Meet Ana, Senior Manager of Software Development at Hootsuite
For many of us, finding a career we’re truly passionate about is a long journey, involving a lot of trial and error, until we end up where we want to be. It’s not every day that we find our true passion and turn it into a career, but when that happens, it’s magical. 🌟
Ana Ramdas, our Senior Manager of Software Development, found this passion early, during her first job writing code with a telecom billing software company. For her, nothing beats the feeling of knowing someone somewhere in the world is currently being impacted by code that she wrote.
This passion took Ana through an impressive career spanning two decades in software development, where she worked in many different industries and cities, including Miami, Edmonton, Houston, and now Vancouver. In 2021, she made the leap from working in energy to social media SaaS. We sat down with her to learn about her journey and what she’s building at Hootsuite.
What made you make the move from Texas to Vancouver? How did you adapt to this change?
I have always believed that you are in control of your own destiny and that there are no shortcuts in life. Several years ago, I visited Vancouver for a holiday and as I stood in the middle of downtown and saw the beautiful views of the snow-capped mountains all around me, I told myself I would move here one day and make this my forever home.
And one day, my dream did come true — the opportunity to join a tech company in Vancouver. Hootsuite was a perfect professional fit that aligned so well with my career aspirations and my personal goal of relocating to Vancouver.
Now four months into living in Vancouver, I wake up every morning feeling a great sense of gratitude and am living my best life. The weather is perfect and I enjoy exploring beautiful trails and the breathtaking views of the mountains, lakes, and streams while hiking with my dogs. Everyone at Hootsuite has been so warm and welcoming and has made it so easy for me to onboard and integrate not just into the organization but into the city as well, despite being remote. And did I mention that Hootsuite is dog friendly?! Need I say more!
You’re currently building out a large team. How does this team fit into the Hootsuite ecosystem, and what impact does it have?
I’m the senior development manager for the channel integrations (CI) and machine learning (ML) teams within the product infrastructure (PIF) portfolio here at Hootsuite.
The channel integrations team is the largest team that I manage and has two squads, each with its own dev managers. “Channels,” in this context, means the various social networks Hootsuite integrates with: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and so on.
The services my team is responsible for are critical, and include authentication, as well as providing an ingress and egress layer for interacting with these social networks. In addition to this, as a platform/foundation team, we have multiple portfolios within Hootsuite that have dependencies on us. We are looking to ramp this team up to be adequately staffed over the next year to be able to scale as the organization grows, to support the addition of more channels and to be an enabler for all portfolios to achieve their goals.
An important part of building a successful team is fostering diversity and inclusion. How do you lead inclusive teams?
For me, being an inclusive leader means leading with empathy. It means active listening, letting people be heard, being aware of bias, and being humble. As a leader, you need to be self-aware and promote the inclusive values and traits you practice within your team.
By asking open-ended questions, challenging preconceived notions, and encouraging diverse thinking, I try to create an environment where every team member feels empowered, valued, and respected. I don’t shy away from having difficult or uncomfortable conversations, and I challenge people to push themselves to bring out their best side. It is rewarding to see people achieve beyond what they thought were their limits.
Tell us three reasons why someone would want to join Hootsuite’s software development team and three reasons why they wouldn’t.
Why this could be the team for you:
- You value continuous learning and self-improvement. As a software developer at Hootsuite, there is ample space and opportunity for creativity and innovation, with a rich environment for continuous learning and challenges to stretch our technical skills.
- You’re looking for a company with a strong culture and values. I am honored to be part of an organization that is empathetic at every level. Hootsuite has gone above and beyond in initiatives that involve the promotion of our employees’ well-being and mental health. To name a few: Wellness Week, Owly time (where we get Friday afternoons off for the summer!), our many community and social impact initiatives, and a culture built on inclusion.
- You want to grow in your career. At Hootsuite, there is a well-defined, objective process for each employee’s career progression path. The opportunities to grow within the organization are transparent and peeps have regular conversations with their managers about their aspirations and interests.
Why this may not be the team for you:
- You don’t enjoy problem-solving. Our developers use their technical and analytical skills and create solutions autonomously.
- You aren’t self-driven and motivated. We are constantly looking for ways to go fast and be agile — and need you to be motivated to find a better way.
- You don’t want to be part of a respectful and inclusive team. Our teams live our guiding principles day in and day out, and we expect everyone to step up and make Hootsuite a place where everyone feels safe and empowered.
What advice do you have for women wanting to advance their careers into a leadership role in tech?
We need more strong female leaders in tech! Here are a few pieces of advice I have:
- Be fearless! Ask questions and don’t hesitate to ask for help. Know that you are not alone and never second-guess yourself or feel intimidated. 💪
- Aim high and beyond all barriers. Step outside your comfort zone. Take risks and trust your instincts. 🧠
- Be your authentic self. Be humble enough to admit what you don’t know, but be hungry enough to always learn and take the time to keep your technical skills up to date. 📝
- Have clear, concise, and regular conversations about your career aspirations. Be open about your goals with your managers and HR teams, and constantly look for opportunities where you can learn and develop skills for your next role. 🗣
Most importantly, being a leader means being passionate about enabling other people to succeed, allowing them to see their potential, and taking pride in their success. It’s not about seeking individual accolades — those will come (in abundance) when those you coach shine and succeed.
Interested in working with Ana? Our software development team is hiring across the globe🌎 in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, United Kingdom, Belgium, Romania, and Italy, for both remote and office-based roles. Apply here.
