FPGA Insights has conducted an exclusive interview with Bhavani Bhaskara, FPGA Design Engineer at Capgemini Engineering, to gain valuable insights into her experiences as a woman in engineering.
Q1) What’s your Name, job title & area of research/work?
I am Bhaskara Bhavani, an FPGA Design engineer at Capgemini, In the VLSI domain.
Q2) What sparked your interest in engineering? Can you describe the moment you realized this was a field you’d like to pursue?
I like to know about the working conditions of everything, will research everything so I chose the electronic field, after graduation I didn’t know how to get into this domain I didn’t have any guidance so I joined as a hardware engineer then later I realized what I want so I shifted to pure VLSI domain.
Q3) What are your experiences of being a female engineer?
As a female engineer, I face so many problems from per work side and personally also but only some companies show this kind of category difference but few companies show it very clearly.
Q4) Can you tell me more about your career path so far?
My career path… I don’t have anyone to guide how to get into this field later I found a few coaching centers and certificates to get into this field. Due to some financial situations, I didn’t do any certification or take any coaching to enter this field. But I wanted to enter this field so I joined hardware and then learned one by one process how to go through from basic level how component manufacturers then how to design then how to code then how to debug… So this is all I learned from YouTube and my seniors.
This will prove if we have a good aim to win then nothing will stop us just it will take time to reach.
Q5) What has been your most challenging experience as an engineer?
As an engineer, I face more challenges I like debugging because it is very difficult to find problems and solving. While doing debudding I learn so many things. Every time I faced new issues and learned more.
Q6) What is the most exciting thing about your job? & What kind of impact would bring you great satisfaction in your work?
In my job, the most exciting thing is my job satisfaction because what I studied is that work only I am doing so this opportunity will get only a few people so that few people are also there so this is my self-motivation.
Q7) What do you think needs to be done to improve the statistics regarding women’s participation in engineering?
Yes, women’s participation is more to improve the statistics because they know how to handle any situation even work.
Q8) What do you enjoy most and least about engineering?
I will enjoy my work and I will create a positive work environment with teammates.
Q9) Who has been your greatest support, coach, and mentor across [Industry], and why?
My coach is my mother she supports me in every situation. And in the industry, Annapurna Madam is very supportive and encourages more. She always said women will do anything not only for men, she will give so much positively and she will guide me on how to manage both my personal and professional life.
Q10) What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts? Any advantages?
Yes, there is a gender different perspective There are so many situations are there to show differences. All disadvantages only.
Q11) What advice do you have for women interested in engineering? What kinds of practical experience should they have? What technical skills should they pick up?
Women will do anything so they need little support from family and team. In engineering women get more information about all electronics, so many people think women don’t know about electric gadgets and smart things and digital technology, we need to prove to them we also know how digital technology works so we need to learn all technical skills like FPGA, ASIC design and Intel-based IP’s and protocols and languages like VHDL, Verilog, and verification, etc.,
