Aastha Bhardwaj

I would call it success if I've been able to deliver on a project that a customer was stuck on, or if I've been able to accelerate their migration journey on AWS Cloud when it was stuck because of some security issue. But thinking about it holistically, success for me means that I'm able to deliver on my role, constantly push boundaries, and constantly take up new challenges. And then it's also about helping out and giving back through mentoring and other things. That's what success looks like for me - it's not just about my own achievements, but about the impact I can have on others and the problems I can solve for my customers.

The best career advice I ever received came from someone who understood the challenges of being a woman in technology. When you talk about technology, there are very few females in STEM overall, and if you narrow it down to just security in a fully technology-based company, you see even fewer women. Someone once told me that if there are only 10 seats at a round table, and if you have something meaningful to say, pull up that 11th chair from somewhere and make sure you sit at that table and get your point heard. That was such amazing advice, and it's stuck with me throughout my career. It's about not waiting for permission or an invitation - if you have value to add, you create your own seat at the table.

My advice is to keep experimenting. You might fail, and that's okay - fail fast and pivot onto something new. But the most important thing is to just not give up on trying. You need to constantly try. Don't give up on trying. That's my only advice. The key is to keep pushing forward, learning from your failures quickly, and moving on to the next opportunity. Persistence and willingness to experiment are what will help you succeed in this field.

The biggest challenge in my field right now is that with this AI world, security is changing every day. There's something new constantly - whether it's ransomware attacks, new technology, or agentic security - so you have to be up to date on these trends all the time. The challenge is that sometimes our customers, who are decision makers like CISOs and SVPs of engineering at big financial companies, will ask questions about things they've heard that are fairly new, and they're expecting an answer from you. So you have to figure out how to navigate situations where you might not know something because it's so new. Staying current and being able to respond knowledgeably to rapidly evolving security concerns is probably the biggest challenge in this field right now.

There are three values that are most important to me. First is integrity - doing the right thing even when nobody's watching you. That's a fundamental principle I live by. Second is empathy, which I've been working on and feel is super important, especially in today's era. It's about understanding what others are going through, their feelings, and putting yourself in their shoes. It means considering a situation fully before you react to it. And the third value is having a growth mindset. You should be constantly willing to learn new things, improve, and adapt in this world of change. These three values - integrity, empathy, and growth mindset - are what guide me in both my professional and personal life.