Her Story
About Meenakshi
My day basically starts with meetings, sprint meetings, followed by presentations on high-level and low-level designs. Some days we have to do intense code reviews, and of course, writing code is the important part of my job. We also mentor interns, so it's a mix of different responsibilities. From start to finish, we take care of everything in the software development cycle, and a good chunk of time goes for mentoring as well. I'm a back-end developer creating cloud-native systems. What I'm most proud of professionally is my eye for details - I have an eye for detailing, which sustains this profession a lot. My educational background is what shaped me into who I am now. The field of engineering was different from what I do now, but what engineering taught me helped with the current profession, which is different from what I majored in. The fundamentals it taught me help me sustain in this field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Meenakshi
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to perseverance and hard work. This is a land of opportunities, and you have to keep looking differently. I think every person has some talent, and you will strike it at some point in time. Combined with hard work, it gives you success sooner, I believe.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think one of the missed opportunities is looking for passion. I would tell them to think more about their passion and their skills, what they are stronger on, and to keep the highest in those skills, and not just follow a common pattern.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the obvious one, the pretty well-known one, is AI. I'm not saying it's taking away the job completely, but I think it's getting there. But it also opens other opportunities for mid-level developers. That's the biggest challenge, I think. The other thing is communication. Not being a native has been challenging for me in terms of communication, to express or articulate what I think. That has been challenging, at least for me.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think having an ear to listen to others is an important skill, not just having my thoughts and always thinking that's right. The next thing is to continue to learn. For example, my high school son knows many things better than me, so learning is a continuous process, I believe. That's something which makes me energized and keeps me going.
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