Adel Smee Photo

Adel Smee

Engineering Team Lead, Zendesk

Melbourne

Adel is an Engineering Manager at Zendesk, a customer relationship software company based in San Francisco. She started her tech career as a programming teacher but after seven years of telling people how to do something she had never done professionally, thought it was time to move into industry. Building software for a startup that was well conceived and executed but poorly marketed and funded, she saw first hand that success involves a lot more than quality engineering. Next she moved to Lonely Planet and watched the company struggle to transform from print business to digital media with mixed success. Adel now leads a team of engineers innovating on the Zendesk product suite.

Adel is interested in refining the secret herbs and spices that go towards producing software of value; meaningful work, transparent and supportive management, diversity of thought, willingness to fail, competent team members, trust and effective communication are some. The challenge of finding and maintaining a productive, happy balance of these elements is one she finds continually engaging.

Adel is also fortunate enough to be able to share her enthusiasm for software development with others and can be seen talking to students and technologists in various forums around Melbourne.

Upcoming Courses

Previously (10)

Want to teach at ga?

Join our global community of instructors and help shape the next generation of industry leaders — while moving your own career forward with proven subject matter expertise, leadership experience, and public speaking skills. Teach online or on campus, full-time
or part-time.

Learn More