yet – because, frankly, no one was watching. We were one of the first to use WebSockets to connect agents and servers in a cybersecurity context. Everyone else used it for browser communication – we said, why not here?” 

That early bet paid off. So did the structure of how we serve data – something Maneesh calls “still the right choice.” 

But not everything scaled with us. 

“We hardcoded certain limits into our architecture – because we didn’t expect this much growth. At the time, it felt safe. But if I could rewrite something, it would be that – I’d design for no limits at all.” 

Has your mental model for building changed over the years? 

“Absolutely. In the beginning, it was like jazz – no constraints, no past, just improv. Now, there are expectations. Benchmarks. Standards. I still experiment – but only after doing more homework. That freedom is still there… but it’s earned differently now.” 

Platform work is often invisible by design. Does that ever make the impact feel less real? 

“Not for me. I love the quiet. I love when no one has to ask how something works – because that means it just does. Back then, people asked all kinds of questions about our XML feeds or data collection methods. Now? Silence. That silence means we did our job.” 

Behind the Screens 

The late nights, bold calls, and the code you’re secretly proud of. 

Was there ever an outage or incident that stuck with you? 

Maneesh pauses, then shrugs. 

“No big meltdown, thankfully. But I remember working on XML content integrations, trying to pull in external tools while being super cautious about licensing. It taught me the importance of reading the fine print – not every engineering lesson comes from a broken server.” 

Is there a piece of code you’re secretly proud of, even if no one talks about it? 

“WebSockets again. Not just the decision – but how we made it work in a space no one was using it in. It was new. It was a risk. And it still holds. That one feels personal.” 

What do people misunderstand most about platform engineering? 

“They often confuse it with systems engineering. The overlap’s real – but platform engineering is different. It’s not just about keeping things running. It’s about creating the connective tissue that lets everything else run better. We’re not just supporting the system – we’re designing the rules it plays by.” 

Growth – Technical and Personal 

Because scaling platforms is also about scaling yourself. 

How do you know when to stop fixing and start building systems or teams that fix things? 

“You reach a limit. Time catches up with you. You want to do everything, but you can’t. So you reach out. Build a team. Share the load. And you start to realize, that’s a part of the job too.” 

What’s one non-technical skill you had to grow into? 

“Trust. It’s not automatic – especially when you’re used to fixing everything yourself. But you have to believe in the people you hire, and respect what they create – even if they take a different route. Delegation isn’t just a skill. It’s a mindset.” 

Did stepping into the Director role feel like a switch flipping? Or something slower? 

“It was gradual. One day you look around and realize you’re in a bigger room – with more responsibility, more systems depending on you. It’s not like someone hands you a new hat. You just grow into it.” 

Tech Philosophy & Principles 

When opinions get built into code – and stand the test of time. 

Do you have any “unpopular opinions” about infra or tooling? 

“Plenty. But here, I’m encouraged to prove them. If I bring in a new idea – like remote connect or a different DB structure – I build a prototype, defend it, and let it speak for itself. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But when it does, it sticks.” 

How do you balance moving fast with not breaking the future? 

“We’ve solved that by not treating speed and quality as opposites. Our quality team works closely with engineering – not as a final step, but as a parallel force. The faster we communicate, the better we deliver. There’s no trade-off – just rhythm.” 

Have you changed more because of the tech, or the people? 

“Both – in different ways. Tech shaped what I worked on. But people shaped how I think, how I make decisions, how I lead. There’s no comparison. One makes you sharper. The other makes you better.” 

Advice for the Next Builders 

The kind of wisdom that doesn’t come from books. 

What do you wish new platform engineers understood from Day 1? 

“That deep understanding still matters. AI tools are great – but they create an illusion that you don’t need to know what’s going on under the hood. And that’s dangerous. When the tools fail, you have to be the one who knows how to fix it.” 

What would be Chapter One in your ‘Ten-Year Survival Manual’? 

“Adapt. That’s it. If you can’t adapt, the system moves on without you. The faster you learn to embrace change, the faster you grow.” 

What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? 

“Define the problem first. Always. When you don’t, you start solving things that don’t matter. It’s like being lost without a map – you’re moving, but you don’t know where.” 

 Zooming Out 

Perspective, clarity, and building toward what comes next. 

What makes you quietly proud about the platform today? 

“That it works without needing us every minute. That people can plug in new things without us having to rewrite the whole system. But I want to take that even further – make it more modular, more autonomous, more future-proof.” 

What still excites you after all these years? 

“Customer problems. Especially the weird, unpredictable, “why-didn’t-anyone-think-of-this-yet” ones. The ones where you’re not even sure what’s wrong yet. I love digging into those – understanding the why, not just the fix.” 

What kind of future are you building for, as a leader? 

“A future where we can support any tech stack. Where quality and performance are built into the framework, not bolted on. Where every team member understands the rhythm we work in – and helps evolve it. Not just tech maturity – but team maturity.” 

A Quiet Fifteen Years. A Loud Legacy. 

Maneesh won’t be the loudest voice in the room. 
He’s probably still thinking through the edge case you missed. 

But fifteen years in, his work continues to show up in the places you don’t always look – in systems that scale quietly, in teams that trust each other, in infrastructure that’s built to last. 

That’s what makes this a Ten Year Club story worth telling – not just because he’s been here, but because of how he’s helped shape what “here” means for the rest of us.