As we barrel ahead towards Mainnet 3, estimated for the end of April 2022, we’re continuing to scale our team and fill integral roles that will help take product-market fit to the next stage in its maturity.
With a solid mix of both global corporate and startup experience, we’re beyond excited to introduce our first VP of Engineering, Chanda Dharap. Chanda is a software engineering executive and a start-up product leader who has joined Akash with 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience.
Chanda has lead engineering and product teams at early stage startups such as Strongloop, NodeSource and Gigster as well as mid to large enterprise companies including Adobe and IBM. She has a strong focus on understanding emerging trends and paradigms, and is interested in exploring and applying new technologies that enable real-world use cases. Chanda is especially proficient in working with open source governance in the Node.js ecosystem and has actively participated in M&A and technical diligence process.
As if her experience isn’t already impressive enough, Chanda holds a PhD in Computer science from Penn State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics & Statistics.
At Akash, Chanda will work at the intersection of product and engineering. Working with both the engineering team and product teams to understand how Akash is being used in order to scale our engineering team and processes for the long-term Akash roadmap.
“In my first 30 days, coming in here, landing in the middle of a testnet kickoff, and understanding the entire process from testnet to mainnet. It’s been interesting to see the dependencies and challenges, specially when unlocking new features in an open governed blockchain system.” - VP of Engineering at Akash Network, Chanda Dharap
Chanda has always been interested in new technologies and believes blockchain and crypto isn’t just about DeFi. When asked why she joined Akash, she explains, “there are very powerful use cases that blockchain and cryptocurrencies can enable and I was excited about the open-source, open-governance cloud use cases that Akash is already enabling only one year post-product launch. The possibilities from here are endless.”
As an avid Tai Chi practitioner, water colorist, and urban chicken farmer, Chanda is full of fun surprises and likes to balance the yin and the yang and bring balance between what she does at work and what she does in her free time.
This Wednesday, March 30th at 10 AM PST we will be hosting our weekly Community Call on Twitter Spaces featuring Chanda. Join us to hear more about her role and immediate goals for Akash as we head towards mainnet 3. Set your reminder, here.
Please join us in welcoming Chanda, our first VP of Engineering to the team! If you’re interested in joining Akash, check out and apply to all open positions here.
