Chaitali Narla went from Google intern to Engineering Director (5x promotions) in a decade.
As a tech executive (Google & Stripe), career coach, and mom to 9-year-old Saanvi, Chaitali shares bold lessons from her demanding tech career while balancing motherhood and family.
Table of Contents
This Week’s Discussion
In this fireside chat, Chaitali and I dive into:
- What it takes for rapid career growth.
- The biggest challenges women in tech often face in their careers and personal lives.
Video
Here is a link to the full discussion:
Lessons Learnt
Here are the key takeaways from our discussion:
Find sponsors, not mentors (especially for women)
Establish two-directional relationships with stakeholders closer to your work (e.g. manager, product partner, senior IC engineer, peers) who can not only advise you but also have skin in the game.
You help them by being part of their org or being project collaborators—use Ethan’s Magic Loop with these partners.
Know that titles DO matter, it helps with having to double-prove yourself as a woman
Chaitali had to double-prove herself many times and experienced the change when her title was software engineer vs. tech lead.
The appropriate title saves you time and energy from having to put your credentials on the table every time.
Negotiate for the title you deserve, build your network, and have strong allies to help you voice your opinion.
- Do not assume your allies know your struggle. Chaitali experienced this as a new mother nursing when she was asked to travel multiple days for a work summit, and she shared the impact that has. Speak up, educate them, and direct the allyship.
“You are not technical enough” — how to respond boldly and strategically
Chatali experienced this multiple times, and her response evolved with seniority:
- In more junior roles, she did too much “glue work” (e.g. bringing teams together, facilitating a discussion, reviewing other people’s docs) which are important tasks but do not add up to promotable artifacts. Avoid this trap:
- Be confident to say no and give a clear reason why your current work is more impactful: “I would love to help, but I cannot drop ABC for XYZ reasons.”
- Make time to do work that is viewed as technical artifacts, such as code and design docs. Block your calendar.
- Leverage glue work for your growth.
- Example #1: If you orchestrate a meeting between many different teams where you reach a consensus that was previously at an impasse, and you moved it along, write down the meeting notes and send them to leadership (it’s now an artifact).
- Example #2: If your comments in a design doc changed the course of that project and improved the design, write it down and have that artifact ready to show how you are a technical influencer in your org.
- As a manager, that question was less about Chaitali and more on her organization—meaning, does she have senior and staff engineers who can represent the organization appropriately—is their technical brand strong and are they getting stuck in glue work.
- In more senior roles and when talking to a peer, Chaitali would respond: “Are you technical enough?”
Build a personal Board of Directors to overcome the lack of role models (especially at the executive levels)
Your goal is to collect many viewpoints and to learn specific skills needed at that time, whether that is executive communication or organization design.
Have a mix of genders and seniority levels.
At any given time, Chaitali has 5-7 (includes an external coach for a fresh perspective) and actively shifts the roster based on current career needs.
Turbocharge your career with side quests—things not part of your core job that you are not asked to do, but you pick up to do yourself.
Hone your skills via learning environments, build your network, attract sponsors (the thought is: “If you bring this much rigor to our side quest, you must be good at your day job”), and find your ikigai.
Example side quests: conduct recruiting activities and interviews, run a team event. Read more here.
To overcome self-doubt (very common with women), take an ownership mindset approach and accept that you will have failures
Go into the role confident you will make it happen, be prepared to adapt, and sometimes you have to fake it till you make it. Read more about overcoming imposter syndrome here.
The top 2 reasons top performing women in tech get stuck at the Senior Manager level
Not putting themselves up for the role and not advertising themselves enough (thus, people don’t you think are ready). Every day, you must look for those moments to build your reputation and brand. Read the 3 principles that drove Chaitali to Google Director.
Grit and pushing through friction are 2 things Chaitali would advise her younger self
As you get more senior, you experience more frustrating moments, and it takes more time for outcomes to show—thus, a key skill is staying with it and working till you’ve reached the finish line.
Don’t give up too early.
Additional resources Chaitali referenced: (a) Carla Harris on sponsorship; (b) Tanya Reilly on glue work; (c) Dan Na on pushing through friction; and (d) Work Life Tapestry.
Conclusion
Thank you Chaitali for the thoughtful and thought-provoking chat!
Connect with Chaitali on LinkedIn, subscribe to her newsletter (highly recommended) ChaiTime, and if you want to sign up for 1:1 coaching with her, fill out this form.