Career stories: Influencing engineering growth at LinkedIn

Since learning frontend and backend skills, Rishika’s passion for engineering has expanded beyond her team at LinkedIn to grow into her own digital community. As she develops as an engineer, giving back has become the most rewarding part of her role.

From intern to engineer—life at LinkedIn

My career with LinkedIn began with a college internship, where I got to dive into all things engineering. Even as a summer intern, I absorbed so much about frontend and backend engineering during my time here. When I considered joining LinkedIn full-time after graduation, I thought back to the work culture and how my manager treated me during my internship. Although I had a virtual experience during COVID-19, the LinkedIn team ensured I was involved in team meetings and discussions. That mentorship opportunity ultimately led me to accept an offer from LinkedIn over other offers. 

Before joining LinkedIn full-time, I worked with Adobe as a Product Intern for six months, where my projects revolved around the core libraries in the C++ language. When I started my role here, I had to shift to using a different tech stack: Java for the backend and JavaScript framework for the frontend. This was a new challenge for me, but the learning curve was beneficial since I got hands-on exposure to pick up new things by myself. Also, I have had the chance to work with some of the finest engineers; learning from the people around me has been such a fulfilling experience. I would like to thank Sandeep and Yash for their constant support throughout my journey and for mentoring me since the very beginning of my journey with LinkedIn.

Currently, I’m working with the Trust team on building moderation tools for all our LinkedIn content while guaranteeing that we remove spam on our platform, which can negatively affect the LinkedIn member experience. Depending on the project, I work on both the backend and the frontend, since my team handles the full-stack development. At LinkedIn, I have had the opportunity to work on a diverse set of projects and handle them from end to end. 

Mentoring the next generation of engineering graduates

I didn’t have a mentor during college, so I’m so passionate about helping college juniors find their way in engineering. When I first started out, I came from a biology background, so I was not aware of programming languages and how to translate them into building a technical resume. I wish there would have been someone to help me out with debugging and finding solutions, so it’s important to me to give back in that way. 

I’m quite active in university communities, participating in student-led tech events like hackathons to help them get into tech and secure their first job in the industry. I also love virtual events like X (formally Twitter) and LinkedIn Live events. Additionally, I’m part of LinkedIn’s CoachIn Program, where we help with resume building and offer scholarships for women in tech.

Influencing online and off at LinkedIn

I love creating engineering content on LinkedIn, X, and other social media platforms, where people often contact me about opportunities at LinkedIn Engineering. It brings me so much satisfaction to tell others about our amazing company culture and connect with future grads. 

When I embarked on my role during COVID-19, building an online presence helped me stay connected with what’s happening in the tech world. I began posting on X first, and once that community grew, I launched my YouTube channel to share beginner-level content on data structures and algorithms. My managers and peers at LinkedIn were so supportive, so I broadened my content to cover aspects like soft skills, student hackathons, resume building, and more. While this is in addition to my regular engineering duties, I truly enjoy sharing my insights with my audience of 60,000+ followers. And the enthusiasm from my team inspires me to keep going! I’m excited to see what the future holds for me at LinkedIn as an engineer and a resource for my community on the LinkedIn platform.

About Rishika

Rishika holds a Bachelor of Technology from Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women. Before joining LinkedIn, she interned at Google as part of the SPS program and as a Product Intern at Adobe. She currently works as a software engineer on LinkedIn’s Trust Team. Outside of work, Rishika loves to travel all over India and create digital art. 

Editor’s note: Considering an engineering/tech career at LinkedIn? In this Career Stories series, you’ll hear first-hand from our engineers and technologists about real life at LinkedIn — including our meaningful work, collaborative culture, and transformational growth. For more on tech careers at LinkedIn, visit: lnkd.in/EngCareers.