Tech Talks at Dineout — In Conversation with QA Lead, Chhavi Garg
This blog post is a part of our interview series “Tech Talks at Dineout” where we talk about and to the great bunch of engineers at Dineout and understand their work, their experience, and their journey at Dineout.
Chhavi Garg is a QA lead at Dineout. She has been working with Dineout for the past 7 years. She initially joined Times Internet for their project, Times City. Around the same time, Times Internet acquired Dineout and Chhavi was eventually moved to this diagonal. She talks about her tremendous growth with the team here. She says that there is a lot to be explored yet.
Apart from her 9–5, Chhavi is currently enjoying motherhood with her adorable 2-year-old daughter. While parenting has taken much of her time and sleep, she still tries to take out some time for music, reading, yoga and going for a drive.
Favourite food: Currently Indo-Chinese
Food that you would like to try: Authentic Asian cuisine
What got you interested in the field of tech and what keeps you going in the field?
I come from a business family where no one has ever been inclined towards the job culture. I am one of the first ones in my family to get a 9–5 job. Right from my high school days, I kind of was sure that I want to pursue and work in the field of tech. The dynamic and ever-evolving nature of this field keeps me going. There is continuous learning here. I get a sense of independence from this sector.
Why Dineout?
Dineout happened by luck. As I mentioned earlier it is a continuous learning process here and that is what makes it fun. I have been here for seven years which is a good amount of time to see yourself and any company grow. I have seen a tremendous amount of change within myself over these years as a professional. I work with a group of fun and understanding people. Even the higher management is very receptive to feedback and suggestions. It is like a big family.
I have also developed my management and people skills here. Mentoring and getting mentored is the core of what we do here. Exploring is a key part of my journey here.
Favourite Project
It is a tough pick but I guess I would say the first and the second GIRF. It was quite an adrenaline rush working on it. In the initial chapters of GIRF, it was no less than a hackathon. I remember sitting with two of my colleagues at four in the morning just about to release a code. I still remember that day very clearly, it was raining cats and dogs. As we were just on back to back calls with other team members, we encountered a critical bug. We didn’t know what to do for a moment. After a few hours, our colleagues started pouring into the office. We locked ourselves in a meeting room and navigated our way through this issue.
Initially, it was just an idea and a test project. It is interesting to see how it has taken its course over the years. I think we have even worked for 16–18 hours a day to make this idea a reality. The excitement to ship this was way too much.
When the first ‘Predict & Win’ was a test project, we faced quite some challenges too. I guess that is what makes these projects fun. I remember one of the challenging projects we did was the transition of Gourmet Passport to Dineout Passport.
What does your average day look like here?
We have a couple of standard calls in the first half of the day. Since I am in the QA team, I am present on different calls with various teams throughout the day. There are grooming calls. I help my team throughout the day in case they are stuck with an issue. It’s an ongoing process. A quality amount of time is spent with team members and resolving any issues that we as a team encounter. It is a fulfilling day with a good amount of balance. After these calls, I usually start with my designated work and yes, that’s about it.
How did you keep up with the pandemic, motherhood and your job role?
My daughter was born in 2020 (February). I was on maternity leave when the first wave began. It was initially quite a problem and hassle. I joined the office back around August and work from home culture was very different to me. People around me were working in the work from home setting since March and they had gotten a hang of all the online meetings and interactions. But it felt very new to me.
There were initial hiccups as I am always used to sitting around people and getting work done. I did miss the candid interactions. My team was welcoming and slowly I got a hang of it.
But, remote working has helped me a lot with my motherhood. I am able to spend time with my daughter and I get the needed rest and work done. My team has been patient and helpful. I miss meeting them and having a good conversation.
