Every month, we interview an Uplight employee to get to know more about what they do at Uplight, why they love working here, and what inspired them to get into this industry! This month, I chat with Archana Jain, an employee in our Pune, India office.
What do you do for Uplight and what location do you work in?
I am part of the Engineering Squad in Pune, India. We are responsible for customer data onboarding (data-ingestion) for new and old tenants on our Home Energy Report platform. I have been part of this team for six months. We ensure that customer data provided is validated, transformed, and loaded. This allows downstream systems to use the data for analytics and machine learning purposes. Prior to this project, I was with FirstFuel for 10 years. During this period I worked on many projects such as Salesforce integration, analytical model integration, and ECM generation.
What is the most rewarding or interesting thing about working with people across the globe?
I find it very interesting that each team member brings different strengths, creativity, ideas, and global experiences to the table. This helps us to build better products and improve customer experience. Not only is our global team fast paced, but we make progress around the clock.
Despite time zone differences, people are highly collaborative and cooperative.These experiences are conducive to personal growth as well.
What do you find most exciting or rewarding about working for Uplight?
The mission, thought process, initiative, and leadership of the company is inspiring. I feel our mission is rewarding in terms of personal and professional growth while working with a talented team and learning new technologies.
How does the work you do contribute towards creating a more sustainable future and better customer energy experiences?
The customer experience starts with data ingestion. Our team is working hard to make this a smooth and great experience for our new and old customers. While providing this experience we have to deal with big data challenges such as variety, volume, velocity, veracity, and quality. We are striving hard to make our system predictable and scalable. Data ingestion is the foundation for all the other components and ultimately helps utility customers save energy.
How did you get into this work?
I am a Software Engineer with 15+ years of experience. I have worked in insurance, logistics, and energy. It gives me immense satisfaction and pride that I am contributing to the global cause – saving energy and improving our planet by working at Uplight.
What has been your favorite project so far at Uplight?
Almost all projects that I worked on during my tenure at Uplight have been great, but if I had to pick one then it would be the non-residential Salesforce implementation. The Salesforce project had many challenges such as a new platform and technology, it was more business oriented, and involved completely different terminology. Every phase of the project was a new learning experience for me, and it enabled me to interact with my colleagues globally.
What is one thing that has most surprised you about working here?
I am amazed to see the professionalism in every team member of this global team and I see people supporting each other through these great qualities every day. Uplighters share knowledge, respond promptly to help others, are willing to improve processes, strive to make the product better, and account for time zone differences by taking late night or early morning calls.
