Meet Veda Kadam. She’s relatively new to the Cloudera family.
She started her journey here in June of 2020 when she joined our first ever fully virtual intern program. Now she’s a full time employee working as a Software Engineer on our Data In Motion team.
From an early age, Veda knew she wanted to work in the technology industry
Her father worked in pharmaceuticals and her mother worked in accounting. Both were fields her parents exposed her to early on which left no doubt in Veda’s mind – “those were not the career paths for me!”
Veda shared how in fourth grade, her father owned a cyber cafe in India. “I was exposed to some of the first computers in town. I would just look at them and wonder what all this new stuff is. I became more and more curious about how technology worked. From something as simple as a remote control to the internet, I wanted to know how it worked”. It was the beginning of her journey into technology and on the path that would eventually lead her to Cloudera.
As an undergraduate, Veda first began her college career in Electrical Engineering. She quickly realized that her interests were more aligned with software so she pivoted her degree. “I was nervous about that pivot, it’s not something I’ve done before, to change something mid-process. But it got me here to Cloudera who has found my talents useful for us and our products so it all worked out so great.”
It all started with a career fair
She first learned about Cloudera while at a career fair at the University of Southern California.
“I met my boss at USC and he was impressed with my resume. He was able to see how my experience may not be directly related to the needs of the company but how they could translate to the work being done here.” Learning about the work we do with emerging technologies piqued her interest and she followed her gut instinct that told her Cloudera would be the next right move for her to make.
It’s a decision she couldn’t be more happy about.
In her intern role, Veda worked on the Data in Motion team in Apache NiFi
Her main project was to work on a diagnostic tool that helped customers and support engineers identify and understand specific issues in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. “It’s an open source project so my code is visible to everyone which is such a cool achievement. Contributing to open source felt really good.”
Initially, she had some reservations about taking a project of this size on – she wasn’t sure she was ready for this challenge. But with some assurance and guidance from her manager and support from her teammates, she was able to see her work directly impact many, including cloudera customers. As a full time employee, she continues to make significant contributions and impact today.
For Veda, work here is a dream come true
Veda always knew she wanted to come to the United States and pursue this career path. Though there weren’t many women in her industry that she could look to as a role model, it didn’t deter her from her pursuits.
With parents who instilled a strong work ethic in her and who were of the mind that women, especially their daughter, could do anything she wanted as long as she set her mind to it, she was able to see her goals reached.
“My parents would always say, ‘Don’t ever be the common answer, be the anomaly’” It’s a motto she leans on when pushing toward even her most difficult challenges. It’s the motto she used to get her where she is today.
Veda is rocking and rolling in her first role out of college. Ready to join her and the many Clouderans doing great things? Find your next opportunity here!
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