Karthiga, Software Engineer in Carelon Global Solution – Women in Engineering

I am Mrs.Karthiga and I have been working as a Senior Software Engineer in Carelon Global Solution. I have been working as a database developer and have expertise in working with different databases including Sybase, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL.

From my childhood, I have been interested in solving complex logic and learning new things. During my teenage years when the IT industry was booming, I was quite eager about what was making it grow rapidly.
 
So, I started learning about Information Technology in my college and learned a lot about programming languages and the basics of all the concepts used in the IT industry.

When I was working, apart from coding I started showing interest in databases, because it is about managing and fast retrieval of huge amounts of data. I am interested in solving different problems each day, to provide efficient and quality code to the business.

In the IT industry, we can see better equality for female engineers as compared to other industries. And they have several platforms where we can address our concerns and they will take immediate and necessary action on the same. 

Even though we have several platforms, we face little discrimination/politics inside the project, but we can rectify those by showing/proving our talents. By gaining the trust of the business/clients and showing what we are capable of we can overcome those difficulties.

I was placed in TCS on-campus and I am one among the 150 students placed in our college. I was trained in TCS as a JAVA developer for 3 months and developed an application using the same which will be used by PMO’s for the project cost allocation and maintenance.

While developing the application, my manager used to manage the backend(Oracle DB). I got interested and started learning about the same.
Once I was well-versed in Database knowledge, I got the opportunity to work on a client project from scratch. We did POC and it got approved by a client.

I have developed my practical DB experience in this project by providing various solutions based on business needs. After that, I worked as an Oracle DB developer for a Standard Chartered Bank client on 3 different projects for 5 years.

I have moved my career to Carelon Global Solutions as the senior database developer and am currently pursuing the same.

As a senior engineer, I have challenges on how to balance my personal and professional life. I used to get advice from seniors and friends on how to manage both and succeed in my career. Even though I am capable, I was doubted to take up responsibility for difficult tasks. Later on, I have decided to get help from others on my day-to-day activities and to plan and prioritize the tasks I have been working on.

All jobs will have ups and downs. Sometimes we may get stuck in a problem and figure out the solution for the same. Once we figure out and implement the solution, it makes us feel like we have achieved something big. 

Mostly in production issues, business will be affected a lot. And during that difficult time, sometimes we have to think outside the box for the solution. This is the time for us to gain the appreciation and trust of the business. However it is very important to document all the analyses and solutions for future reference.

Treating everyone equally and getting recognized for what we are doing will give great satisfaction in work. And it will encourage us to achieve more.

Independent to speak up our concern and take necessary action against the same.

Consider all people’s thoughts without discrimination and provide a better solution to the problem than the favorite person’s solution.

Speak Up. Train them to speak up their thoughts in a detailed way regardless of all the opposition and discrimination.

Training. Train them with what they are interested in.

Importance of process. Makes them understand the importance of going with the process to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Engineering plays a vital role in making the world a better place to live in. And it will boom more and more in the future, which will reduce human efforts and improve our living standards. AI and ML are going to play a vital role in this transition. I am proud that I am part of this transition.

But meanwhile, it reduces our thinking capability and physical activities. This will make us physically weak and mentally strong. In addition to that, there is a high chance of data breach. And we will lose our private environment. Our private data will be used for their business inputs, which is unacceptable and unavoidable.

All the working women in the industry are my inspiration. They inspired me a lot by the way they are tackling the team members making decisions in difficult situations and standing up for team members’ concerns. 

”If they can achieve, then why can’t I”. I picture myself as one among those who are making important decisions for the betterment of the employees and organization.

In addition to that, all my family members are the greatest support for me. Because of their support, belief, and trust, “I was, I am and I will be an engineer”.

Women’s naturally gifted with many features like multi-tasking, strong mentality, etc.. They can manage multiple projects without any compromise, in addition to household responsibilities. We have to believe in ourselves that we can achieve anything. 

As we have a high chance of having discrimination, we know how it will affect us personally and professionally. So, we have to make sure that the same will not happen to others and try to maintain a peaceful work environment to get better results from employees by gaining their trust.

Engineering will have more and more opportunities for women in the future. Nowadays all engineering works are done with less or no discrimination. So, it is more important to be adverse in the skills you are interested in and eager to learn more to achieve the same.

From a technology perspective, python, AI, ML, cloud, Cyber security are booming very fast and will be part of our future. So, it will be very useful to learn those skills. 

Lastly, I want to mention that your skills, talent, and hard work will overcome all this discrimination. So, believe in your talent and try the ways to improve it for the betterment of you and for mankind.