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Archana Turaga

Full stack, full glam. Software engineer at PayPal in Austin, working on Airflow data infrastructure.

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I build data infrastructure that other teams rely on, and I care that it's fast, tested and easy to run.

I'm a software engineer at PayPal, where I've worked on the Airflow platform since 2022. Before that I studied computer science at The University of Texas at Arlington.

4+
Years building data infrastructure at PayPal
4
Languages spoken: Telugu, English, Hindi and Kannada
7
Projects across web, mobile, cloud and machine learning

Software Engineer 2 at PayPal.

July 2022 to present
Austin, Texas

~80% Cut in Airflow scheduler parsing time from a performance project I led.

  • RDS to Redshift operator

    Designed an Airflow operator that connects the Airflow metadata database on RDS to AWS Redshift, plus the workflow that moves data between them.

  • Scheduler and tooling

    Led the scheduler performance work behind that number and built a Slackbot that lets teams re-enable their DAGs.

  • Merchant reports to Braintree

    Built the process that connects merchant reports to Braintree services, using Python operators with file handling and encryption.

  • Cloud migration

    Identified the data tables to move in a cloud migration and analysed subsystems to simplify the migration and free up schema space.

  • Platform operations

    Maintain several Airflow and UC4 instances, ship S3 and production deployments, and provide on-call support for Airflow infrastructure.

  • Testing and mentoring

    Write code test-first with unit and integration tests, pair with senior engineers, support junior engineers and keep onboarding docs current.

Claude and Claude Code

AI is my exoskeleton.

I work with Claude and Claude Code every day. They do the heavy lifting, I ship about 10x more, and the quality bar doesn't move.

10x
More output
0
Shortcuts on quality

Claude handles

  • First drafts of operators, DAGs and tests
  • Getting up to speed on unfamiliar code
  • Refactors, migrations and boilerplate
  • Docs and runbooks

I own

  • Design and architecture calls
  • Reviewing every line before it merges
  • Tests written first, so the speed is safe
  • What reaches production

From India to Austin.

  1. 2016-2020

    Undergraduate studies

    Studied in India and built deep learning projects in image and sound recognition.

  2. 2020-2022

    UT Arlington

    M.S. in Computer Science with a 3.5 GPA.

  3. 2022

    Triplebyte certified

    Passed Triplebyte's technical screen and CodeSignal's coding assessment.

  4. 2022-now

    PayPal

    Software Engineer 2 in Austin, Texas, working on the Airflow platform.

Projects

Things I built before PayPal.

2022

Diaspora

A mobile app for Venezuelan immigrants that brings local businesses, community news and social updates into one place.

Built with React Native, Yelp API, Twitter API, News API
2021

Cloud deployments

Python web apps on AWS and Azure with D3.js charts, plus an image recognition tool running on Docker and Kubernetes.

Built with Python, MongoDB, SQL, D3.js
2021

University Management System

A web app with authentication and full record management.

Built with PHP, Laravel, SQL
2020

Heart disease prediction

A KNN classifier over 13 clinical features, checked with k-fold cross-validation.

Built with Python, KNN
2020

Sound classification

A convolutional neural network that classifies audio events, aimed at picking out security-relevant sounds.

Built with Python, CNN
2020

COVID-19 outcomes

A linear regression model relating ICU admissions to deaths.

Built with Python, regression
2019

Fruit nutrition

A CNN that recognises fruit in a photo and returns its nutrient profile.

Built with Python, CNN

Tools I reach for.

  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • React Native
  • PHP
  • Laravel
  • D3.js
  • MongoDB
  • Apache Airflow
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Claude Code
  • Slack

Education and certifications.

The University of Texas at Arlington

M.S. in Computer Science, 2020-2022. GPA 3.5 of 4.

Machine LearningArtificial IntelligenceData MiningCloud ComputingAdvanced Database SystemsDesign and Analysis of AlgorithmsWeb Data ManagementData Analysis and Modelling
  • 2025
    Apache Airflow 3 FundamentalsAstronomer
  • 2022
    Triplebyte CertifiedTriplebyte
  • 2022
    General Coding AssessmentCodeSignal
  • 2018
    Advanced Oil PaintingSiri Institute of Painting
  • 2017
    Outstanding DelegationGITAM Model United Nations

Outside work

Off the clock.

Oil painting

Trained at the Siri Institute of Painting, finishing the senior course in 2016 and the advanced course in 2018.

Model United Nations

Represented France at GITAM Model United Nations in 2017 and was named an Outstanding Delegation.

నమస్కారంTeluguNative
HelloEnglishFull professional
नमस्तेHindiFull professional
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರKannadaProfessional working

Makeup is my other stack.

Pick a lipstick and the whole site wears it.

Merge Conflict. Bold red. Resolves in my favor.

  • Primer, then foundation.Tests, then code.
  • Swatch before you commit.Same goes for schema changes.
  • Setting spray keeps the look in place.Retries keep the DAGs running.
  • Waterproof mascara for on-call week.Some things have to survive a 3 a.m. page.

Have a role or project in mind?

Email me directly, or connect on LinkedIn.

archana.turaga98@gmail.com
LinkedIn profile