A day marked in history for celebrating women and their astonishing achievements without keeping a disparity in the national, economic, religious or linguistic arenas. From flying in the space, to working on field of manufacturing units, to being a remarkable women drivers, and excelling like a pro in technology industry. Women in the 21st century has crossed the bump of every cliché and is ready to spread their wings with their blossoming existence in the unprecedented challenges of world.
We are celebrating the awe-inspiring lives and groundbreaking challenges of women. We are here to salute and commemorate few of the leading women in the tech industry. ELE Times is as pleased as punch to curate this story for women working with conscientiousness and contributing immensely in the tech industry.
Manasa Gadiyar, Analog Engineer, Texas Instruments
Skill sets required for future tech leaders
I would urge leaders in this space to be open to new ideas, interact with the members across levels, and also coach new team members so they feel comfortable with their tasks and contribute to results that make an impact.
What inspires you?
The sole fact that centers around the scale of impact of the technology I work on makes my work so exciting! I look forward to taking a stab at the challenges in technical and execution spheres that I come across each day and also picking up some learnings in areas where success is hard to taste. I believe that every day is an opportunity to learn something new, both technical and non-technical, which makes my journey in the semiconductor industry so enriching!
Challenging and Pride Moment :-
To date, one of the most thrilling challenges in my career was architecting an almost impossible test solution that enabled the launch of one of our products. Excelling in this demanding task gave me immense joy, a sense of completeness, and was indeed a moment of pride in my career journey.
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Ms Rituparna Mandal, GM, at MediaTek
“Since my school years, I was always interested in STEM-related fields and technology was the sector where I wanted to see myself. Throughout my career, I have been a part of the tech sector, in different roles, and my greatest inspiration and reward, throughout the journey, has been the satisfaction I receive from creating innovative tech solutions for everyday problems. There have been various challenges through the years, the most recent being the challenges created by the pandemic. Ensuring work continuity and managing employee expectations and deadlines during the pandemic has been a challenging task and I believe that MediaTek Bangalore has handled the issues as a team and stood strong through it all. Considering future tech leaders, I believe that skill sets such as empathy, adaptability, resilience, the ability to upskill and reskill, and the willingness to keep learning will come in handy in the years ahead.”
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Padmaja AR, Senior Vice President, Business Division Cross-Domain Computing, Bosch Global Software Technologies
Skill sets required for future tech leaders
In the world where technology has disrupted most of the business verticals irreversibly, the choice to stay limited to one’s domain or area of depth is not enough. Adjacent area breadth and even a larger picture of the inter-connection of domains will be extremely important for any leader to lead in this tech world successfully.
Interpersonal skills is required to connect to people and understand other areas, or to manage the agile teams/projects, or to manage the virtual world .This is a topic that requires continuous learning and unlearning.
In the old engineering world, there were engineers and there were entrepreneurs. What you require today is an engineering with entrepreneur mindset.
What inspires you?
Automobile has always been a second home to me from the beginning and I am the fortunate one to have my hobby also to be my profession. Automotive sector is currently going through a lot disruption and paradigm shift is happening with technology. Leading this change where one must relook the fundamental physics-based systems to probability-based systems, is something which is inspiring to me in recent times.
Challenging and Pride Moment :-
We are challenged on regular basis. It is up to us to figure out that the day you are not challenged, then it means that you are not moving.
Biggest challenges of mine have been when I had to motivate a team during tough times like loss of business or a failed project. There is no readymade solution as each team is different.
As tech leaders, most of the times we have a tendency to take over the control of these projects/teams, which erodes the confidence of the teams further.
Instead, most of the times I have dealt with these situations by falling back as a safety net and enabled people to lead. And this I learnt over a period of time, and I am proud that I learnt it.
Lesson learnt: When the going is tough, keep the communication lines open and lead in a trustful manner.
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Sunipa Roy, Chief Commercial Officer , Hindustan Zinc Limited
Skill sets required for future tech leaders
I think the key skillset for technological development has to clear focus on Business outcomes and clarity what problem we are solving. We need to have design thinking capability and a customer-centric solution that is holistic and fit for purpose. It’s also about agility & innovative mind-set and the ability to adapt quickly to a continuously changing landscape and manage change and drive transformation.
What inspires you?
I started my career as Graduate Engineer Trainee at Hindustan Zinc Limited, a group company of Vedanta. Began my journey with large capacity expansion projects Zinc for setting up new Zinc plants as part of core team tor state of the art technology selection, basic engineering, construction and commissioning of the plant. Early on having done three such projects one after another, contributed to huge learning & growth and handled big responsibility as project SBU Leader. Subsequently, I moved to plant operation & then to supply Chain vertical at HZL. Then came an opportunity to work with Group CEO and I had great learning while working with the senior leadership of the organization. After this role, I also moved to our Aluminium business as Business Head of Value-added Products and market strategy. This was a very customer-centric role in new product development & service experience.
In my current role, I am heading the Commercial vertical for HZL as Chief Commercial Officer. Over the last 18 years, cross-functional & cross business movement from Growth Projects to Plant operation to Supply Chain to Sales & Marketing and Strategy role in various businesses of Vedanta is a very privileged experience as a professional. Born to very progressive parents, I have received a lot of encouragement from my parents and teachers in the growing years and have had the opportunity to be mentored by exceptional bosses & leaders who have left a profound impact on personal & professional growth. On reflection of my journey so far, it’s the strong sense of ownership & alignment of purpose that drives me. As a leader, being authentic, collaborative, enterprising & agile is of utmost importance to me.
I come from a background wherein most of my family members have worked in the manufacturing/core sector and as an engineer, I always aspired to work in the core sector. Thus, it has been a conscious choice for a challenging role. I have now worked in the natural resources sector for 18 years across functions and different businesses and thoroughly enjoyed each of my stints in a strong performance-driven culture & teamwork resulting in stakeholder value creation by leveraging operational excellence, technology, innovation and robust ESG efforts.
Challenging and Pride Moment :-
At HZL, our operations are highly mechanized & automated with best-in-class equipment & technology from global partners aided by advanced process control, mine automation, predictive analytics on asset care and a collaboration centre for driving excellence across the value chain. Technology and digitalization are also the backbones of Procurement & logistics operations. The entire cycle of Procure to Pay is fully automated including price discovery through auction platform and relationship management with all stakeholders are on a self-service platform. Our business partners support us with Vendor Managed Inventory through Warehouse Management System integrated with core ERP and our procurement decision is data-driven and supported by data visualization and Online KPI monitoring for critical operations. We have developed of its kind Integrated Transport Management System for man-less operation in our premises and our logistics operation is managed by command & control centre using IoT based real-time monitoring.
From business value delivery to speed, efficiency, serviceability, governance, Risk & Compliance, technology is at the heart of our operation and we continue to remain at the forefront in adopting technology and innovation.
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Shikha Pillai – Head Strategy at Siemens Healthineers Development Center
Technology advances have transformed our way of living, and digitalization has enabled us to be connected across the world and function without disruptions, even during the pandemic. This underscores the importance of STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to our future. STEM jobs are expected to grow over two times faster than others in the next decade. This calls for dedicated efforts to tap into a diverse talent pool and build a pipeline.
While there has been increased momentum to have gender parity in STEM graduates and more Women in Tech in India, we still have a long way to go. Women face systemic barriers and implicit and explicit biases, hindering progress in their careers.
Role models and representation can make a big difference here. Having more women experts and leaders in STEM, charts a path for many more in these fields. Senior women speaking up about their experiences, advocating for addressing challenges, and bringing up more women can help #breakthebias.
Collectively, we need to do more to create equitable opportunities for all genders, and drive towards an inclusive and sustainable future.
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Roopa Das, Compute and Cloud Operations Manager, IS&T, Alstom
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Focus – Always be clear on WHAT you need to deliver, and the HOW will be answered. If you are not clear on your deliverables, then you can never set expectations, both for yourself and the team. It’s key to measure each deliverable and learn from it.
Dedication – Invest time and effort in what you do to get better results and stakeholder satisfaction.
Responsibility – Be responsible for what you do irrespective of the outcome. One should be ready to accept mistakes and always be open for suggestions
What inspires you?
I love being a techie and anything innovative that involves new technology inspires me to grow, gain and develop my career. As you may know there is no end to knowledge, and one is always a child in the ocean of technology. On the personal side, I am grateful to my Mom deeply as she has contributed a lot in helping me become what I am today. She inspires me a lot when it comes to being dedicated to my work.
Challenging and Pride Moment:-
Recently, I was assigned with a job that wasn’t my primary role. But the fact that the organization saw the capability in me to lead this new project was a matter of pride for me. Today, I can confidently say that I’m able to deliver the level of expectations set for me while I am still growing and improving and the fact that my team and organization is happy about it, gives me immense satisfaction.
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Yamini Vellore, Chief Information Officer & Head of Customer Success, Blume Global
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Those who are looking to break into and make an impact in tech need to be a strong leader and willing to take certain risks. Career goals are personal, and I would encourage everyone to identify their strengths and find roles that provide the experience necessary to leverage those strengths while providing new opportunities for growth. Showcasing your value early on in your career will take you far.
I also strongly believe that people in leadership, especially women, have the responsibility to pull people up with them, including other women. We have all had help along our way to becoming the leaders that we are, and I personally have had the incredible benefit of supportive mentors and managers throughout my career.
What inspires you?
I had an early interest in innovation and the development process that comes along with it. It all started when I was attending school in India. We had one computer to share amongst the class, and I had only one hour each week to write my code and make sure I had enough time to compile and execute it—all free of errors. Thinking back, that experience gave me the drive to succeed under pressure early on and prepare me for the start of my career in supply chain and technology.
Challenging and Pride Moment:-
As a woman stepping into two male-dominated industries—supply chain and technology—I’ve faced numerous challenges simply getting my foot in the door at companies throughout my career, however I’ve always strived to rise above any prejudices along the way. With time has come many changes, and with the conscious effort from companies prioritizing diversity, a new generation of women are interested in supply chain technology, and that is even reflected in the talent pool we have at Blume Global. I’d like to think that these young women look to me and other women in logistics for guidance and to realize that an industry that has been historically male dominated is finally changing.
I really enjoy the chance to consistently innovate in my role. I firmly believe that to keep up with the pace of today’s technological and societal developments, we must operate under the assumption that every practice you begin will need to be revised within two years. This is because goals, circumstances, and technology evolve quickly. A large part of my role is problem-solving and identifying what can be done better with the tools that are being developed and prioritizing the needs of our customers.
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Mallika Jacob, Principal Architect – QuEST Global
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Yes, it is important to have the right technical skills, but those are somethings that the young engineers can easily gain access too, through various online courses and right guidance. It is important to have the right approach and outlook. Invest time in learning, develop the hunger for knowledge and understand the sector. Be passionate about technological disruptions happening in the industry. Take advantage of industry events and build relationships, these will take you places. Above all, do not be afraid to contribute and participate.
What inspires you?
Technology is bringing transformation in every industry. Ideas that help solve real-world problems are being worked on every day. Hence, it is an exciting moment to be a part of this industry. It excites me to think that I have the skills and the resources to bring to life ideas that can advance the way we live, work, travel and engage. It is this opportunity that I keep seeking here, the opportunity to shape our collective future. For instance, I got a chance to build mobile software applications very early in my career. Initially, my team and I were unsure of the process but with the right support and resources, we were able to build mobile applications that were compatible with the early smartphones. The beautiful thing about this industry is that there is always something new to seek, learn, understand and eventually contribute to society.
Challenging and Pride Moment:-
I started as a developer, solving industry challenges using my programming skills. After nearly a decade, I got the opportunity to work with a team of world-class architects on something new. Pervasive technology had just started making its presence felt and the experts believed it was the future. It indeed was a challenge, as it needed continuous learning, unlearning and relearning. In that moment, I committed to myself that I would take up the task, experience the highs and lows and conquer! As a team, we did have our moments of lows, but our belief in ourselves and passion to perform, kept us going. We eventually delivered amazing results on the project and to date, the client remembers us as an incredible team.
Today, when I look back, those formative years are what define me professionally. I feel proud to say that I was part of one of the first few teams at QuEST that worked on present-day technologies when they were making their presence felt. I was privy to the beginning of an era that brought technological transformation in the way businesses operate and the workforce contributes.
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Prof. Meenakshi D’Souza, Professor, IIIT Bangalore
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Continuous learning with a thirst to learn more and adapt yourselves to changing technological and community needs are important skills needed in the future
What inspires you?
Everyone knows that Information Technology (IT) is ubiquitous and is here to stay with us. As a teacher, we play a vital role in creating future IT professionals and leaders. As a researcher, we work on new algorithms and technologies in our fields of expertise. On both fronts, it is a fulfilling as a profession to see the fruits of your work yield good results.
Challenging and Pride Moment:-
On the teaching front, teaching popular technology courses like Software Testing course to large classes in the institute (approx. 230 students in the last offering) and on MOOC platforms like NPTEL, Swayam, Govt. of India where there are about 7000 learners from other colleges, industry etc. is a big challenge. I feel proud when students write back saying how they enjoyed the course and later, when they comment about how useful it was.
On the research front, guiding and graduating eight researchers from a spectrum of professions—industry, government labs and full-time scholars, has been my greatest feeling of pride.
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Shalini Thillainathan – Manager Software QA Engineering, Sabre Global Capability Center, Bangalore
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Be Bold – First and foremost – accept your femininity. We don’t need to be sorry for being a Woman. Adapt yourself to the reality and then you will be able to mould reality to what you want. Read books, be heard and visible.
Don’t Give up – Most wars are lost in our minds much before we have stepped out on the battlefield. The single most important driver for success in life is perseverance. All Women who have succeeded have done so only because they simply didn’t give up, just like ants trying again and again to take that piece of grain up the mound.
What inspires you?
Always a believer and preacher of “If you truly want something and are passionate about it, run after it, chase it, beat it down with perseverance and you will certainly accomplish it”. The world is looking up to Women to excel in the Tech industry for their decision-making capability, perspectives and diversity they bring to the table. This matters most when there is a need to make that difference in unplugging the finer details that might go missing without a Women representation. The society is definitely supportive. Do not fear!
To be successful and be able to sustain as a Woman Tech leader, be willing to always Innovate, Upskill, break and navigate barriers.
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Ritu Sharma, Country Manager- India, AppsFlyer
Traditionally, India’s tech industry may have been male-dominated, however, many more women are now pursuing a career in tech space. Women must keep themselves updated on all the new trends and tools, given the dynamicity of the industry. For some women, upskilling may become challenging if they need to take breaks in their careers for family reasons.
In India, many companies are making conscious efforts to bring in diversity and gender equality by encouraging women in many ways. Effective implementation of such initiatives is the need of the hour for the benefit of both the organization as well as the women employees. Further, new-age technologies like AR/ VR, AI/ ML and BCI are disrupting the tech industry and opening many promising new opportunities for women in India. Women should focus on developing skills to be at the forefront of these technologies and have the confidence to effectively communicate their ideas.
Lastly, every leader needs to mentor women employees to transform and grow their role in the tech space. Many women leaders are driving mentorship programs to inspire young women and help them advance their careers in tech by guiding them on the correct path.
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Radhika Chennakeshavula, Senior Director-IT, Micron India
Skill Sets required for Future Tech leaders
Big data and machine learning are undeniably one of the most important technological trends, providing fresh insights and bottom-line advantages to businesses all over the world. Machine learning is based on the idea of allowing machines to construct algorithms from massive volumes of data to reveal patterns and accurately anticipate future developments. As a result, all engineers will have to wear the hat of a data scientist at some point. And in today’s fast-evolving tech scenario, creating a growth attitude is critical for both leaders as well as talent.
Specific skill sets like the ability to work collaboratively with people, problem-solving, and self-management abilities such as resilience, stress tolerance, and adaptability will be in high demand in the future. And therefore, organizations must also look inside and upskill their pre-existing talent pool, including both employees and management implementing new tactics and working practices.
What inspires you to be a part of such a challenging industry?
The semiconductor industry is facing considerable changes and altering its work processes as a result of COVID-19. Micron’s business strategy includes fostering a diverse workforce where everyone is heard, valued, and respected. Our efforts are geared at not just ensuring equal access for our inventor community, but also maximizing innovation.
With the Indian government beginning to make efforts to entice firms to establish semiconductor manufacturing in India, and with the entire push to mass-produce semiconductor chips as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, it is undoubtedly an interesting time to be a part of the ecosystem. All these developments make this a very exciting time to be part of the promising segment.
Sheeba Chauhan | Sub Editor | ELE Times
