Valeriia: Hi Chaythanya! Thank you for joining.
Chaythanya: Yeah, thank you so much Valeriia for having me today. Really excited to be here.
Valeriia: Yeah, the topic today is so empowering and as you said, it’s also incredibly important. So, we have ‘women in tech’ on our agenda today and I would like to start with discovering your personal journey. So what is your professional background? Did you know from the very beginning that you wanted to go to tech?
Chaythanya: Yeah. So, I will start with my introduction like what I do at Homelike and I am working as a back-end developer and I’ve been with Homelite for over a year now and I’m part of the experience team. We are really focused on, you know, improving the request process, booking journey and payments mostly. And as for my background, yes I started off in the industry in 2016. So, initially I was a front-end developer, so I was an iOS developer. So I used to develop apps for the iPhone and then I switched to back-end development. So, like my interest was computer science, it actually started very early I would say. It’s because like in my 11th grade, I had this awesome teacher who used to teach us comfort designs and she was so passionate about teaching the subject itself that she literally made us all fall in love with the subject. And that’s how I actually decided that I have to go and do computer science as my bachelor’s. And from there I got placed in my first company and I did some internship, and then I, you know, kind of got to the tech company world.
Valeriia: Hmm. Alright yeah sounds very exciting. So, you said you did the front-end in the beginning. So why did you decide in the end to become specifically a backend developer?
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Chaythanya: Yes, so like initially like when we were in the course, so we by default were assigned to a tech. So, that’s how I got into iOS development and front-end development. But later on like two or three months into the course, like I kind of found that ‘okay, so this design aspect and the user interface aspect of development is kind of not my thing’. Because like I was more interested in the background logic. So as a front-end developer we usually consume, you know, whatever the backend developers do. But like I was more kind of interested in developing the business logic and the core functionality of the application itself. So I kind of asked to switch over to back-end development and they were kind enough to make the switch for me and yeah from there on like I was mostly, you know, developing APIs, working with databases so yeah, something which I love to do.
Valeriia: Of course, that makes sense. Being a woman in the male-dominated tech world. How did it make you feel? Did you have any female role models in the tech world throughout these years?
Chaythanya: Yeah. So personally, I always feel empowered being in this industry because this is something which I love to do. And honestly, I cannot imagine myself to be working in any other industry at this point. Being in this tech industry as a female person, I have felt the lack of gender diversity for sure. Because, over the past I’ve been working at three different companies and a lot of different teams, and mostly, I’ll be the only female person in the tech team, okay? So there are other female people in the management team or finance or other tech female people in other tech teams. But, in my team, mostly I’ll be working with a bunch of guys. But I have personally, I have never felt any gender biased attitudes towards me or like they have always considered me as they’re equal, they’ve always respected the knowledge and skills that I have. So, this is my personal experience, but I’m not sure like, if this is the case for all other women in tech industry out there because experiences might differ. But for me overall it was a really positive experience.
Valeriia: Yeah, definitely. So you would say that the tech space nowadays is progressive and supportive enough for women in terms of equality and opportunities?
Chaythanya: Oh, yes, yes. I definitely think that we are becoming way more progressive than we were like for a few years back. There has been definitely a shift in the mindset overall because like, as you can see, there are a lot of women who are coming into the forefront and leading different, you know, huge marketplaces, huge companies. So we are, I think, are definitely brought ourselves that we are equally capable of our male counterparts, if not better sometimes. So I think definitely there is a change in the mindset and like even there are lots of initiatives by different companies, you know, to bring women to the forefront. Say for example, I think there are some companies who ensure to make it mandatory for them to have 50% of the workforce as women. This is a really good initiative to bring women to the forefront. So there are a lot of, you know, improvements happening. So I think we are going in the right direction and I’m really optimistic about the future.
Valeriia: Yeah, I think from the recruitment side, I’ve also noticed a change in like so many like powerful applications and I feel also somehow women in tech, they’re more kind of loud like in terms of participating in different projects and like speaking about this, about challenges and opportunities. So yeah, definitely very nice to see that happening. In general diverse teams can bring so much more value to the business in terms of innovation and problem-solving. I think at Homelike we can also do better in terms of having more female talents joining the tech team. We are aware of it, we are working on that.
Chaythanya: I would love to have.
Valeriia: Yea definitely. But speaking of Homelike, what is your favorite part about the job here?
Chaythanya: Oh, I could go on about this. So, one of the favorite parts is like we have such a multinational environment here, so the chance and opportunity to work with people from so many different parts of the world. Like I get to talk to people from 10 different parts of the world on a day-to-day basis and which is amazing I think to work with people from so many different cultures, with so many different, you know, ideas and backgrounds and perspectives. It’s amazing and still, like, even when we are so diverse, right? We always come together when it is about our product and like we get along so well, and like we are more like friends than colleagues. I feel and even the top management, how they interact with the employees, like how friendly they are, it’s astonishing for me. And personally, I think that because of this relationship that we have with each other like coming to work daily. It’s not a mundane task but it’s a pleasure I would say.
Imagine when a feature would be running and you don’t discover it is a failure and you keep going, you know, that you do not take actions. Of course, you’re feeling, you know, the results monitoring value is bigger. So, once you acknowledge that you fail, be happy and celebrate your failure as well because it can be very fast and you can very fast react on your failure.
Valeriia: Yeah definitely. But if we talk about, you know, more technical part of your job, like what would you highlight, what do you enjoy the most?
Chaythanya: Oh yes. For the technical part of the job, yes, I enjoy the problem solving aspect of things. Like in day-to-day life, we get a problem, how we come together and discuss it out. So everyone has their own opinions, they get to share it openly, like every perspective is acknowledged very well. So this is what I really like about it. And we also as a startup, I think we also get to take the ownership a lot and like we get to do things our way, which might not be the case in huge companies for example. Now we get to shape and mold the product in our own way and we get to do our own touches and our product which I really love about it.
Valeriia: Yeah, that’s a really good point, for sure. All right, yeah, and Chaythanya, you’re doing an incredible group, so yeah thanks again for also taking the time in your busy schedule to chat with me. Would love to do it again in the future! So, for now, thanks a lot.
Chaythanya: Thank you so much for having me. I love to talk about this, especially really empowering to talk about this and thank you so much for having me as well.
Valeriia: Of course, alright. Take care then. Bye.
Chaythanya: Thank you. Bye.
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