Prerna Dhareshwar
What does your typical day look like at Instrumental?
A typical day for me begins with checking my slack to see what to keep top of mind as I start my day. There is also always an interesting discussion thread – either about new/ existing features or engineering design choices – from which I get to learn technical details behind different decisions. After that I complete any pull request (PR) reviews I have pending from the previous day.
With general housekeeping for the day completed, I begin working on tasks that I have for the current sprint. (The engineering team at Instrumental works in 2 week sprint cycles where we take on different tasks of varying scope in that time period.) My tasks from sprint to sprint vary widely and this helps me utilize and develop many different skills. Some examples of what my tasks look like are as follows:
- Scoping and brainstorming new project ideas
- Designing labeling strategies and tools for users
- Training, monitoring and visualizing ML models for specific computer vision tasks
- Improving existing workflows and clearing any built up tech debt
- Gathering feedback and sharing results with various stakeholders on projects
Overall the collaboration and variety of the tasks is exciting and makes each day different from the last.
Why did you choose Instrumental?
As someone at the cusp of Millenials and Gen Zers, climate change and environmental impact is constantly on my mind. At Instrumental I saw the opportunity to have my work positively impact the environment. The manufacturing industry is famously known for its high rate of waste generation and Instrumental helps ease that by catching defects early and optimizing manufacturing. This was one of the biggest reasons I chose Instrumental. Meeting the people who worked at Instrumental was also a huge motivator for me. The people here are intelligent, kind and wonderful to collaborate with.
Tell us one thing that people may not know about you.
Many of my biggest hobbies are ones I picked up as an adult! I love climbing, snowboarding, backpacking and general outdoorsy things, most of which I only started over the age of 22.
Since joining Instrumental, what has been your favorite memory working here?
Winstrumental is the Women’s ERG at Instrumental that organizes a wide range of events throughout the year. One of my favorite memories is when we had a social event at a trampoline park organized by Winstrumental. It was really fun just jumping around for a few hours and getting to know the other women who work with me a little better.
What is your favorite Instrumental Slack channel and why?
#we-love-pets is easily my favorite Slack channel. People post pictures of their adorable pets doing things and as a self proclaimed animal lover, this channel is heaven to me.
What do you like most about your job?
Machine Learning (ML) is fascinating to me, and having worked in this field for a few years now, the magic has still not worn off. Being able to bring ML solutions to real world problems and creating true value is the best part of my job. Getting to do this with intelligent, driven and kind people is just the cherry on top.
