Talk to a Tykling: Asha Parulkar, Customer Support

Meet the team – getting to know Asha Parulkar, Customer Support

Tyk’s remote-first ethos and policy of radical responsibility allows staff to find their own definition of the perfect work-life balance. Employees can work from wherever they like whilst supporting the company’s state-of-the-art API management platform.

We recently caught up with Asha Parulkar to find out how Tyk’s remote-first approach works in practice. A Singapore-based member of the customer support team, Asha shared her experiences of working with Tyk.

What do you do at Tyk? What is your job, and what does it involve?

I work in a customer support role for the APAC team – troubleshooting and resolving any issues customers have, in line with their Service Level Agreement.

Tyk offers a very flexible working hours policy – can you still benefit from that in a customer support role?

We can. Our customer support team “follows the sun.” It’s covered 9-5 or 9-6 by the APAC region, then it’s the EMEA team, then the US team takes over.

Where are you based when you work remotely, and where do you like to work?

I’m based in Singapore and working from home is ideal for me. I get to spend more time using my skills, rather than commuting! Also, I can supervise my kids when they’re in the house.

A hybrid model works well for me too – one or two days per week in the office to interact with colleagues, discussing things and getting quick resolutions to problems.

You joined the company during the pandemic. Have you been able to go to the office and spend time with colleagues, or have restrictions stopped you doing that?

Restrictions have been in place at some points, but I’ve been able to go in at other times, which has been nice.

As well as work, we also participated in some charity activities together around Chinese New Year. So we’ve done some team-based stuff away from the office too, which has been a good way of getting to know each other.

Please can you give me a brief history of your career, and how you ended up working at Tyk?

I grew up and studied in India. I then worked there for about 10 years before moving to Singapore.

I’ve been working here for seven years now and I joined Tyk last year. I was providing support to enterprise telco customers prior to moving to Tyk.

Have you always worked in customer support?

Originally, I worked in planning and design for a telco company. Then I moved to the vendor side, where we had to provide support to customers globally.

What do you particularly like about working in customer support?

I enjoy the challenge of solving the issues each customer is facing, and doing so within the time constraints of their SLA. It’s rewarding when customers are happy with the support we provide.

What do you particularly like about working at Tyk?

It’s great that we can always reach every other team member at any time – from engineering to the product team to HR and finance. That means it’s easy to get the answers we need, whenever we need them.

Everyone’s very approachable and you get answers very quickly. Prior to Tyk, I was working in big organisations with complicated processes for even the simplest things.

Working remotely is great too. When I worked in an office in my previous role, I didn’t get enough time in the evenings for self-development and learning new skills – here I do.

What would your tips be for somebody who’s not worked for a remote-first organisation before?

You have to learn to manage your own time and become responsible for getting things done without being watched over by a supervisor. I like to get everything done by the end of my working day so I’m not working into the evenings.

What’s important to you personally? What are the values that drive you?

I enjoy challenge and finding solutions. I think that’s what makes me a good fit for working in customer support!

What are your three favourite books or podcasts?

I’m not much of a reader and I don’t really listen to podcasts. I prefer to settle down to a good series on Netflix – recently I’ve been watching Squid Game and The Crown.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love gardening. I grow food in the backyard and flowers out the front. And I cook a lot – more cooking savoury meals than baking.

Where’s your favourite place in the world to visit?

I loved visiting Dubai – for the shopping!