Career Chats : Kauser Inamdar

You've probably heard the phrase "a career path is never a straight line." It can be scary not to know what you want to do, or know what you want but not how to get there. Career Chats is a series aimed at tackling these uncertainties. The series highlights women in different roles across LinkedIn and the unique journey that led them to where they are today. We hope these stories will help you find your path to your dreams.

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Career Chats with Kauser Inamdar

Role:?Senior Software Engineer, InfraDev Team at LinkedIn

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Q: Walk us through your career path so far.

I’ve always been into technology as a kid - I enjoyed watching tech news on TV and reading the tech section in the newspaper. I entered UC Davis as an engineering major and after switching my major a few times, landed on computer science. This journey was the subject of my TEDx talk in college called “The Power of Two”, which unfortunately due to recording issues that day, wasn’t published by the team. Interning at HP Networking gave me an introduction to industry life and working as an Operations assistant providing desktop support helped build my customer service skills (along with other jobs I held in college). My first job out of college was working at Cisco as an IT Engineer in the monitoring and data platform spaces. After a few years, I joined LinkedIn as a software engineer on the InfraDev team under Site Engineering. This was a dream role for me and I’m so thankful. I am currently on the same team as a senior software engineer!?

Q: What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love working with people here at LinkedIn, they’re talented, collaborative, and easy to get along with! I enjoy working on challenging problems in our domain and learning new technologies and design practices. I value how learning is built into our culture and being able to take courses through LinkedIn Learning and attending conferences has been very beneficial. I entered LinkedIn with the goal of giving a tech talk and I’m happy that through gaining experiences,? I’ve been able to give a few of them. Participating in our monthly InDays with different events has helped me gain community with my colleagues and learn new skills.? Most of all, I am thankful for the technical and career guidance I’ve received since the beginning and am continuing to grow from.? Also the food and coffee here are great!?

Q: What is the best advice you have gotten so far in your career?

Have a growth mindset, every failure is a learning opportunity for us to grow from. When things may not go as planned at work or in our personal lives, we can choose to either be fixated on the negatives, or we can acknowledge that new opportunities will arise for us to step into improved versions of ourselves. Here are some tips to help cultivate a growth mindset. 1) Get out of your comfort zone and experiment with different approaches. 2) Show self-compassion and patience with yourself along the process 3) Document lessons learned to not only reflect on your journey but also share lessons with others along the way.?

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I see myself in a technical leadership position, either in the management track or continuing as an IC, continuing to work on exciting and challenging projects! I will continue public speaking by giving more tech talks and speaking on panels. I also see myself being involved in community outreach programs, as well as mentoring other engineers to build their technical and leadership skills.?

Q: What is something that is not on your LinkedIn Profile?

I love running Spartan races and have my next one coming up in a few months. Training for these obstacle course races has helped shape other parts of my life and for that I am grateful. I am also a specialty coffee and latte art content creator!? I took a few latte art classes here at LinkedIn which was an excellent foundation for my home barista life.?

Want to see more posts like this? Check out our past Career Chats HERE