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Ambika J

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Ambika J

Principal Engineer I - QE

Yahoo! Inc

Ambika J is a member of:

Could you tell us briefly about your family background?

I am the eldest sibling of the 3. Dad a retired central government employee. One sister is doing her CA, the other is a project manager with JP Morgan and Chase. My hubby is an entrepreneur, and runs an agro enterprise. We are also
proud parents of a lovely baby girl.

Other Thoughts:

I studied at St. Lourdes English High School, graduated in Commerce and also completed a 2 years Software Engineering course at Aptech. Later, I specialized in internet programming and completed my MCA while I continued to work.

The Decisions That Matter

The first and foremost decision was to pursue computer studies along with my graduation. Second, to specialize in internet programming, while working at IISc. Third, to pursue and complete MCA while working. I also shifted from Development to QE by choice.

Working Life Management:

I have a supportive family. Prioritize and stick to commitments. Sometimes work demands more and at times your personal front.

Plans For The Future:

Architect: Want to be a leader/mentor in this industry. Specialize in security testing, if feasible.

Role Model:

Swami Vivekananda for the spiritual strength, Mother Teresa for selflessness, Steve Jobs for creativity - out of box thinking.

Advice For New Professionals:

Be genuine and honest, share knowledge, do not have an attitude of "I know everything".
Think out of box, discuss and clarify, attack a problem not a person.

Job Profile:

My Job profile is of a Principal engineer. I play the roles of - manual and automation engineer, backend test engineer, project lead, QE project manager, designer, developer; hacker, innovator, ideator, mentor/trainer, training coordinator, interviewer.

Growth Strategy:

Participate in hack days, submit ideas for patents or defensive publication, Read latest white papers, inventions in the line of my current skills, participate in conferences.

Career Profile:

Strategize, design/ develop in contrast to automation and test execution alone. Grid technologies, hadoop, map-reduce programming, back-end testing, design/ develop simple 'n' effective framework, devise new test strategies at different layers: Grid, ETL, DB, middleware, API, UI for Agile.

Done Differently:

I have experience in development & testing. Both are each others strength. When I test, I can see it from a developer's perspective & dive deep to uncover issues. This has helped me achieve a horizontal exposure which is good. But, if I want to specialize then probably, I would stick to one technlgy

The Journey So Far:

Well, being a commerce graduate it was a good break to get into Mphasis. But being a perfectionist is not appreciated always. I have learned to draw a balance; learned the 80-20 rule. The move from development to testing and growing up to be a principal engineer has been a great experience.

Prized Accomplishment(s):

Developing a prototype for achieving 100% automation where others had said it was not possible. This was widely appreciated in the company and I cherish that moment; besides boosting my confidence.