Dona Jose
Dona Maria Jose is a Senior Software Engineer with 10 years of experience in backend and full-stack development, specializing in scalable backend architecture, API design, and building high-impact, customer-facing products. Her career has spanned continents and leading technology organizations, reflecting a strong foundation in both enterprise systems and fast-moving product environments. She holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Arlington and began her journey with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science in India, where she also gained early industry experience before moving to the United States to further her education and expand her global perspective.
Throughout her career, Dona has worked across fintech, enterprise platforms, and consumer-facing products at companies including Visa, Microsoft, Dropbox, Slack, and ClickUp. Her path has been shaped by intentional transitions—moving from fintech at Visa to product innovation at Microsoft, where she gained end-to-end ownership experience building solutions from the ground up. She later joined Dropbox to focus on customer-facing product development, contributing significantly to early-stage development efforts on Dropbox Replay across both backend and frontend systems. At Slack, she deepened her expertise in backend systems and real-time architecture, and she now thrives at ClickUp as a Senior Backend Engineer, working in a fast-paced startup-like environment focused on scalable APIs and core product infrastructure.
Beyond her engineering work, Dona is a passionate community leader, mentor, and advocate for women in technology. She is the founder of Show Your Worth Circles, a cohort-based leadership development program inspired by her mentor’s book, designed to help women build confidence, articulate their value, and grow intentionally in their careers. The program runs in small, high-impact cohorts of 6–7 participants over 10 weeks and has expanded internationally after a successful pilot, including cohorts in cities across the United States as well as globally in regions such as Africa and Bangalore. In addition, she actively contributes to organizations like AnitaB.org and serves as a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador, dedicating her time to mentorship, leadership development, and creating inclusive spaces for women in tech to thrive.
• 2025 Volunteer
• CreateHER Fest Speaker
• Cloud Digital Leader Certification
• Verbate ERG Leadership Foundational Training
• Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology - B.Tech, Computer Science
• The University of Texas at Arlington - MS, Computer Science
• IEEE Senior Member
• Computer Science Engineering Scholarship
• Tau Beta Pi
• Computer Security Club
• Mavericks Computer Networks Society
• ACM
• IEEE
• Show Your Worth Circles - Founder and organizer of cohort-based mentoring program for women in tech
• Mentoring women in technology careers
• Volunteering with tech-focused organizations supporting women's career growth
• IEEE
• Women Techmakers
• IEEE Women in Engineering
• Liminal Works
• CreateHER Fest
• AnitaB.org
• Women Mentoring Women in Engineering at UTD
What do you attribute your success to?
I'd say a great amount of hard work and dedication, and also a lot of support I got from everybody around me, including my family, my husband, my mentors, and even my mentees. I'd say it was a collective effort, along with the hard work that I put into it. The support system around me has been crucial to everything I've been able to accomplish in my career.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to speak up a lot. Earlier in my career, there were times when I had ideas and I just kept quiet, thinking maybe it's a dumb idea, it's not worth anything. And then minutes later, somebody would say the same idea and they'd get applauded for it. When I told my mentor about this, she told me that I have to speak up, whatever the small idea it is, just speak it out. That's something I always tell my mentees as well. Trust your gut and just blurt it out. Maybe it is dumb, maybe it's not, but 90% of the time, it's a great idea when you have it. It's just that you self-doubt yourself. So try to get rid of that self-doubt mentality, and you could go a long way in your career with that.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
One thing that I always tell my mentees and my friends is network, start networking earlier in your career. It's not something that you want at a later point or something that you should think of when you need it. Networking is something that has helped me grow a lot, personally and professionally. So start building your network right from the beginning, even as a student. You shouldn't wait until you start your work or at some point when you need something from somebody. One other thing is, do not always think when you meet someone, what can I get from them? Also give it a thought, okay, what can I give to them? What can I offer them? So it's always a give and take. When you think of what you can offer somebody else, you in turn get a lot out of that relationship. It's not just what I get, it's always what I can give them as well.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One thing that is very important for me is being dedicated to whatever you do, staying committed to whatever you commit. If you commit to something, I want people to make sure that they meet the commitment. Things happen in between, it's okay to get it delayed, but just communicate properly that there is some hiccup, there's some personal commitment that came in between. So proper communication and staying true to the commitment is something that I really value a lot.