Her Story
About Jigna
Jigna Gandhi brings nearly 17 years of experience in information technology to her role at Amazon Web Services. Her work centers on the intersection of technology, business, and customer transformation, with expertise in transforming business problems into technical solutions. This includes application development, modernization, cloud adoption, and designing AI strategies for financial institutions to maximize value. She earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology in 2010 and a degree from MIT in application developer and design. Her professional credentials include certifications as a Solution Architect Professional with specialties in analytics and security, as well as AI Expert, AI Architect, and AI Architect Expert certifications. Jigna attributes her success to curiosity and a continuous willingness to learn in the rapidly evolving field of technology.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jigna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to curiosity and a willingness to continuously learn. I'm in the field of technology and it changes so quickly that I don't think I can ever reach a point when you know everything. There were occurrences when I was not super comfortable asking questions but I had always a desire to learn from the people around me and put myself into situations where I always have something new to figure out.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I got it from my peer: don't wait until you feel ready. There is always, especially for women, a reason that you are not quite ready for your next role or challenge. But growth just happens when you take on something. You don't want to be 100% ready. You can just take it on and as you are turning into that you can always learn on the fly and grow into that.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't limit yourself based on what you think you are supposed to be ready for. As women sometimes the family or community or society demands that you just have two homes to take care of. I would say that's not true. Just take on the opportunity, grow into your field be it technology or something else, and always raise. Ask for the role, build relationships with people that can also help you grow.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
AI is advancing and creating major transformation. We are seeing enormous demand to improve customer experience, make processes intelligent, and create new products and business models. It's most like an opportunity but if you don't take advantage of it it is going to become a challenge. It's not about what AI can do, it's about how to use it in an effective way, more responsibly and more securely in a way that it actually can create value.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Curiosity, so my name is Signna, my name literally means curiosity in my language. Definitely curiosity, integrity, empathy. Those are the most values that I can always take back with me because it keeps me learning, it makes me believe that irrespective of whatever is the outcome I really want to be around with people and make sure that I have meaningful impact to them.
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