Meet Peak: Parul, Software Engineer

Hi Parul, thanks for taking a bit of time out of your day to join us! Tell us about your role at Peak?

Hi! I’m a Software Engineer, currently working on our Decision Intelligence system, CODI, and leading the CODI Studio team. Our team is mainly responsible for managing the Studio part of the CODI, which includes features like image management, Workflows, web apps and model management.

For those who don’t fully know what that is, could you elaborate on what that means?

Workflows is a Kubernetes-based platform to execute tasks for data transformations, model training and output data exportation, things like that. This, along with custom docker image builders, web apps and model management, supports our data scientists and helps them function effectively on customer data – and, ultimately, assists our customers to help grow their businesses. In short, we provide an efficient platform for our data science team to then achieve whatever the customer wants to with Decision Intelligence!

Sounds awesome! You’ve been at Peak just over a year, right?

Yeah, it’s been a crazy first year! I joined Peak in June 2019 and it has been an incredible journey since then; there’s been a lot of learning on my side. I spend most of my time with the engineering team but I feel very connected with Peak because of our strong company culture. One of the good things about the team here is that everybody is very helpful, open minded and appreciative. I feel there is a high level of commitment to continuous improvement along all business dimensions. So, yes, it’s been a really great year and I’m looking forward to many more!

Lovely! What were you doing before Peak, Parul?

For about two years I was working with a startup, Smartprix, based in Noida near the capital – about five hours north east of Jaipur. Originally, I was a software engineering intern with them whilst I was at college, but eventually I secured a permanent role as a software engineer. It was a good experience for my first job.

Cool! So, what brought you to Jaipur and Peak?

Well, I was born and brought up in Jaipur, and finished off my education in the city itself. I then left for two years to work in Noida, and I was glad to have been coming back home. I have always been interested in emerging trends of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is why Peak, being a product-based AI company, stood out to me. Everything else really fell into place with the interview process, where the scope of my learnings resonated really well with my interests.

What university did you go to in Jaipur?

I went to MNIT for my Bachelors in Computer Science. It’s a pretty renowned property, established in 1963 with the name as Malaviya Regional Engineering College, initially as a joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of Rajasthan. The Institute is fully funded by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. It has produced some great graduates since its establishment…including myself, haha!

Obviously India is such an amazing place, but have you got any favorite areas you’d recommend?

Well to start with let’s say, I haven’t explored India the way I would have liked yet – and, clearly, there were some travel plans I had for 2020 and we all know what happened to them! But, choosing a favorite place from my brief travelling experience is a cake walk.

I happened to be in Himachal Pradesh a couple of years ago. It was an impromptu trip with my friends, and ended up being one of the most amazing and memorable holidays of my life. We went on a trek to McLeodganj, which is the Promised Land for those who dream of visiting hill stations. Located in the suburbs of Dharamshala, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, this one of the popular tourist attractions that offers mesmerizing views of the mountains. I’d also like to give a special mention of a trip I had with my family to some parts of Maharashtra like Nashik, Shirdi, Mumbai. It was fun.

Have you travelled outside of India yet? If not, what’s on your list?

No not yet, but given a chance, I would definitely love to go to France – simply because no matter how aimlessly you wander in that country, the chances are you’ll end up somewhere magical. Imagine! To me, it’s beauty at its best. I have also heard that Manchester isn’t too bad either?! But, on a serious note, I do wish to visit the Peak headquarters someday!

That would be great! So, tell us about your hobbies outside of work?

I don’t have too many hobbies really, I am open to everything. In my free time, I like to read articles, go for walks, things like that! To be honest, I’m a bit of an introvert at heart, so I like to be in my own space, read my own stuff and watch a good series on Netflix, that sort of thing. Surprising for some people, I’d never watched Friends before, so that’s what I’m into at the moment.

Wow, you’re in for a treat! Thanks for chatting to us today Parul, and we’ll hopefully see you at Peak HQ before too long!

If you enjoyed this blog and getting to know Parul, then feel free to meet other members of the team below ?