Fairygodboss Of The Week Bella Kazwell

Fairygodanfhrer Of The Week Bella Kazwell Fairygodboss of the Week Bella KazwellWeb Engineering Lead, AsanaSan Francisco, CAFGB Tell us about your career. How did you get to wherbeie you are now?BK When I welches in high school, I took Computer Science classes which I really enjoyed. Then I found a Java class at the Harvard Extension School and at the end of the class the professor posted an internship opportunity at Nortel Networks that I applied for and got. That was pretty amazing, since during the interview my future boss asked me if I had used Linux before, I said I havent, but I think its a programming language. Its not. But not to worry First day on the job, he gave me a Linux manual to read.After that, I went to Carnegie Mellon and majored in Computer Science. Interesting fact my year was the second year the entering Computer Science class contained more women than men named Andrew. After graduation, I went to Google. During kollektiv placement I told them I loved Gmail, but I also noticed that there were no ads for foreign language searches and Id like to help with that, and so they placed me on the Internationalization team. This ended up a being a really good experience -- I had a very good mentor, who made me feel very comfortable as an engineer and also taught me useful soft skills that I hadnt learned in college -- for example, how to ask for technical help. Gmail was always my true love, so I switched to that team two years later. It was so much fun working on the team and building the product I used every day. Four years in, I decided it was time for something new, so I joined Asana.My goal was to join a team that would be as much fun as my current team but also where I could learn to be a better engineer. I got that and so much more. I started out as an individual contributor, and just as at Google, it took me some time to get comfortable writing code here. Once I got my footing, I asked to be a tech lead, and I got to do that. I then had my so n and went on maternity leave. My goal when coming back was not to regress in what I had accomplished. But instead, I ended up growing so much more than I expected. My manager asked me to be an intern mentor, which actually was the first time I had an intern since up till then, I had worried that I wasnt good enough to mentor one.Thankfully my manager was confident in my ability (and also had heard of impostor syndrome). I really enjoyed mentoring, and since at Asana a big part of being a manager is coaching, I asked to take on that role. A few months later I became a manager, and then a year later a lead for our web engineering team. My new role is very different from what Ive done before, but its always fun to start from scratch and learn a new skill. I have also been enjoying establishing relationships with my team members and watching them grow.FGB What is a challenge that youve faced and overcome?BK I have a really hard time giving feedback. I got away with it as an individual contributor since Id just suffer in silence. As a manager I learned that I cant use the same avoidance tactic. I had to learn the hard way I ended up giving someone really tough feedback and caught them by surprise since Id never mentioned anything before.Lightning RoundFGB What do you do when youre not working?BK Build train tracks with my son.FGB If you could have dinner with one famous person - dead or alive - who would it be?BK Virginia WoolfFGB What is your favorite movie?BK Under The Tuscan SunFGB What book would you take with you on a desert island?BK Fried Green TomatoesFGB What is your shopping vice? What would you buy if you won the lottery?BK Lots and lots of fancy pots and pans, and a big kitchen to put them all in.FGB Who is your Fairygodboss?BK My friend and former coworker, Samantha Lemonnier. I met Samantha early on in my career at Google and she has always been an inspiration. She has shown me that its possible to have a family and succeed at work. She has recently told me to figure out what it is I want as my next career step and as for it, and this is how I ended up in my new role. Fairygodboss is all about women helping other women - so each week, we celebrate a woman who made a difference in another womans career. Is there a woman who has made a difference in your career? Celebrate her and thank her by nominating her here.