Office Hours: I led engineering teams at Sonder and was a founding engineer at Uber Eats and Uber Freight. I'm Padmini Pyapali.
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Office Hours: I led engineering teams at Sonder and was a founding engineer at Uber Eats and Uber Freight. I'm Padmini Pyapali.Featured
Hi everyone!I’m Padmini Pyapali. Most recently, I worked as a software engineering manager at Sonder, managing multiple teams of impact-driven, growth-hungry engineers and managers. At Sonder, I went from managing one team to managing four teams in one year, not because the company grew and needed more leaders, but because I asked, and created a path for myself.My proudest career moments were at Uber, where I was the first female mobile engineer. I worked on three major product lines: Uber’s main ride-sharing product, Uber Eats, and Uber Freight. I also had the privilege of being a founding engineer on both Uber Eats and Uber Freight. I learned a lot and built lasting friendships. While working at Uber, I started investing in mental and physical health in order to cope with stress. Mindfulness helped usher in a period of self-discovery and forgiveness, which led to more growth and success.Other companies I worked at include Smash.gg and Zynga, both gaming companies, and Netapp, a data storage company.I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) from UC Berkeley in 2010.I left the bay area and my job in February 2020 to take time off and travel with my partner. Obviously, our year didn’t all go as planned, but we’ve still found a way to enjoy it! During my time off, I’ve taken up writing, and have written about various topics including sharing feedback, managing mental bandwidth, and managing time scarcity. You can access my writing here: https://smallbigideas.substack.com/.Ask me anything about career progression as an engineer and engineering manager, transitioning from IC to management, growing and leading engineering teams, managing high performers, managing low performers, managing managers, working at growth stage companies, asking for more responsibility, leading as an introvert, building trust within your team, giving and receiving feedback, getting into online writing and more!
