Today’s Woman in Tech: Akila Narain, Director, Technical Program Management at Meta
Akila Narain is a Director, Technical Program Management for Portal at Meta. As head of the Technical Program Management (TPM) function, Narain supports a team of TPMs who run the planning, execution and shipping of Meta Portal video calling devices.
Prior to Meta, Narain was Manager, Fire OS TPM at Amazon where she was responsible for the TPM team that delivered Fire OS firmware for Amazon Echo, Fire TV and Fire Tablet products. She also held development and business consulting positions for a variety of top technology companies in Silicon Valley. Narain holds a Bachelor of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering from Pondicherry University, India.
When did you become interested in technology? What first got you interested in tech?
I started my career as an engineer coding for mainframes, but after about seven years, I pivoted into a sales role, pitching software as a service to Silicon Valley companies.
I wanted to get out from behind the scenes to be on the frontline, understanding the business better and building relationships. But when I went out on sales calls, I kind of felt like an uninvited guest who had to convince the people on the other side of the table why I was there and why they needed my product. It was a stark difference from being an engineer, where people — even company leaders — would seek me out for my opinion and expertise.
After about three years, I realized that my true passion was in bringing a concept to life and decided to switch back to engineering.
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-narain-177614.html
Akila Narain is a Director, Technical Program Management for Portal at Meta. As head of the Technical Program Management (TPM) function, Narain supports a team of TPMs who run the planning, execution and shipping of Meta Portal video calling devices.
Prior to Meta, Narain was Manager, Fire OS TPM at Amazon where she was responsible for the TPM team that delivered Fire OS firmware for Amazon Echo, Fire TV and Fire Tablet products. She also held development and business consulting positions for a variety of top technology companies in Silicon Valley. Narain holds a Bachelor of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering from Pondicherry University, India.
When did you become interested in technology? What first got you interested in tech?
I started my career as an engineer coding for mainframes, but after about seven years, I pivoted into a sales role, pitching software as a service to Silicon Valley companies.
I wanted to get out from behind the scenes to be on the frontline, understanding the business better and building relationships. But when I went out on sales calls, I kind of felt like an uninvited guest who had to convince the people on the other side of the table why I was there and why they needed my product. It was a stark difference from being an engineer, where people — even company leaders — would seek me out for my opinion and expertise.
After about three years, I realized that my true passion was in bringing a concept to life and decided to switch back to engineering.
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-narain-177614.html
