Women in any industry are really rare. Especially in IT, as the job is demanding and challenging. You cannot work only 9 to 5 but you have to be available off duty hours as any technical/commercial need arises. Nowadays women are participating in IT related jobs as employers are creating work from home facilities, also security and protection facilities have been increased
Journey as a business head
My association with Questa Software Systems is 14 years long. The company was formed in the year 2002 by its founder Manish Tandon. I joined Questa as a Back Office Executive in the year 2004. The 14 years journey was very challenging, we were a small startup and we had chosen a product like Open Office SW, for which we used to train corporates, which was very niche in the market. Today we hold premium partnerships with many MNCs, work on many technologies, have enterprise clients on board, we have a technical team, branches outside Maharashtra. Today we are also part of many IT associations. We have moved our focus from just product sales to solution designing and solution sales. The entire journey was never smooth, it was full of challenges, pressure, and complexities, but today we can say it was worth going through it and making Questa as an established brand in the IT industry.
Role model
My role model is my father, who helped me grow in my life not only personally but also professionally. The main thing he taught me is to believe in myself, follow my instincts and move ahead in life, make my own decisions and believe in it. Secondly, I would like to thank our managing director, who trusted me, helped me in growing in my professional life.
Key achievements
My key achievement is journey from back office executive to taking care of the entire organisation, deputy to MD and responsible for smooth functioning of the organisation. Today I am also an active member of WIT (Women In Technology) , where our target is to help women to grow their business with help of technology. We have successfully conducted events where we have taken small workshops by calling women entrepreneurs and helped them how to do marketing with help of social media and how they can grow their business through these activities. Also, we are working towards empowerment of women like visiting gram panchayat schools, supplying them systems and helping them understand how to use these systems and technologies.
Women in IT – a rare breed?
Women in any industry are really rare. Especially in IT, as the job is demanding and challenging. You cannot work only 9 to 5 but you have to be available off duty hours as any technical/commercial need arises. Nowadays women are participating in IT related jobs as employers are creating work from home facilities, also security and protection facilities have been increased. So you can see change in the mindset of women employees.
I want more women to come ahead and accept challenging jobs, do not hesitate to work odd hours, travel for your business meetings, change your perception and you can see people around you supporting you to grow.
Work-life balance
I love my profession and like any other profession, it is demanding and challenging, so you have to be on toes all the time. Then too, like any other girl, I like to participate in all Indian festivals, follow all traditions, take out time for family and friends. To make the team feel like home, we always celebrate everyone’s birthdays with many surprise gifts, and cake cutting. As we spend most of our time in office, I think it is very much required for the team to feel at home and it also helps in creating good team work.
Life ahead
Today I am part of Questa and wish to serve Questa till my last assignment in the industry. I would like to take Questa to a different height in terms of IT solutions from where we are right now. I would like to give back to the society whatever I have earned in these many years – knowledge, technology and confidence with which everyone can achieve success in life.
