Why I joined Fathom: Niveditha Nanjegowda

From time to time, Fathom invites recent hires to share their experience in deciding to join our team. In this blog, Niveditha Nanjegowda, Software Engineer, tells the story of her journey from Bangalore's tech scene to healthcare AI and her path to Fathom.

Growing up in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, meant that tech was literally everywhere. The roads were always packed with IT professionals, and pretty much everyone I knew worked in tech. But funnily enough, what actually led me to computer science was pure convenience – the closest school was just a two-minute walk from my house and it offered that course. Little did I know that choosing convenience would end up sparking a career I never expected.

That passion really took off during college, when I landed an internship at this tiny healthcare startup with a team of 4-5. We worked on something pretty cutting-edge, especially back in 2018 – a platform to digitize the entire doctor-patient relationship, complete with video calls (think Google Meet, but for healthcare). This was way before COVID made telehealth a thing. The experience lit a fire in me and made me want to build my own startup someday to create something that would actually make people's lives better.

Finding my way to Fathom

After that, I landed another cool internship developing AI chatbots. Fast forward a bit, and I made the jump to the United States about two and a half years ago, working as a software developer at Abzooba. The big company experience was great, but I found myself missing that startup energy where everything moves at lightning speed and you're learning something new daily.

That's why when I started job hunting, I knew I wanted an AI startup, which is how I found Fathom. I'll be totally honest – I even had to Google what medical coding is. But the more research I did, the more fascinated I became and the more it made sense.

What makes Fathom special

Without a doubt, my favorite thing about working here, and what makes Fathom really special for engineers, is their apprenticeship setup. Walking into a company full of people from top universities and tech companies can be pretty intimidating, but I was fortunate to get paired with two more senior engineers who served as my mentors. They helped me build confidence in my skills and my role. Even though I work completely remotely, they were with me every step of the way and encouraged me to ask any questions, no matter how basic they seemed. Even now, we have an active Slack group chat where we catch up every week just to chat about work, life, and whatever's on our minds.

One of the other great things Fathom offers engineers is the chance to try different things. I started out on the infrastructure team, getting deep into the nitty-gritty of security. Now I'm working on customer onboarding, which gives me this amazing bird's-eye view of how everything at Fathom clicks together. The ability to bounce around different teams and try new things has been incredible for my growth.

Speaking of great experiences, the company offsite was hands down one of my favorites. Finally meeting everyone in person after months of Zoom calls was just amazing. There's something special about connecting face-to-face with people you've only seen through a screen. Everyone was just so genuinely nice – it really confirmed I'd made the right choice.