Janani Vasudevan

As a young girl, Janani Vasudevan’s parents made one thing clear. To set herself up for success in life, she would need an education in a career she was passionate about. The field she picked did not matter, so long as she selected something she could excel in and become the absolute best.

When it came to school, Janani had the wisdom of her parents lingering in the background. In 10th grade, her father brought a computer home for Janani, a big screened, unassembled, monochromatic hunk of tech. By summer she joined a computer programming class. She learned BASIC on her own and theory from teachers. When she was home, she could freely tap into her creativity. She produced a moving animation of a person whose eyes could move back and forth. Thrilled with her design, she showed her parents. They were impressed. It was then, her desire to code moved from a hobby to her desired career. Gleaning wisdom from her family, Janani pursed higher education in Computer Science and Engineering.

Janani landed her first role with Microsoft in India. It was not long before she was exposed to managing a team and a few years later, she moved stateside to join the company in Redmond. Janani was approached by her manager to help with the team’s increased workload by managing two teams. She was confident in her skills as a leader and she prioritized the growth of each team member, be a clear leader in the space she owned, most importantly to get the job done with the support of her team.

To stay sharp and on top of trends, Janani is constantly brushing up on new tech. She focuses on building solutions that have immediate impact on customers. Being able to work alongside her customers so she can receive feedback and get eyes in places she would not normally have access to is extremely rewarding. With this partnership, she helps her customers achieve lasting solutions. She feels there is nothing more rewarding professionally than knowing her solutions are making a difference for her customers and her team.

Janani believes one of the biggest benefits of working in CSE is the real-time customer feedback because working directly with customers helps CSE stay grounded in what they do. No matter how cool they think the tech is, if it’s not adding value to the customer, they don’t do it. It’s the best way to stay humble.