Meet Laura Warr, Senior Software Engineer

Life at Plotly: People & Culture Blog #24

Why did you choose to work at Plotly?

I was drawn to Plotly because of the work being done by the Engineering team — particularly generating full-blown Dash apps from a user’s notebook. I was interested in the approach that Plotly had taken to parse arbitrary Python code; it aligned with some work I had been doing in a previous role, and it’s not often you see companies tackling problems in this space.

What do you do at Plotly?

I’m part of the Plotly Engineering team, where our mission is to build products that help users go from raw data to fully functional apps as effortlessly as possible. As an engineer, my role involves solving technical challenges, as well as designing and implementing creative solutions to make that journey delightful and efficient.

What three words describe your Plotly experience?

Can I use four? “Cool projects, smart people”.

During my time at Plotly, there’s been no shortage of interesting projects to work on, and I’m constantly learning new things from my peers on the team.

What’s your favorite work-from-home snack or beverage?

I always start my day with green tea to energize my brain, and after our morning standup, I enjoy a black coffee.

If you were to describe Plotly as a color or a flavor, what would it be and why?

Plotly purple comes to mind.

What skill are you most proud of developing?

I’ve had the chance to work across a wide range of projects, which really helped me build the skill of diving into new technical areas quickly and contributing meaningfully.

What’s your favorite part about working at Plotly?

The problems we solve at Plotly are incredibly interesting — especially as we dive deeper into AI. We’re tackling challenges that are cutting-edge in the industry, and it’s exciting to be at a company that fully embraces AI instead of hesitating about it.

How has Plotly shaped your perspective on remote work or data visualization?

Working at Plotly has shown me how powerful remote collaboration can be. The team is truly distributed, and it’s amazing how seamlessly we work across time zones in a flexible and respectful way.

Favorite item from the Plotly swag collection?

The socks are great — and the purple holiday plant. How often do you see a purple plant?

Most memorable team activity?

Our Engineering team onsite last year was great — it’s always nice to connect with the team in person after working together virtually every day. The trip had lots of highlights, but one of my favorites was playing the game “DaDaDa” with the team.

Favorite way to connect with the team remotely?

We kick off every standup with 10 minutes of water cooler chat. More often than not, the conversation is quite random, but it’s a fun way to connect outside of work discussions.

What’s your favorite hobby?

Most days, I’m either mountain biking or trail running with my dog Oakley — she keeps me accountable, even on the rainy days.

Any impactful reading or learning lately?

Recently I’ve been enjoying some of the short courses on DeepLearning.AI. They have a wide range of AI topics, and it’s been a great resource to stay up to date in an industry that’s changing quickly.

How are you using AI at Plotly?

I use tools like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot daily. As a team, we’re constantly sharing new strategies for leveraging AI in our day-to-day workflows. More recently, the team has been exploring how we can go beyond prototypes and build production-quality software with AI.

Proudest accomplishments at Plotly?

Over the past year, I’ve contributed to several exciting projects and internal processes. Although I’m especially excited about some of the new features the team will be releasing in the next few months. Stay tuned!

Interested in joining our Engineering Team? View our open positions.