Hey, I’m Rushikesh Vyas

Welcome to Unhandled Thoughts - where I write about building software, leading teams, and occasionally going off on tangents about Formula 1 and sci-fi novels.

What I Do

I’m an Engineering Manager at theScore / Penn Entertainment, where I lead teams building sports betting products. I believe in a simple philosophy: progress over perfection. Bias toward action - build, test, learn. Momentum creates clarity faster than endless discussion.

I lead with curiosity and assume positive intent. What matters most? Ownership. Taking initiative, connecting work to team goals, and prioritizing team wins over personal wins. I create environments where people can experiment, fail fast, and grow.

Tech I work with: C#, GoLang, Java, Elixir • PostgreSQL, MS SQL, Spanner, time-series DBs • .NET, Docker, Kubernetes • RabbitMQ, Kafka, distributed caching • Azure & GCP cloud-native stacks

Industries: I’ve helped build systems across sports betting (promotional campaigns at scale), HR tech (employee experience platforms), financial services (fraud prevention), and enterprise consulting. Turns out distributed systems problems are universal—just with different SLAs and compliance requirements.

Beyond Work

When I’m not leading engineering teams or writing code, you’ll find me:

  • Racing on Sundays - Obsessive Formula 1 fan. I have Opinions™ about tire strategies, and why certain teams keep making questionable pit stop decisions. Don’t even try to talk to me during race weekends—I’ll be yelling at the TV like the engineers can hear me.
  • Gaming - RTS games where I spend 3 hours perfecting my build order, RPGs where I restart if I make the wrong dialogue choice, and city builders where “just one more tile” turns into 4 AM somehow.
  • Reading - Eclectic mix: Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary (space fungi saving humanity), Agatha Christie mysteries (the only acceptable cozy mysteries), Adrian Newey’s How to Build a Car (my F1 obsession extends to 400-page technical deep dives), and management books like The Manager’s Path and Becoming an Effective Engineering Manager that I apparently read for “fun” on weekends. Judge me all you want.

Get in Touch

I write about programming, technology, leadership, and the human side of building software. If any of that resonates, let’s connect:

Thanks for stopping by!