Our Background
Starting your first job feels like standing at the edge of something big - you know it’s going to change you, but you don’t yet know how. As a 2025 batch of graduates who joined Enlyft on July 1st, that moment marked the shift from the structured world of academics into the fast-paced, collaborative environment of a startup. Different colleges, different journeys, but the same excitement, nerves and hope about what lay ahead.
Aditi - An Electronics and Telecommunication graduate from Symbiosis Institute of Technology
Shruti - An Information Technology graduate from Pune Institute of Computer Technology
Sakshi - A Computer Science graduate from Pune Institute of Computer Technology
Arriving With Curiosity
We walked into Enlyft with a mix of anticipation, excitement and questions. How steep would the learning curve be? Would startup life be overwhelming? Would our academic projects and internships prepare us for what was coming? Those doubts quickly faded thanks to a thoughtful onboarding experience designed to bridge exactly that gap.
From the first morning, the welcome felt personal: personalised goodies on our desks, a warm introduction from our teams, and a clearly planned boot camp. Senior developers and managers didn’t just show slides - they explained the why and how of Enlyft’s work, giving context before diving into specifics. A buddy system paired each of us with an experienced team member, making our first tasks less daunting and helping us feel like part of the team from day one.
The First Week - Building Foundations
Our academic journeys had sparked curiosity for problem-solving - through coding projects, internships and experiments in AI/ML. Enlyft gave us a space to bring those skills into real-world impact.
The first week was dedicated to learning: sessions with the App, API, Data Platform, QA and DevOps pods gave us a holistic view of the product. We weren't just told what Enlyft does; we were walked through each pod's workflows, peeling away assumptions and seeing how everything connects. These sessions weren't about memorising processes but about understanding how the pieces fit together and why they matter to customers.
We all noticed how interactive it felt. The hands-on nature of the onboarding meant we weren't just absorbing theory but actively applying what we learned. Tools that had once been intimidating buzzwords - Python, Docker, Postman, Bitbucket, Spark, Airflow, DataDog - were introduced as enablers, not barriers. In one of the sessions, someone said, "The real learning begins not when you're told what to do, but when you're trusted to figure it out." That line stuck with us.
From Observation to Contribution
By the second week, the “training wheels” started to come off. Guided tasks with pod leads created a “sandbox” learning environment where mistakes became part of the process and each challenge strengthened our confidence. Small, manageable assignments gave us a chance to practice time management and adaptability, which quickly became survival tools in a fast-moving environment.
We began to see how small contributions connect to the bigger picture. We weren’t just writing code or testing an API in isolation; we were building components that would support real customers. Gradually, we moved from guided problem-solving to taking ownership of tasks - including presenting our very first demo to CEO and senior leaders, a milestone none of us will forget.
One of us summed it up perfectly in a stand-up: “Sometimes you’re eased into the pool; other times you’re tossed straight in and have to figure it out. At Enlyft, it leaned toward the latter - but in the best way possible.” The balance between independence and support is what made the difference.
Learning the Stack and Owning the Tools
Our early exposure to Enlyft's stack stopped being a list of buzzwords and started becoming tools we could actually wield. Workshops, collaborative learning, and constant feedback helped us go from hesitant to confident.
We set up our environments with Python, Docker and Postman. We learned to navigate Bitbucket repositories, understand pipelines, and use Postman to test APIs. Debugging sessions that initially felt overwhelming soon became satisfying puzzles to solve. Each solved problem, no matter how small, built our confidence brick by brick.
Thriving in an AI-First Environment
One of the biggest surprises in our first months at Enlyft has been how naturally AI fits into both the products we build for customers and the workflows we use as engineers.
For customers, Enlyft’s AI Native platform uses Agentic workflows for customers in making their go-to-market decisions sharper and faster. Seeing this up close taught us that “customer obsession” here isn’t just a slogan; it’s encoded in the data and code we ship every week.
For us as developers, AI is part of the day-to-day toolkit: from AI pair programmers to code review assistants and data quality checks. It accelerates learning, helps us move incrementally, and reinforces a culture of ownership and improvement.
Working in this AI-first environment means we are not just learning to use new tools - we’re learning to think like front-runners in AI adoption, where curiosity, speed, and responsibility go hand in hand along with developer productivity.
Culture Beyond the Code
Outside of work tasks, the team culture played a huge role in helping us settle in. Team lunches, informal huddles and daily stand-ups helped us get to know colleagues beyond our pods.
Celebrating small wins and sharing challenges built trust and made collaboration smoother. It’s easy to underestimate the impact of these moments, but for us, they turned strangers into colleagues and colleagues into friends.
Lessons We're Doubling Down On
Our first weeks weren’t just about learning tools and processes - they were about living Enlyft’s values every day. The lessons we’re doubling down on come straight from that experience:
- Customer Obsession - Think impact first. Before we code or query, we're learning to ask "who benefits?" and "how does this help our customers?" That mindset makes even small tasks feel meaningful.
- Trust - Be transparent, be reliable. Sharing progress honestly, flagging blockers early, and helping each other builds the trust that lets a fast-moving team work smoothly.
- Ownership – Take initiative. Setting up our environments, volunteering for our first tickets, fixing what we break, and demoing to leaders have taught us to treat each assignment as ours end-to-end.
- Relentless Innovation & Improvement – Learn, adapt, iterate. We've been encouraged to experiment with new tools, question assumptions, and propose better ways of doing things - and to treat mistakes as feedback, not failure.
These habits grew out of our onboarding, but they're also the foundation for the engineers we want to become. As we continue at Enlyft, these values aren't just posters on a wall; they're practices we're reinforcing every sprint.
Looking Ahead
Being part of Enlyft has been more than just the start of a career. It has been a launchpad - a place where we are challenged, supported and given room to make a tangible impact. Even now, it still feels like Day One: full of energy, possibilities and the excitement of building something meaningful together with an incredible team.
We're excited about what's next. If the first few months are any indication, the road ahead promises growth, innovation and countless moments worth remembering.
