SDE — II (Backend) Shaheera Bano came to Meesho for the resellers, and in one year, gained confidence, acquired new skills and built a work fam
Shaheera Bano got onboard the Meesho rocketship in April 2019 as a Software Development Engineer — I (SDE-1). At the time she was driven by primarily one fact — Meesho helping many women across the country, who do not have autonomy over their own lives, to gain financial independence.
Now, over a year later, this Visakhapatnam-native is not only tangibly contributing to the success of these women, but has also been able to expand her own horizon at Meesho. Shaheera is part of the tech team as an SDE — II (Backend) and is proud of the fact that she is capable of taking end-to-end care of every project that she takes on, exhibiting one of Meesho’s core values — Take Ownership.
Want to learn more about Shaheera and her life at Meesho? Then read on.
At Meesho, I am part of a team that focuses on Manifestation. Basically, when a reseller places an order, our job begins. We take care of the logistics and manifest the shipment with one of our carrier partners. Whenever one of our suppliers is ready to ship their products, we manifest the product with the best, most cost-effective carriers, who then deliver it to the customer. That is the flow of events, and our job is also to track the shipment and ensure at every stage that we are on schedule.
Is it picked up? Is it on the way? Is it reaching on time? When is it reaching the various points enroute? When will it be delivered? If it is delivered, is the customer asking for a return or refund? If yes, then we manifest for that process as well.
One of the highlights of my career at Meesho has been the introduction of the two-part journey plan. Before, we have always had one carrier who picks up the product and delivers to the end customer, but last year we started working with international suppliers and carriers. In this “break journey” we organised for our international carrier to pick up products from China and get it delivered to Delhi, and for another carrier to pick it up from Delhi and deliver it to end customers. This was my first major project, and I am so proud of being given the opportunity to work on it.
From hesitation to taking charge
When I joined Meesho last year, I was not very confident about my work, especially since I was not familiar with programming languages such as PHP, Redis and MongoDB at the time. Before Meesho, I used to work at Target, which was my first ever job. Seeing as it was an MNC, I did not get the opportunity to actually Deep Dive and Solve Problems like I do now at Meesho.
I understand the system better now, and am confidently able to take on more responsibilities than before. It has to be said that my very, very helpful teammates played a huge role in this. They were extremely patient with me at the beginning, which is why now, I am able to single handedly do my tasks without seeking their help.
One of my biggest mottos in life aligns with the Meesho core value — Take Ownership. Every task I take up, I do it to the best of my ability and I take accountability for its journey from the beginning to the end. This is not to say that I do not take feedback or refuse any help, but my work is my baby, so I ensure it is done with perfection.
When it hits close to home
I am very appreciative of the work I get to do at Meesho because it has a direct impact on the success of our resellers (Make Resellers Successful is Meesho’s true north and a core value). And after all, one of the biggest reasons I joined Meesho is because I love the strong social cause the company is attached to.
Meesho is helping so many people who need a leg up in life. I personally know a lot of women who have restrictions placed on them, they are not permitted to go out and work. The reasons they are given are flimsy too, be it “you will have to interact with outsiders”, or “you won’t have many female colleagues”, or “what will people say?” or “I earn enough, you don’t have to work”. Unfortunately this is far too common a problem faced by way too many women in India, and Meesho is a boon for them all.
My parents are extremely proud of the work that I do and about the fact that I work at Meesho.The last time I met her, my mother insisted on learning all about Meesho and I even showed her how the app works.
Meesho has been great for my career as well, because this is the first place I got to truly learn and expand my knowledge. After completing my Btech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) with the National Institute of Technology in Calicut, I got a job at Target through campus placement in 2017. So, having pursued a degree in EEE, I had to learn all about software engineering on the job and it is around that time that I learned coding and started taking part in competitive coding.
However, Meesho is where I truly honed my skills, and along with it, also gained a work family. Because of the lockdown, I miss having lunch with them and sharing a few laughs with them. I also really, really miss attending our weekly All Hands meetings in person. So, I for one, am really looking forward to being back in office after the lockdown is over.
Are you following us on social media yet? You might want to head over to Life at Meesho’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages if you are a fan of fun and positivity.
