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In our first #BeTheNerd series, we speak to Durga R., a Data Engineering Manager at Facebook. Durga graduated from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, with a Masters in Computer Science. She began her career at Facebook where she develops, maintains, tests and evaluates big data solutions.
Data engineers at Facebook help turn big data into valuable and actionable insights for better decision making and game changing strategies. This helps Facebook make smarter and more informed decisions and develop better products that maximize our impact, contributing to our mission of bringing the world closer together.
Durga has been with Facebook for five years, and today she is a manager leading a growing team of engineers. “At one point, I was the youngest manager in the team.” she recounts. “My passion for data and my ability to lead and influence people gave me an opportunity to be a manager at Facebook. I learned how to be an effective leader from my managers, who are also my mentors. I owe what I am today to them.”
We asked Durga what has helped her to succeed as a data engineer and manager, and she shared the following:
1. Overcome impostor syndrome - I joined Facebook five years ago, and I was working with very smart and experienced teammates who were Stanford or Harvard graduates. Initially, I felt like I wasn’t as capable or as talented as them, and I needed to constantly prove myself.
It took me a while to realize that impostor syndrome is very normal, and it is ok for anyone to feel this way. Facebook had given me this terrific opportunity to work with the brightest minds in the industry, but at same time my fear of not being good enough made me doubt my abilities.
I overcame this feeling by making mistakes and learning from them. I didn't let it bog me down; instead I learned from the opportunity and didn't repeat the same mistakes. My managers and mentors were also forgiving and encouraging. This made me stronger and pushed me to be a better engineer and teammate. The key is to be optimistic and focused. You must continuously move forward and improve… that is growth to me and small wins such as successfully completing a project did help overcome any fear I had, and gave me more confidence. I'm also proud to add that the number of women in my team has grown over the years, which is great for diversity!
2. Be bold – Being bold is many things. It’s about being able to push for what you believe is right without coming across as arrogant or disrespectful. It’s also about being able to speak your mind when you think something is not right without worrying about offending people.
As a manager and leader, I try my best to influence and inspire my team. In my leadership journey, I’ve learned to be bold – to communicate a clear vision, build trust, be receptive to feedback from my team, involve them in the decision-making process and inculcate a sense of ownership and accountability.
The Asia Pacific Data Engineering team at Facebook
3. Think out of the box – At Facebook, we love to look beyond the status quo, create new things and figure out how to continuously improve the way we’re working and the products we’re building. If something doesn’t work, we get together to “hack” problems and create new ideas. It is this philosophy that got us to hack a solution – we came up with an internal tool that helped sales analysts save 30-40 working hours each month on consolidating information and creatives for clients. It required a lot of lateral and innovative thinking to build a scalable solution for the tool.
My advice to think out of the box is to be agile, be willing to innovate and be open to new perspectives. The world is evolving and change is the only constant factor. Hence, staying open to new perspectives will help you to learn something new every day.
4. Ruthlessly prioritize – It’s important to take consistent inventory of the work you have in front of you and make sure that you’re focusing on the most important and impactful things. At Facebook, there will always be many things to do, and I've learnt to accept that I can’t do everything at once. Once I had that figured out, I could prioritize my projects, and that helped me to stay organized and deliver a bigger impact to my team's goals. If you clearly communicate why you need to make tough prioritization decisions, Facebookers will understand. It’s part of our culture.
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