Don’t Win at Games You Shouldn’t Even Be Playing — Utsav’s Journey

Part I of the series : Paths Unfold by Gaurav Dubey

Back in 2018, Utsav joined Adobe as an intern. During that time, we didn’t interact much — but his dedication and hard work were visible to all. By the end of his internship, he earned a well-deserved full-time offer.

The next year, he rejoined the Acrobat Reader Android team, the same group I was part of. We were a young team of engineers, brimming with ideas and energy. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and built challenging features for PDF editing in Acrobat. Utsav was always cheerful, dependable, and added an unmistakable spark to the team culture.

An Unexpected Decision

One day, Utsav walked up to me and said,
“I am leaving the job, Gaurav.”

I paused, a bit surprised. Naturally, I asked,
“What’s next? Which company are you moving to?”

His answer was something I didn’t expect at all:
“I will prepare for government exams.”

What struck me wasn’t that he had a concrete plan — it was that he was crystal clear about one thing:
👉 He did not want to continue doing this job.

That level of clarity, even when the future is uncertain, is rare and courageous.

From Engineer to IAS Officer