Sruthi Mohan is a Solutions Engineer at Cloudera in the DACH and Central EMEA region. In this role, she works across multiple industry verticals to help architect modernised data platforms.
Prior to joining Cloudera, Sruthi honed her skills and built her career working with companies such as Cisco and SAS Healthcare and Lifesciences. Sruthi is a strong advocate for diversity in the workplace and currently sits as a D&I Advisory Board Member at Cloudera.
Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role
Having studied Environmental Studies, with a focus on Chemical Engineering and a minor in Economics and Business, I’ve found my somewhat untraditional tech education incredibly useful for my career development.
For example, my minor in Economics has proven immensely helpful when navigating value management conversations, understanding what market potential exists for my customers and informing them on why Cloudera is the right solution for them. On the flip side, my interest in environmental sciences has helped shape my understanding of the wider industry and supporting our customers in this space. In both cases, it has been the problem-solving mindset I’ve learnt throughout my education that has really equipped me for my role today in technology. It’s all about the skills you learn and how you apply them. It doesn’t matter so much how you get them or what you apply them to, so long as you can align the two, you’re on the road to success.
At present, I am focused on ascertaining where my key strengths are and how I can optimally make use of them for my current job role and industry that I work in.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
I was never the girl in school who sat down and had her year on year career plan. However, as I’ve developed through my professional life I have started to curate a plan around my own board of directors to ensure my career is going in the direction I want. Simply put, this is the idea of having not just one career mentor but multiple, offering different perspectives and helping to shape your career progression. After a colleague first brought up this notion of having a personal board of directors for your own company – yourself – it made me question; what does a board of directors mean to me, who do I want to have a seat at the table and what role will they play?
For me, it was important that the members of the board were invested in my life, willing to let me vent when things weren’t going to plan and there to give me honest feedback at crucial moments. Having input from people who are going to cushion the truth and tell you what you want to hear is ultimately not going to take you in the right direction. As such, these members have often been those closest to me, such as my mum and dad as well as my best friend.
Secondly, I realised at this stage of my career, it was important for me to include people that I didn’t know that well and who I didn’t work closely with. This has been invaluable for me in gathering an ‘outside’ perspective as sometimes you can be too close to a task to have clarity. I was able to receive guidance from others on things I was or wasn’t doing well in a way that meant no long-term relationships were in danger of being damaged.
Lastly, and what has been most important for my current board of directors and career, is ensuring that I am accountable as chairman. And this would be my advice to anyone looking to build their board of directors – you can get counsel and guidance from your board but it is you who is ultimately responsible for the decisions you make.
Have you faced any career challenges along the way and how did you overcome these?
When I first started out, I suffered a lot from imposter syndrome. Questions of whether I belonged there were asked on a daily basis and I had an initial worry I wasn’t capable enough. Looking back, I suppose it was nothing out of the ordinary for someone working their first ‘proper’ job. I’ve managed to overcome this feeling by learning to accept within myself that I am good enough for the role I was hired for. On this journey, I have actively requested advice from others, asked questions and sought mentorship to lay these self doubts to rest. My managers have played an important role in bolstering my confidence in the technical sales space and making me recognise that not only could I achieve my goals but I could always go that one step further.
What has been your biggest career achievement to date?
My biggest achievement to date would have to be dealing with what seemed a major professional setback at the time in a positive way. It all started with keeping a positive attitude throughout it all which led me to see the “setback” as an opportunity to reflect, reassess and act, rather than a disappointment.
What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?
Mentorship has and always will be key to my development. Part and parcel of this is having access to a blend of strong male and female mentors to provide fresh perspective and guidance on the journey.
Within such a male-dominated industry as tech, I’ve found it extremely useful to first have a fleet of male mentors. Men often don’t see the same ‘ceilings’ on ambitions that some women have grown to internalise. In my experience they have helped challenge and provide alternative viewpoints to support my progression. Seeing that men don’t encounter the same challenges as women, and that they tend to focus on what they can do – rather than what they can’t – by default, has given me the encouragement to adopt a similar mindset and do the same. That being said, it can’t go unmentioned that female mentors are equally as valuable. Unlike our male counterparts, I’ve encountered first-hand how female leaders can relate to the issues that we as women face, offering a level of empathy and understanding.
What top tips would you give to an individual who is trying to excel in their career in technology?
Go for it! We want you in the tech industry to shake up old ways and bring a fresh perspective to the field so we can drive positive change for future generations. By bringing true diversity to the tech sector, you and I can help overcome gender biases and challenges such as better informing AI to lessen prejudice and inspire new talent into the industry. My overall advice to women is to be your authentic self, be bold and don’t hold back.
Do you believe there are still barriers for success for women working in tech, if so, how can these barriers be overcome?
There are certainly still many barriers for women in tech. This was an industry predominantly designed by men and they continue to be the heavy majority today. So first of all, for example, less representation is a starting barrier. This then also bleeds into other obstacles experienced as well. But they can all certainly be overcome and I think the best approach to do that is to change the obstacle into an opportunity. For example, I can use my lesser representation as an advantage – I am able to really hone in on my uniquely different perspective to challenges we face on a daily basis. This has particularly come in handy in customer conversations to add diversity of thought to an issue.
What do you think companies can do to support and progress the careers of women working in technology?
The technology industry needs and wants more women in tech, to bring a new, more diverse, offering to the business. However, to make this happen, we need to see an institutional interest in attracting more women into the space. Companies need to drive greater awareness around the avenues available to women, the benefits that come, and how they can create real societal impact. What’s more, this encouragement for women into technology roles should also be reflected in educational systems and via government support. It is only when this holistic approach is taken will we really start to see meaningful change.
The accessibility to support systems and internal programs within companies is also vital to support women’s progression within technology. It is for this reason that I am a D&I Advisory Board Member at Cloudera, working to encourage a more diverse workforce. As part of this, we have a committee in place that meets on a regular basis to discuss and reflect on these matters. The committee also arranges inspiring sessions from a DE&I perspective on a monthly basis. Beyond this, we have multiple newsletters that guide us with suggested books and blogs on this topic. Most importantly, we are a group of employees who genuinely care and prioritise diversity issues and that is reflected in each and every one of our day-to-day interactions with one another.
There is currently only 17 per cent of women working in tech, if you could wave a magic wand, what is the one thing you would do to accelerate the pace of change for women in the industry?
This is a tough one, as I’m not sure if there is one thing that can change but rather it is many small things changing all at once that usually results in a large acceleration. However, if I had to pick one, I might choose to invest more in getting young girls into STEM programs. Your career progression unbeknownst to you, can start at such a young age, based on the types of content and situations and opportunities we are exposed to. As such, it is crucial we get in there as early as possible to help inform and shape the minds of the next generation and open them up to every opportunity available to them.
What resources do you recommend for women working in tech?
I love reading and so I can recommend many books, but I don’t believe they necessarily need to be women specific for women to be able to benefit from them. HBR’s Managing Yourself which is a collection of articles on this topic was one of my recent reads that was a favorite. Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion was also wonderfully insightful especially given that I came into reading this book from a pre-sales perspective. Grit by Angela Druckworth, while also not just about technology was also inspirational in that it made me question and find the source of my “why” or “raison d’être” which then further helped me find the grit to push through challenging situations – a lesson learned that is relevant for life but also specifically my professional role.
