This “Meet the Trulian” features Trulia’s Senior Engineering Lead for the Backend Core Data and Search teams, Eden Klein. Eden works on engineering across Trulia For-Sale and Rentals, and has been at Trulia for more than six years. Read on to learn a bit more about her.
What’s your role at Trulia?
I lead the backend core data and search teams. My teams are responsible for processing and serving all Trulia’s For-Sale and Rental listings, and our goal is to provide new and updated listings to our users in near real-time and make the search experience amazing. I am lucky to have a very talented team that I get to learn from every day.
What inspired you to get into your role?
I’ve enjoyed math and data since I was a kid. My dad would let me help him calculate the bills for his clients and I felt a great sense of accomplishment being trusted with the numbers. When it came to college, I applied for accounting and computer science, and ended up focusing on the latter. I got my first job in IT as a backend data engineer and I have been doing it since. I love it!
What was your dream job growing up and why?
Even though I’ve always been fascinated by numbers, I actually thought I would be a translator. I love languages and thought it would be great to help breach communication gaps by helping people understand each other. Traveling the world and meeting many different influential people was also one of the reasons I thought that was the job for me, but I’m very happy with where I’ve landed.
If you could have drinks with one tech luminary – dead or alive – whom would it be and why? And, what would your first question be?
It would be Albert Einstein. I’ve always been fascinated by how much his discoveries have impacted our present and will affect our future. I would ask him what the first thing he would research is if he had the computers and technology we have today.
What’s the one gadget or personal tech item you cannot live without and why?
Not too original, but it’s my phone. It helps me manage almost every aspect of my life and it would be hard to function properly without it. Vacation is the only time when I purposely (try to) disconnect from the external world by putting my phone away for a few hours each day. And yes, I have much fewer pictures of my vacations since I started doing that…
What was the last movie you saw or book you read and what – if anything – would you change about the ending?
The last book I read was Mindset. It is a great book that talks about fixed mindset vs. growth mindset, and basically explains that you have a really high chance of reaching your goals if you work hard. I think it is a great book for both adults and kids. Since it’s not a story, there isn’t much to change at the end.
What’s your proudest accomplishment and why?
Being a career woman and having a beautiful family at the same time. It is often challenging to find the balance between the two and I am proud of myself for making it work.
If you could master one talent or skill that you don’t have now what would it be and why?
I would love to speak and understand more languages (I’m currently fluent in three and able to understand two additional ones). I am passionate about the idea of traveling the world and being able to communicate with locals (travel and communication seem to be themes here…).
If you could time travel, would you go into the future or past and why?
I would make a quick run to the future, get the cure for the evils of this time, and then quickly come back. CARPE DIEM is my motto; the present is a gift!
