Geethika Nannapaneni

I attribute my success to keeping a positive attitude towards anything that I'm looking at. Building my skills and gaining deep expertise over the 10 years has kept me running in this field where technology changes every day. Discipline is crucial - I sit in front of a computer every day with the mindset that I am accountable for every message I'm sending and every code line I'm writing. I have to handle anything that I have put into the system. That accountability mindset has kept me in line and got me here. I also do a lot of trial, error, and refinement. If something is not working out, whether it's a process, a tool, or a workflow, I keep trying different approaches. That teaches me so many things and helps me continue to grow.

The tech and AI industries have been male-dominated historically, but I have seen it change a lot since I experienced it - it's been actively changing. There is real potential for women coming into the IT or AI sector to grow. I would advise them to build their credentials strategically by doing certifications, bootcamps, or earning degrees. Build a strong portfolio that often speaks louder than just going out there and telling people you want to be in IT. When I started learning about IT and trying to be part of the industry, there were very limited resources compared to today. Today there are so many low-cost and even free resources available. Women can leverage all those free and low-cost resources and can self-start before they even enter into the industry. That is a benefit the current generation has which we didn't have. However, I want to caution about AI usage - learning AI is good, but you need not use AI for every single thing. If someone uses AI as a replacement for thinking, their critical thinking will diminish. But if they use AI as their thinking partner to challenge their ideas, it actually sharpens their mind.

AI is growing in every industry, especially in IT, and I would like to grow my skills and understand what AI can provide in the space of ServiceNow and what it can do to help the customers of ServiceNow. There is so much advertisement going on with AI features on ServiceNow, but to my knowledge and perspective, it is not that much as it is being advertised - it has to grow a lot. I'm really curious to see what AI can do and what ServiceNow can do with AI in helping their customers. With ServiceNow acquiring a lot of AI firms and doing business with AI firms, I am really hopeful that we will see something really game-changing in the near future. The challenge is that while there is potential, the current AI implementation in ServiceNow hasn't fully lived up to the advertising yet, but the opportunity is enormous as these technologies continue to develop and integrate.