The American Dream

This episode, Nabeel and Phil are joined by Director of Platform Networking at Netflix, Shweta Saraf. At Netflix, Shweta leads Platform Networking teams that are responsible for building various components of the network, like the cloud gateway, the cloud networking stack, network as service platform and service mesh.

Growing up in India, Shweta had the American Dream of traveling to the US and advancing her degree. Her dreams eventually came true and she became the first person in her family to move the US, which wasn’t an easy decision to make:

“[Moving away from India] is more common right now, but back then, there were all kinds of barriers or notions which tell you not to do that or stay back.”

Nabeel wonders in today’s day and age if India is experiencing the same problem as the US - are there not enough girls in the tech sector?

“I think there’s equal opportunity, assuming that you have certain means and financial resources, right? There's still a large section of the country which will not have that and there's still a sort of lack of opportunities there. But on the flip side, I also think India is such an advanced country when it comes to technology now that there are many opportunities within the country as well.”

Shweta expands on her journey of moving and describes why she wanted to come to America:

“I think the first thing was self-awareness, right? Like knowing I have something, I can change the world. And for me it was like, I need to acquire these skill sets to go do that. Which to me translated to an advanced degree because I had such a strong conviction in myself.

At the end of the episode, Shweta ponders what she would tell her younger self knowing what she knows today:

“I would say to her, well done you made us proud. But also don't be afraid to fail. Just live your life to the fullest - Don't let failure hold you back.”

Connect with Shweta on LinkedIn to learn more about her career journey: Shweta Saraf | LinkedIn