Thrive-Wise (formerly CodeChix) has been a quiet yet powerful force for over a decade.

In 2013, I was at a particularly interesting point in my career. The networking industry was exploding with SDN with OVS and the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) had put forth a coding contest to build a network library for an SDN appliance (controller/switch). The contest was perfectly placed in my area of expertise (networking) while also giving me an opportunity to be a part of the brand new SDN story. And just as much, a part of the open source story.

I knew that with a team, I could lead a project in my 20% (out of the 120% I gave to work) and compete. The first step was funding; not money – but a nod to go ahead. I needed a business or non-profit entity to enter the contest. I approached my then employer and the various leaders driving the SDN portfolio. It was a no-go.

I then reached out to Rupa, introduced myself and proposed plainly if I could work on the project with CodeChix members, and enter the competition. I had zero lines of code and no team when I first approached CodeChix. In the worst case, I expected a no. And in the best, a way forward that would entail a completed entry before I got the full nod.

The welcome I received instead was indescribable. The proposal was immediately set into motion. Rupa helped recruit a superstar team from among the members, personally guided along on various aspects and towards the end, when we desperately needed more minds working through the final phases of testing and wrap-up, Rupa herself jumped in the fray. 3 months and many hours of design/coding/testing later, we were the only all-female team of engineers to compete in this global contest!

Since then, I have met innumerable like-minded engineering enthusiasts – women who are spectacular at their craft – whom I’d not have met otherwise. Also, incredible male allies. We spoke at several technical conferences where we presented our work, and worked together on various Thrive-Wise programs (Eg: CodeHouse, DevPulseCon). I continue to benefit from being among really motivated women who know their tech.

My career has tangibly benefited from my engagement with Thrive-Wise. It was my work in open source and SDN that kept my expertise relevant in an industry that suddenly exploded into orchestration and programmability for various solutions including datacenter and SDWAN. Not to mention the opportunities I received with technical speaking at industry leading conferences Linux Conf, PyCon and OVS Conference. I currently work on a solution called Intent Based Networking which promises to revolutionize networking the way self driving cars did the car industry. My path here is lit by key successes together with Thrive-Wise.

Deepa Karnad

Staff Software Engineer at Juniper

Technical Steering Working Group Committee at Thrive-Wise