Shreya Nadkarni

I think failure has been a very big part of my success. I'm a person who tried everything - I tried getting into different fields and roles. Every time I failed something, or I don't even say I failed, I would say I learned something out of it. I learned that it was not made for me, and I feel like once you know that you're not enjoying the work you're doing, you should try adapting to things and see what works best for you. Just because you have a degree in analytics or management or marketing, that doesn't mean that is your calling. There's some calling, that one work that you would genuinely enjoy doing, irrespective of whether you have an engineering degree but you're not interested in coding - maybe you're better with collaboration or communication. That is one thing which I learned - that irrespective, keep trying out things until you find what your calling is. Once you have that calling, you will know, because you will enjoy working, then you're passionate about working even beyond 5 o'clock. That won't be a problem for you because you know that you have that knowledge, and you will want to share it with others. Do not give up. Just keep trying out until you know that this is what it is for me. Also, speaking up has been crucial. One of my previous managers told me that it doesn't matter, you should just speak out. Even if I'm not 100% sure, I would still speak out so that people know that I have an opinion. It comes out as a stronger personality rather than someone who would just sit and take notes. Even if it doesn't matter to anyone, you should still throw out your opinion.

The best career advice I ever received was from one of my previous managers at a startup I worked at with engineers from Georgia Tech. The whole team was fully male-dominated - we were about 20 people when the company started, and me and one other woman were the only two girls. My manager told me, 'Don't worry, we know that you're not from this industry, but you are at least trying and getting into it. Even if you say something stupid, it's fine, at least you're saying out loud, and then you will understand how to rephrase it properly to make an impact.' That really stuck in my head - just say it out loud, it doesn't matter what. Initially, I did not do this because I thought that I was just moving into this career, and it's something new, and people are not going to take me seriously if I say something. But now, even if I'm not 100% sure, I would still speak out so that people know that I have an opinion. It comes out as a stronger personality rather than someone who would just sit and take notes and then go to a co-worker and say, 'Oh, this is what I thought,' but you did not say it in the meeting. Even if it doesn't matter to anyone, you should still throw out your opinion.

I would say that do not ever get intimidated. I know a lot of women have a high emotional quotient in comparison to men, and I think that is one of the reasons where people consider male opinions more highly than female opinions. But that doesn't mean you need to keep in mind that you are good at whatever you are doing. Do not get intimidated by people around you, or do not even try to think, 'Oh, he's so good at it, I have to be like him.' Why do you have to be like him? You are yourself, and someone else in the company is saying that, 'Oh, I want to be like her.' The grass is always going to be greener on the other side, so just be happy with what you are doing, and do not ever underestimate yourself. That thought, once you enter the IT industry, comes up very quickly. When I was entering into IT, I had thoughts like, 'Oh, an engineer would do my work in 10 minutes,' or 'This data scientist would crack the interview way better than what I would do.' In my final interview, there was a data scientist who had 5 years of experience, and I was competing against him. If at that point I thought, 'Oh, he's going to get the job,' I would have already lost the battle. But I did not. I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to give my best. This is the best I can give in the interview. Now it is up to the team whether they want to decide on who they wanted to go with.' If I already thought he was going to get the job because he has more experience or he's from a similar background, I would have lost that battle myself in the first place. Give your best. Whatever is your best, that is what at the end of the day matters. If you think that you're giving your best, you will never get intimidated by anyone, or anyone having any negative opinions about you, because there will be people who would want to pull you down at any point. But if you think that you are doing the best, at least in your head, you should have the personality that I am the best, and this is all I can do. Once you have that, I think you will be able to at least get the strength to go ahead and do the task or responsibility, or be in the male-dominated area.

Authenticity is very important to me - being yourself rather than trying to be like someone else. I believe in giving your best and having the confidence that what you're doing is the best you can do. Accountability and speaking up matter to me - even if I'm not 100% sure, I still speak out so people know I have an opinion. Building relationships while being strong is really important, because a lot of times when you're trying to be strong, people assume that she's a rude person, or she doesn't care. I think there should be a balance with how you communicate and how you build those relationships. You might not be getting along with your manager currently, but in the future, definitely you will understand once you're out of that team, you will understand what he said was really helpful to you. You have to build those relationships over time, and being strong is definitely on point, but also don't be just strong while you are just saying things for the sake of saying things. You have to build those relationships, because those are the relationships which are going to take you ahead and be there for you later. I also have one mantra that I follow - I do not think about work post I am done. Once I shut down my laptop, that is the end. I do not take out the office drama or talk about someone who said something to me. Post 5 o'clock, if I am done, I am done, and I fully switch to my personal life where I enjoy with my partner, play, and do things which we like. Switching off is important because once you come back home and share your day about what happened, that is just going to build the negativity, and you're going to take that negativity on the next day. But if you switch off, you have the entire time from 5 o'clock to next day 9 o'clock to recover, and in that time, you have already forgotten what happened yesterday.