More hours in the day. It’s the one thing we all want, yet it’s impossible to achieve. But what if you could free up some time in the workday to just have fun. That’s exactly what we believe in at Velotio — making a conscious effort to ease-up and recharge. Even more, in the last two years of working remotely, we created new ways to stay connected with each other.
Velotio After Hours is one of those amazing ways to strengthen our relationship, click on shared interests, share memes and unplug after work. We call it our “Happy Hours,” too. After Hours is Velotio’s community-building event held twice a month.
All the Velotains get together (virtually) to discuss non-work, non-tech things. We talk about movies, comics, sports, fitness, mental health, music, finances, and more.

Also Read: How does team Velotio stay connected while working from home?

The event is either hosted by one of our team members on a volunteer basis, or we welcome people from different walks of life who have inspiring stories to share. Let’s look at some of those stories about personal triumphs, breaking stereotypes, and imbibing healthy habits that inspired Velotians to grow.

Man Vs. Mt. Everest

On 12th November 2021, we invited Harshvardhan Joshi, an Indian mountaineer from Vasai, Maharashtra. His story of how he fought Covid-19 and two cyclones to reach the highest point on earth was a motivation for everyone.

Engineer by education, Endurance Athlete by passion, and Sustainability Advocate by compassion, Harshvardhan started his mountaineering career in 2016. Ever since then, he has climbed six mountains of 6000 meters and above. And has also achieved the rare feat of scaling the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, using eco-friendly means.

In the end, walking through his journey of climbing Mount Everest made us all applaud his spirit. And, it also, made us realize that with the right spirit and willpower we can achieve anything.

The Subtle Art of Balancing Work and Life

Meet Mukta Aphale, VP - Cloud & DevOps at Velotio.

On 9th July 2021, she shared her journey of balancing work and family at the after-hours — everything about what worked for her and what did not.

Mukta expressed that after achieving the so-called "society-imposed-goals" (getting a stable job, having kids, fulfilling family duties), she took some time off for her self-discovery. That's when she was able to build a path of her own. She talked about her entrepreneurship journey and how she built Crevise, which was later acquired by India's largest eSports and mobile gaming platform.

Mukta, being a mom to two kids and a successful thought leader in her domain, says,

" There's no right time for anything. You can do whatever you think is right, anytime - if you have the conviction for it."

And that was our key takeaway from her session.

Also Read:Velotio is a great place to work certified

The Ironman Athlete

After talks on finance, entrepreneurship, and some inspiring life lessons we thought of changing gears a bit.

So, on 23rd July 2021, we invited Mehul Ved. He has competed in several Iron Man competitions and has run several full marathons like IM Malaysia 2016, IM 70.3 Hawaii 2015, IM 70.3 Putrajaya 2014, and Mumbai Marathon FM 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017.

He shared his inspiring journey and what it takes to go from a software engineer to competing in one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride, and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order.

Knowing a man who’s done all of that, and much more in his career was a motivation for the entire team.

Reading Books: Hobby or a Way of Life!

On 16th March 2022, the after-hours session was hosted by our teammates Shivali Bari and Nisarga Khanewale.

They talked about how books helped them grow in life and tackle challenges in different fields. They also spoke about book-reading myths, reading tips for beginners, and more. Shivali and Nisarga both shared exciting stories of how they fell in love with reading and how it helped them expand their horizons in many ways. While Shivali started off from a library just to kill time in her hometown; Nisarga made reading books her favorite past-time when the world was pandemic struck.

Their views and experiences about reading books of various genres made us realize how reading books can be more than just a hobby.

An Engineer’s Mountaineering Journey

On 23rd September 2021, Omkar shared his inspiring tale of dream chasing — starting from his work desk to some of the highest peaks in the world.

At the after-hours, Omkar shared how his 2-day weekend treks with friends and family ignited the spirit of adventure in him. He tried trekking more often and specialized in trekking, rock climbing, and mountaineering — he now lives and learns what he loves to do.

Omkar currently lives in Pune. So he started his mountaineering journey by organizing and leading the treks around Maharashtra like Katraj to Sinhagad trek, Lohagarh trek, etc. Later, he took professional mountaineering courses like Basic mountaineering course (BMC) and Advanced mountaineering course (AMC) from Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS), Manali.

After which, his quest was to do a bit more challenging climb that pushed his game upwards. So, he did Mt. Friendship Peak in the Pir Panjal range near Manali, Himachal Pradesh. And the backpacking trips to the Himalayas continued.

Omkar has been a part of over 120 treks spanning terrains like the western ghats, Pir Panjal range, Dhauladhar range, Spiti valley, and a few other Himalayan passes. He has also been on three 6000 meter peak expeditions. His dream expedition is K2 (8611 meters) - the second-highest mountain on Earth.

He believes that mountaineering is just like any other sport that demands a very high level of physical fitness. It is essential to train yourself on muscle strengthening and endurance-based exercises before starting your journey. And that was the key takeaway for the budding mountaineers at Velotio.

Bottom Line

This was just a peek into what happens at Velotio after-hours. We’ve talked about the emerging meme culture at work, people’s personal fitness journeys, some expert sessions on managing personal finances, and much more.

Velotio offers an inclusive work culture where people can be their authentic selves.

After-hours is our way to offer a safe space for people to openly talk about - their hesitations and motivations; their fears and their determination; their wins and their losses. It’s a fun and relaxed atmosphere that Velotians look forward to.

Also Read: The Velotio Culture Book — interesting stories shared by our team about how we work and evolve, day by day.

After-hours is a pretty perk for people who join Velotio.

If you want to be a part of this fun experience, explore our current opening to join our best-in-class team. Visit our careers page and apply now.

We’d love to hear about your story too.