Akanksha Gupta: An Accomplished Software Engineer (Manager), Championing Women’s Inclusion in STEM Fields

The software engineering industry is known for its competitiveness and exponential growth in recent times. It is not easy to make a name for oneself in this field, but Akanksha Gupta, a renowned software engineer, has managed to do so with her remarkable accomplishments in the industry. She is widely recognized for her unique skill sets and vision, which has made her a leader in the software engineering management space. Born and raised in Delhi, India, Akanksha’s passion for science and technology started when she was exposed to computers at a young age of seven when her father brought a computer home. This ignited her curiosity and love for technology, which only grew as she honed her skills and pursued higher education in computer science. Akanksha holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from India and a master’s degree in Computer Science from Columbia University in the city of New York.

The Integral Customer Obsession

Akanksha started her career with Microsoft, where she worked with global clients on cloud modernization. Her next stint was with Audible, where she worked as a backend software engineer and quickly rose through the ranks. She played a critical role in revamping the existing legacy promotion capabilities to make use of flexible promotions to introduce new ways to engage with customers. Her work led to a ~57% reduction in year-over-year promotions-based escalations to the customer support team. She also helped educate best practices across all marketing teams and established governance and center of excellence for promotions capability globally. She focused on global expansion of promotions capability on Audible’s newer markets at the time, Japan, Canada, Spain, and India, with global parity in mind.

At Robinhood, Akanksha led the successful implementation and launch of the Shareholder Question & Answer experience in the Robinhood app, all the way from integration strategy to technical execution plan for the product with iterative milestones. It was a significant development as it was one of the first social features introduced in the financial trading platform, aimed at democratizing finance for all and giving everyday investors a voice. She also worked on adding fundamental data to crypto detail pages in the app, which helped novice customers make considerate decisions when investing in crypto, resulting in an increase of over 45% in the viewership of crypto investment pages.

Currently, Akanksha works as a software engineering manager with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help support the sales and marketing global organization by building automated and powerful segmentation tooling for customers. She is also involved in hiring potential employees and associated with inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Akanksha Gupta: a coach and mentor to software engineers and managers

Akanksha values the people aspect of her work and believes that mentors and sponsors in life helps one grow professionally and personally. “Be approachable for your team members and peers”, Akanksha states. She is actively involved in mentoring platforms like First Round Fastrack, Growth Mentor, PlatoHQ, and Gotara Senior STEM advisor. She is a huge advocate for women in technology and has actively mentored 8+ women engineers to pursue leadership roles. She has delivered several talks around technology and women in science at various platforms to spread her knowledge. Her work has been recognized by the British Computer Society, who awarded her a Fellowship.

Her most recent achievement, the launch of her book ‘Think like a Software Engineering Manager‘, is a testament to her expertise in the field. The book provides valuable insights into the challenges faced by software engineers as they transition into leadership roles. It has received exceptional feedback from the community, highlighting its relevance to current and aspiring software engineering leaders.

Akanksha’s passion for technology and her commitment to supporting women in science and technology has led her to become a role model for many. She understands the challenges faced by women in technology and has been actively working towards creating a more inclusive environment. As a software engineer, Akanksha has proven her ability to think out of the box and execute on her vision. She has been a driving force behind the success of several software engineering projects, demonstrating her attention to detail and perseverance. Her contributions to the field of software engineering have been widely recognized, making her a highly respected figure in the industry.

Overall, Akanksha Gupta’s life is a testament to her dedication and passion for software engineering. Her efforts in supporting women in science and technology are inspiring, and her professional accomplishments have set the bar high for aspiring software engineering leaders.