Astronomy Geek to Oktanaut: Landing as a Dev Advocate at Okta

Summary

Akanksha Bhasin joins Okta as an “Oktanaut” in Developer Relations after more than six years building developer communities and four years focused on Developer Relations. Her path began with experiments in Arduino, programming, and AI applications, then shifted toward Voice AI after Google Assistant launched in 2018; she built applications for Google Assistant and Alexa and was later featured at Google I/O. She taught these technologies at meetups and colleges across India, founded Women in Voice, India, led Google Developer Groups, and helped organize events including DevFests that gathered more than 3,000 developers. At Okta, she wants to help independent software vendors and developers secure user identities, treating identity security and access management as foundational to enterprise applications rather than a checklist item.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Bhasin built Voice AI applications for Google Assistant and Alexa, taught what she learned at meetups and colleges across India, and was featured at Google I/O for her work.

2. 2

   Her community-building work includes founding Women in Voice, India, leading Google Developer Groups on campus, and helping organize DevFests attended by more than 3,000 developers.

3. 3

   At Okta, Bhasin argues that identity security and access management should be foundational to enterprise applications, not treated as a checklist item.

FAQ