Laxmi Harikumar

I attribute my success to lots of things. One of them is the access to the technologies that I have, which helps me keep myself updated. Then there are the amazing people that I get to work with, my team. My husband and my family keep me grounded, and then there are my friends and co-workers. All the technology that makes my life easy also plays a big role. So it's really a combination of my husband, my friends, my co-workers, and all the technology that kind of makes everything possible.

The best career advice I ever received came from a manager of mine way back in 2008. He told me that if there is a role or a new job that I really like, but I don't have experience in that, I should still try it out. There might be losses short-term, like having to take a pay cut or a title cut, but if I truly believe in it and I'm truly passionate about it, I should just go for it, because it will work out in the long term. Whatever I lose in the short term, I will gain back over a long period of time. This advice came when AI was just coming up and I didn't have much information about it, but I already had about 10 years of experience. I was getting into something where I didn't have any experience, so I took the opportunity. Recently, another mentor gave me advice to build cool stuff and win through excellence, which is something I follow in my work.

I would say read all about it, because now there are so many resources available. It's not just restricted to books like when I started my career. There are so many online courses, and a lot of them are free. Whichever area you're interested in, try to understand a bit more deeply about it and what you're getting into. Do a couple of courses, understand what you're getting into, and then if it really interests you, try applying it in your day-to-day job. If you really enjoy it, you always have opportunities to build, and always think long-term, not just what you might lose in the short term of one year or so. As women, what I've also realized is that what you want, or the reasons for pivoting, have changed for me over the years. Initially, maybe it's excitement or because somebody else is doing that, so I also want to do that too. As you get older, it's more about what makes you happy. A lot of things change, and a lot of factors as women are not in our control. If we have kids, there would be restrictions on what you can do or where you can move. In my case, my husband relocated, so I had to relocate. You have all of these things, so take it in the spirit, and it'll all work out well in the end.

I guess the pace at which the technology is changing is the biggest challenge. What was impossible a couple of months ago suddenly becomes possible, and you can do it in a much faster, more efficient way. You have to keep up with everything that's happening, not just with your company and your products, but also what the competitors are doing, so that you're able to serve your clients or customers the best.

I think something which I experience in everyday life is kindness. It's there on my desk: kindness matters. That's one thing I really believe in. Everything is becoming AI-driven, so it's very important that you recognize that you're a set of humans, so be kind to each other and help out wherever you can. Then, whatever you're doing, have fun doing it. That makes it all the more interesting, and the results would be much better if you're having fun and doing it.