Hailing from Rishra, a small town near Kolkata, West Bengal, Sreyashi Das takes pride in her journey from a serene hometown to the buzzing world of Netflix’s headquarters in the United States. Growing up amidst the cultural richness of Bengal, her early education at Chandannagore played a significant role in shaping her disciplined approach and nurturing a passion for art. However, she chose to pursue engineering as a career. Today, as a Senior Data Engineer at Netflix, with 15 years of experience in data engineering Sreyashi exemplifies how perseverance, adaptability, and a hunger for knowledge can lead to remarkable career milestones.
“I love building data workflows that enable operations research and empower the efficient production of amazing content,” Sreyashi tells Global Indian.
Major Milestones
- Starting a career in data engineering: Worked at Infosys, Bhubaneswar, building data systems for big clients like Apple Inc.
- First international role: Moved to the U.S. in 2014, contributed to onsite global data engineering projects of Infosys’s client – Apple Inc.
- Improving Apple’s delivery timelines: Built systems that sped up the delivery timelines of Apple products.
- Switching to Netflix: Built real-time data systems for Netflix Studio, helping teams make faster and better decisions.
- Setting standards in animation: Created a reporting system for Netflix’s animation team that was adopted by others in the industry.
- Founding Netflix’s Business Intelligence engineering team: Helped set up tools to make report creation faster and easier for studio and creative production teams.
- Driving efficiency at Netflix: Developed data tools to improve cost efficiency, resource use, and data quality for the studio and creative Production teams.
- Master’s degree achievement: Completed an online Master’s in Data Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, boosting skills in machine learning and analytics.
Foundation of life-long learning in India
Sreyashi’s academic journey began at St. Joseph’s Convent, Chandannagore where she studied for 13 years. She earned her undergraduate degree in Computer Science Engineering from Siliguri Institute of Technology, Darjeeling in 2009. Her professional career in data engineering started with Infosys in Bhubaneswar, where Sreyashi developed core expertise in building data processing workflows to enable retail and finance applications for clients like Apple Inc. These early years honed her skills in data engineering, particularly in constructing robust data-processing frameworks.
Crossing borders for a data dream
To give flight to dreams in the field of data science she tried and got an opportunity to relocate to the U.S. “I moved to the U.S. in 2014 to continue my data journey as a subject matter expert at Apple’s office in Sunnyvale, California,” she shares. This was a leap into the unknown, but also an incredible opportunity to grow. While working for Apple, Sreyashi worked on systems that sped up how data was processed, which helped deliver products like the Apple Watch and other accessories faster and more efficiently. Over the next decade, her career trajectory would place her at the forefront of data innovation, ultimately leading her to Netflix.
Raising the bar at Netflix
Before joining Netflix, Sreyashi focused on data warehousing and self-serve business intelligence while at Netflix, Sreyashi created data products that serve as the foundation for developing metrics and provide analytical insights for the studio and creative production teams. These products play a key role in improving data quality, ensuring timely launches, optimizing resource use, and reducing costs. “I have also designed a data extraction framework specifically for the animation team,” she informs. The data engineer remains passionate about building high-quality data models. “My core expertise lies in the design and implementation of both streaming and batch data movement, as well as in crafting analytical solutions.”
Overcoming challenges in life
Sreyashi had always wanted to pursue a Master’s in Data Science to enhance her understanding of machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and got selected to pursue a Master’s at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It was an online course designed for data science enthusiasts. However, pursuing higher education while advancing her career presented one of her life’s greatest challenges. “I spent weekends in the library exploring and learning Python libraries like NumPy and scikit-learn to add them to my data engineering toolkit,” she reminisces. Her efforts to balance high-paced coursework and work commitments, despite time zone differences, paid off well.
At that time Sreyashi was working for Netflix US at Amsterdam in the Netherlands in the LA timings. “Completing assignments, and other study related commitments during the day, and working at LA hours from Amsterdam tested my limits, but it was the best decision I ever made,” she reflects. This experience not only deepened her expertise but also solidified her determination. She learned about data mining and Bayesian statistics, which helped her understand the craft of creating new data, not just ingesting existing data.
The current goal – to amplify Netflix’s performance
For Sreyashi, the most significant career goal is learning the patterns of real-time data processing and incorporating data transformation frameworks on a larger scale so that teams across Netflix can leverage common tools for data pre-processing and data quality for reliable and consumer-friendly data lookups. “Also, I am keen to contribute research papers in the next few years to the computer society,” she shares.
A day in Sreyashi’s life
Sreyashi’s typical day begins early, at 5 am for workouts, with a structured routine to maximize productivity. Mornings are her golden hours for brainstorming and documenting ideas. Her afternoons are dedicated to collaboration, while late afternoons and evenings are reserved for focussed work. After working hours, her time is reserved for family calls and unwinding, followed by bedtime at 11 pm. Her disciplined approach mirrors her philosophy: “A new day brings new hope.”
Balancing work and life
For Sreyashi, maintaining a balance between professional and personal commitments is paramount. A devoted yoga enthusiast, she finds solace and energy in her practice. “Stretching during breaks keeps me active, while weekend vinyasa sessions rejuvenate my spirit,” she explains. She also enjoys road trips, often embarking on solo drives to recharge.
From quaint streets of Rishra in West Bengal to the high-tech corridors of Silicon Valley, Sreyashi Das’s story is a great example of the power of perseverance and self-belief. As she continues to craft the data backbone of Netflix, her journey inspires aspiring professionals to dream big and trust the process.
Insights developed through experience
- No one knows everything, so it’s important to overcome fear, show up in life and have a mindset of risk-taking.
- Making decisions is essential; failure is not the end of the world, and life moves on.
- Trusting instincts is key, even when unsure about whether a decision is right or wrong.
- Inspired by the book The Secret, Sreyashi focuses on the possibilities rather than limitations.
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