Smruti Patel is the SVP of Engineering at Apollo GraphQL, where she leads the charge in building highly performant APIs at scale. With more than two decades of experience, she previously transformed Stripe's Data Platform organization, scaling the team from 30 people to nearly 180 while bringing dozens of discrete products under its umbrella. Her journey includes 11 years at VMware building enterprise disaster recovery solutions and pioneering cloud-based data protection initiatives. Known for her "shift left" engineering philosophy and systems thinking approach, Smruti has mastered the art of building critical infrastructure that ensures security, reliability, and efficiency for global businesses.

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Chapters

• (00:00:00 ) - Introduction and Guest Welcome
• (00:01:10 ) - Smruti's Role at Apollo GraphQL
• (00:02:22 ) - Smruti's Origin Story and Early Career
• (00:04:47 ) - Navigating Career Challenges and Growth
• (00:08:19 ) - Building a Network and Personal Brand
• (00:18:13 ) - Evolving Engineering Leadership
• (00:25:46 ) - Measuring Engineering Success
• (00:27:10 ) - The Role of AI in Engineering
• (00:32:35 ) - AI's Impact on Junior Engineers
• (00:36:27 ) - Transitioning to Senior Leadership
• (00:41:48 ) - The Importance of Mentorship and Sponsorship
• (00:44:06 ) - Balancing Leadership and Personal Life
• (00:47:32 ) - Final Thoughts and Advice