"Sharpen your axe": Zoho exec Rajendran Dandapani's 8 lessons for AI developers
At DevSparks Chennai 2025, Zoho’s Director of Technology, Rajendran Dandapani, urged developers to hold themselves to higher standards and to understand the immense power they hold in an age where AI adoption is rapid.
“My first lesson I put forward to you is, relax.”
Zoho’s Director of Technology, Rajendran Dandapani, noted that in a world where AI adoption is rapid and educational and AI skills are yet to catch up, software developers should take a step back and look beyond the code.
Speaking at DevSparks Chennai 2025, Dandapani laid out eight lessons he believes should be adhered to while building the framework for software developers to approach an AI-first future.
"In hindsight, the technology that runs the world today was never taught to us; instead, the human race learnt it with time, and this can be replicated when it comes to AI skilling," Dandapani noted, as part of his first lesson.
However, some work needs to be approached slowly, and with patience. “There are some bits of work that take time, that you need to chew cud on, that you need to do slowly. Those, for God's sake, don't rush, don't hurry it up,” he asserted in his second lesson.
Dandapani’s third lesson was asking developers to dream, noting that “hallucination” in the context of AI and creativity is about generating novel, original ideas.
The fourth lesson, according to Dandapani, is to code for a higher purpose. Software developers need to recognise their immense responsibility, and that public interest must come before client interest.
Moreover, a visually pleasing prototype can sometimes prevent you from improving it, he noted. The goal should always be functionality, not just beauty.
Dandapani also used the analogy of Mohini and Bhasmasura, depicted using Raja Ravi Varma’s painting of the same title, to describe how software is now automating software developers. The painting depicts the Hindu myth where the demon Bhasmasura gains a boon from Shiva to turn anyone into ashes by touching their head.
Additionally, a key skill to equip oneself for an AI-first future is to communicate—cohesively, coherently, and meaningfully. Weaving into this communication should be the ability to ask good questions, Dandapani said in his seventh lesson.
The conversation highlighted that a developer’s true value in today’s AI age is not their technical skill alone but their ability to be mindful, creative, and most importantly, ethical.
Edited by Kanishk Singh