Four Ways to Grow Your Engineering Career at Appian Chennai

Since joining Appian a year ago as a Manager of Software Development on our Automated Regression Testing squad, we’ve grown from four to eight people. But growth doesn’t just mean increasing the number of people on the team, it’s about how each individual can grow and learn differently. 

With over 14 years of experience in test and test automation, I excel at tackling complex problems and devising innovative solutions and I’m passionate about helping people grow their careers and showcasing my teams’ talents here at Appian in Chennai. 

The kind of work we’ve been doing in the past year has changed drastically. We’re constantly technically challenging ourselves, exploring new technologies, and learning from teams at Appian in Chennai and worldwide. 

Here are four ways to grow your skills and career on the Engineering team in Chennai. 

My team leads the automation regression testing, which means we’re the last line of defense before everything reaches our customers. 

We’re focused on quality and always looking to improve how we work. For example, we’ve started working with other Engineering squads to convert some of the legacy test cases while identifying bugs and using the latest technology, since technology is always changing, and what was cutting edge a couple of years ago, is no longer the most exciting thing to work on. 

Now, we are building even more capabilities into our safety net for testing our product. My team has identified and automated areas like integration upgrades, end-to-end tests, and so many different features with AI capabilities. This is a motivator for me and my team because we’re always working on building new things. Part of our routine is constantly learning and growing through new projects.

If you’re passionate about a new impactful project that you want to try building, you can experiment during your “Indie Time.” This is dedicated learning time to focus on new projects. Once you’ve built a minimum viable product, you can showcase it to the Appian community at large and we may start testing it as a new feature. 

Last year, during an Engineering Hackathon at Appian one of our groups in Chennai created a new workflow to help run technical processes seamlessly without JIRA which was a big win for the Chennai team! They were a finalist among many teams of Appian colleagues across the world.

Additionally, Qualipalooza is an annual week-long event where we fully focus on quality-related projects and upgrades. These are events everyone in Engineering can contribute to, including our university hires and interns we welcomed to the Chennai team this year.

In Chennai, we’re a small, very close team and I love being part of this team, as well as my extended team of Appian around the world. There are many opportunities for growth here at Appian, including being able to travel internationally and learn in person. 

In April, I visited Appian HQ in Washington, D.C., to meet my colleagues and my manager in person, and attended Appian World. At the networking breakfast during Appian World, I got to meet with partners and hear firsthand how Appian is really making an impact in their work. It gave me a new perspective and appreciation of how Appian is making a difference for our customers.

Some of my friends on our Chennai Product team had worked on ProcureSite, a government acquisition product that was launched at Appian World. It was amazing to see how our work in Chennai translated to the bigger picture at this event. Being able to celebrate with the team at Appian World was an invaluable experience. 

When you join Appian Chennai, in your first few weeks you’ll be part of our Appian Academy training as part of the onboarding. In the Academy, you learn about how Appian works and create your first Appian app. It was a completely new experience for me and Appian has been unparalleled to any other organization I’ve worked with in India. 

Before I joined the Appian team, I hadn’t worked for a low-code technology company before. Appian captured my interest when I learned through my research it was a leader in the growing low-code industry. From my first few months, I knew this was a company that values ambition.

It’s a big learning curve! Now one year into working at Appian, I’ve seen how managers really care about your personal and professional growth, and it’s a fabulous workplace to grow your Engineering career.

Learn more about how Appian Chennai is growing and what to expect when you join the team.