Uma Chandran
@uchandran
layout: markdown_page
title: "Uma Chandran's README"Uma Chandran (she/her/hers)
This document is meant to give you a quick introduction to who I am and what my working style is. It remains a WIP because I intend to add to it over time.
About me
- I was born in the UK and moved to Canada when I was in elementary school. I grew up in Markham, Ontario.
- I currently live in a town called Bowmanville, about 75 km east of Toronto. Before this, I lived in Toronto for about 13 years.
- I have a dog named Mia Devi, a Great Pyrenees who lives up to her breed's "Gentle Giants" nickname. While Mia loves playing at the dog park with her friends, she also deals with regular anxiety and fear. We're able to manage it now but, over the first few years of her life, we learned a lot together about trigger stacking (which is similar to spoon theory), self-compassion, and mental health.
- A few things I like:
- Reading and watching the latest TV shows and movies. I generally like a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
- Travel, hiking, and spending time outdoors. In 2024, my travel highlights were Sri Lanka and Scotland (specifically, a solo road trip around the Isle of Skye).
- Soccer/football. I've been a Liverpool FC supporter since childhood. I also used to play recreationally but tore my ACL a few years ago and am still trying to work my way back to it. In the meantime, I'm trying to get back into running and just signed up for my first 5K this spring.
- Concerts, musicals, and other live events.
Here's Mia being a happy floof:
About my career
- I joined GitLab in December 2024 as a Technical Writing Manager. Before this, I was a Staff Technical Writer at Netlify.
- My career journey has not followed a straight line. So far, I've worked in corporate communications, publisher operations (for ebooks), software development, consulting, engineering management, and technical writing. I've also moved back and forth between individual contributor (IC) and management roles over the years.
- Some other highlights:
- I've volunteered as a mentor and instructor at a non-profit school for women, agender, and non-binary students learning web development.
- I've participated in various initiatives related to mental health awareness, including presenting to leadership teams about Mental Health First Aid. I've also advocated for and participated in initiatives around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
- Ultimately, I'm motivated by doing work that helps other people grow and achieve their goals.
Availability
- I live and work in the Eastern time zone (ET) for the Americas, so UTC/GMT -5.
- I typically start my day between 9 & 9:30am, and end around 5:30pm.
- Depending on the day, I can adjust my schedule to accommodate synchronous meetings across time zones as long as I have some advanced notice.
- That said, I enjoy having some focus time first thing in the morning and later in the afternoon.
- Feel free to message me on Slack whenever you have questions or want to share something. I like hearing from people, so you won't be bothering me. If I'm busy in the moment, I'll set a reminder and get back to you when I can.
- No need to ask before booking synchronous time with me on my calendar or if you need to reschedule a meeting. I appreciate any context you can share ahead of time so I can be prepared before we meet.
- I don't have Slack or work email set up on my phone, so I won't be available outside of work hours and when I'm away from my computer.
Working with me
- I tend to be a curious and empathetic person. I like to ask questions to learn more about the context, to consider other perspectives, and to try to understand the motivations behind a request or change.
- At the same time, I can be pragmatic and will often suggest trying something for now and iterating on it as we get feedback.
- I value feeling like part of a team and I enjoying working together to try to solve problems.
- I lean more towards the introvert side of the introversion-extroversion scale. I enjoy being around people and being social but also need time away to recharge before I can be "on" again.
- Related to this, I don't always like being the center of attention in synchronous settings and sometimes this means I can feel awkward or anxious with initial interactions. But this goes away over time.
- I often like to observe and think through a situation before I share my ideas or thoughts. So, I might appear quiet in certain discussions to start but it's because I'm processing.
- I'm always open to questions and I really do believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
- I'm always open to feedback.
- I appreciate both public and private recognition.
- I also value receiving feedback on ways I can improve. I may need some time to process constructive feedback but I'd rather you share early instead of surprising me later on.
- Like everyone, I'm always learning and I appreciate being able to learn from new people, problems, and experiences.
Personal projects
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