Inside Meraki Engineering — A Culture of Bravery
At Meraki, engineers are empowered to build intuitive and secure technology, drive global connectivity, and ensure safe and lightning-fast data transfer. Our ongoing series, Inside Meraki Engineering, highlights the experience of working at Meraki, the culture of our engineering teams, and how engineers make magic for our customers. Welcome–we’re happy you’re here.
For this series of Inside Meraki Engineering, we interviewed Syamala Swarna, QA (Quality Assurance) Automation Engineer on the Meraki Switch Team in India, who delves into the intricacies of her role and the culture of bravery at Meraki.
Syamala Swarna, QA (Quality Assurance) Automation Engineer on the Meraki Switch Team, Bangalore, India
As an engineer on the Meraki switch team, which projects do you work on?
My team and I are responsible for testing the automated functions of products before they are released to customers. We validate the build of the Meraki switch products and ensure the features work perfectly. Our validation process enables us to confidently offer Meraki switch products to the public.
How would you describe the culture of the Meraki engineering India team?
At Meraki, we embrace the value of ‘Be Brave,’ which fosters a culture that celebrates courage. Our leaders motivate us to take risks, tackle challenges head-on, and explore innovative ideas. We’re empowered to experiment, test new concepts, and learn from mistakes or failures. This autonomy enables us to push boundaries, refine strategies, and ultimately uncover what leads to success. The culture of bravery at Meraki is unique and distinguished from other company cultures I’ve experienced. Everyone on the Meraki engineering team is friendly, caring, and collaborative. We all care about the products and each other.
What do you love most about your position?
Most significantly, I love the culture of the engineering team at Meraki. I am comfortable openly sharing my opinions, and I feel seen, heard, and valued for who I am. Testing software is engaging, complex, and multi-faceted. I find great satisfaction in networking, debugging, and troubleshooting. As an engineer, I’m constantly considering factors like functionality, performance, and security. It’s exciting to understand the vast range of Meraki devices and to determine the application’s performance. I thoroughly enjoy and embrace these aspects of my work.
How do you make an impact at Meraki?
As a product tester, my primary objective is to identify and fix any issues within our products. To accomplish this, my team and I always consider customer feedback and market trends so that we can determine how to drive innovation. By debugging products and testing new features, my team and I ensure the quality of Meraki technology. In doing so, we help Meraki fulfill its promise to our customers.
If a candidate were considering accepting an engineering role at Meraki India, what differentiating factor would you tell them about the team?
Meraki is a great company for various reasons. Since Meraki is a tech giant, engineers are positioned to make a significant impact on a large scale. Additionally, Meraki implements the most cutting-edge technology and trains engineers on the latest advancements. By learning and using the newest technology, we’re not only empowered to expand our skills, we’re also equipped to build industry-leading products for our customers. Another distinguishing feature of Meraki engineering is the versatile Meraki dashboard, which is unique because it accommodates multi-platform devices and holds the potential to integrate all devices, including Cisco products, onto a unified platform in the future.
Interested in career opportunities with Cisco Meraki? Check out our careers site!
