The CollPoll team is committed to cultivating an environment that fosters learning and growth within the organisation. We sat with one of our amazing peers, Santosh Sharma, who joined CollPoll as a Product Engineer and has recently become the Staff Engineer. Our conversation walks us through the ups and downs of his remarkable journey, as well as the opportunities for success and the lessons he has learned so far.
Let’s dive in to know more about him!
About Santosh!
Santosh joined CollPoll in 2019 as a Product Engineer II and has worked for more than three years now. Since the beginning, he has been an excellent support for the company, from being involved in some major product development to meeting partner requirements with outstanding products and always pushing the boundaries. As a team leader, he has always demonstrated dedication, hard work, and commitment to the organization.
What’s Your Story Behind Joining CollPoll?
After meeting the CollPoll team during the interviews, I really admired the work culture at the organization. I always wanted to explore a positive work culture where everyone supports each other and encourages others to do better. From the start, everyone in the team motivated me to learn more and perform better and that’s when I realized that joining CollPoll was the right decision.
I was expecting a challenging work environment and CollPoll has given me all the opportunities to learn and grow in different verticals.
How Has the Engineering Team Evolved in The Past Few Years?
Back when I joined CollPoll, we were a team of 8-10 engineers. It was quite challenging to address partner requirements with such a small team. However, everyone worked efficiently to achieve company goals and serve partner institutions better.
Today, we have build a great time of almost 30-35 engineers.
To ensure that all the processes are handled efficiently, the team has been divided into different roles. Today, we have two sections in the Engineering team including Platform Development and Feature Enhancement.
Initially, the expectation was to develop a stable learning environment for everyone by introducing the right processes in the team. With unwavering dedication and a relentless work ethic, we have successfully evolved in the past few years and have grown to become a strong, reliable, and hardworking team.
Engineering Team – CollPoll at team offsite trip in Coorg!
A Brief Overview of Your Journey Towards Becoming a Staff Engineer
Every role comes with a certain set of responsibilities. For me, those were – leading the team to perform better, efficiently overcoming the platform challenges, delivering great ideas that result in better products, and most importantly – being proactive.
Figuring out my responsibilities and inspiring my team to reach their full potential is what my overall journey has been about!
The Best Moments You Had on This Journey & the Most Important Lesson You Learned?
The best moment I had in this journey was seeing the company scale and reach more people. It was a great exposure and a tremendous learning experience for everyone in the team.
When I joined CollPoll, I was a hard-core engineer who believed in perfection. But the company has taught me the business aspects as well. Our work has never been limited to a particular role. We always had (and still have) the freedom to participate in every process, regardless of our positions. This helped me learn new things about products and processes and contributed to my growth considerably.
What Challenges Did You Face During This Journey & How Did You Overcome Them?
In the initial days, we had scalability issues in the engineering team. However, together with the support of senior management, we were able to form a great team of engineers. Moreover, I also faced problems while collaborating with the team. But as it is said, true leaders help you develop in the right direction. It is with the help of such great leaders, our Founder & CEO, Hemant, and our VP of Engineering, Punith I learnt the importance of collaboration and effective communication within the team.
What Are Your Favorite Modules or Features That You Have Worked On and Why?
One of my most favourite modules that I’ve worked on so far is the Campus Help Centre (CHC). This holds many reasons – mainly because this module is a complete package of innovation, creativity, and complexity.
What Changes Do You See CollPoll Will Bring in the Edtech Space in the Coming Years?
CollPoll has already reshaped the EdTech field. However, in the coming future, I feel the CollPoll application will scale and be so widely used that students, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholder groups will have it at their fingertips all the time.
Team CollPoll at offsite trip in Chikmagalur!
Your Go-to Productivity Mantra
My go-to productivity mantra is – to overcome the blockers, prioritise the tasks, and make the most of each day!
What Are Your Career Goals for the Future?
Considering my career goals, I am in the learning phase currently and in the coming days, I want to handle more teams, and create quality products and technologies in different areas.
“If you are looking for an encouraging and learning environment, CollPoll is the best place!”, says Santosh
Having a positive attitude and contributing to the team are crucial to a company’s success. And with Santosh’s indomitable dedication and determination, CollPoll has always attained remarkable results. We appreciate his efforts and wish him continued success and growth!
Want to join the CollPoll team? Explore our open positions or write to us at hr@collpoll.com. Stay tuned for more stories in the coming weeks!
