I am a small town girl from India.I was the first engineer in my family and the first women to move out of house to purse a job in a metro city (Mumbai), first women in the family to travel to USA. Coming from a very conservative family, I was able to open an avenue for all my siblings and friends. A world that they were scared of and no one wanted to enter .The first computer I saw in my school days in 1993 used floppy discs the size of a small lunchbox and could only run the most basic applications. But that didn’t matter. I was fascinated by it. My father used to work in BSNL.I visited his office often and looking at how manual the work was, it inspired me to do something to make their difficult lives easier. I decided then to pursue my career in it. When I was in my final year at school, I created a telephone directory management system for the town I lived in, and it was widely used. At my father’s office, I taught the staff basic computer skills and could see the child like excitement on the faces of 50 year olds.
A total of 14+ years of experience in IT. Started as a graduate in an American based consultancy firm in Mumbai, India – Syntel – in Dec 2003, also as a developer in .NET, ASP, C#. Took on assignments in the USA for big players like AllState Insurance, Chicago. I have led multi million pounds projects for big players like American express and riding high on the success of the delivery of biggest software project, a new Billing Engine, in my current company Plusnet, UK (A BT subsidiary). A strong believer of women education in STEM, I am working with Ahead Partnership –http://www.aheadpartnership.org.uk. They work across the country with employers and educators to provide services that help employers to engage, inspire and motivate young people around skills, career options and future employment. I go to schools to deliver messages to young girls on importance of taking STEM subjects, my journey so far, Challenges I faced as a women. My vision of a 21st century workplace is a 50-50 workforce division between men and women.
