Like every school kid in the late 1990s and early noughties, my childhood spent in Mumbai and Jodhpur was majorly influenced by black and white mobile phones, Orkut, play stations, Nintendo’s Gameboy, Internet cafes and gaming parlors, Google and Wikipedia. While computers became a mere fascination for other teens, this age of technological boom gave birth to the ‘Tech Geek’ in me. Therefore, Computer Science and Information Technology became the obvious choice for me in engineering.

Despite being a Bengali and hailing from Kolkata, the first 14 years of my life were spent in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where I completed my primary and secondary education. In school, I was a sports enthusiast and always participated in extra-curricular activities. When my family moved to Hosur, I attended college in Bangalore and studied finance. During my graduation, I became quite interested in the managerial aspects of the course that dealt with people, but I also faced my limitations in terms of numbers and figures.

When was the last time you did something for the first time? This thought has always stayed with me and somewhere has given me the courage to be unabashedly bold with my career choices. I knew there was only one way forward, to not be afraid of being a beginner. I was born in Belgaum, Karnataka, and as a child, I would often spend my days playing cricket or swimming. I completed my studies in Bellary and since my college days, I have always been interested in hardware and the networking field. One of my favourite sounds to date is the noise servers make in the data centers! This is what piqued my interest in the IT field, and I decided to pursue it further.

Though a South Indian by birth, I grew up in the ‘Steel City’ of Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. Honestly, I was never deeply passionate about technology. I have been one of those people who developed an interest in this field over time, after making plenty of mistakes and gradually learning from them. Like others, I also thought that the IT industry would provide me a career path with endless progression and opportunities depending on my ability to learn new technologies. Thus, I chose software as a career mainly for the varied work structure, which is project-based. Good pay was definitely one of the deciding factors, but after being a part of this industry, I figured that there is much more to this job role than money.

Born and brought up in a Sindhi family in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, my childhood essentially revolved around being a topper at school, food and board games like chess! But when my grandmother once told me about the computer classes being held in the neighbourhood, I instantly felt interested in enrolling for the same. This marked the beginning of my tryst with technology, and I started helping my computer teacher teach fundamentals to other students. Gradually, I became passionate about computers, and this laid the foundation of my career as a software engineer.

Growing up in a small village of Odisha, I had always been a good student. But, being a small-town girl, chasing my dreams was definitely a challenge. However, my parents always wanted me to grow up as an independent individual. Armed with their enormous support and my constant determination, my journey towards success became much easier.

Born in Jaipur and brought up in Delhi, my childhood was mostly spent playing various sports, especially tennis. I hail from an artistic family, father being an artist, mom being a dancer and brother being an architect. But for me, art was always a hobby and I never saw it as a profession, though I topped Arts in the 10th standard boards. Being a 90s kid, I have seen the transition of technology from basic devices to smart ones, and hence, electronics has always fascinated me since childhood. This, along with my love for physics made me opt for Electronics and Communication as a specialization for my engineering degree.

From a very young age, while growing up in Patna, I had the urge to learn new technologies and even experiment with them. This made me opt for an Engineering degree, and I eagerly looked forward to coding my heart out. But this remained a distant dream when I joined a US-based MNC in an administrative position after my graduation. But I didn't let the role define me, and thus, I began my journey with Cloud and DevOps.

While growing up in Kerala, I took inspiration from my brother who was a coder, and followed him in taking Engineering in Computer Science. It was after my first year of engineering that I realized coding wasn't my passion; instead, I was curious about what all it can achieve. But going with the conventional flow, I ended up as a developer in a US-based MNC. This was also where the "Business Analyst" inside me awakened, and I decided to pursue my MBA, post which I joined another US-based firm as a Business Analyst.

Growing up, I have always been obsessed with technology. As a child, watching cartoons made me wonder about the intricacies of broadcast, creation, etc. This sparked my interest in thinking about how technology powers our world and its ability to change mankind. My love for tech only grew over time, and I quickly realized that engineering is the obvious career choice for me. Post my engineering, I worked as a SAP developer and began to understand the importance of having processes in place to implement any technology. This led me to explore process areas and started doing my certifications to understand them in depth. During this time, I also realized how crucial it is to constantly stay up to date with the latest technologies. I have taken several certifications over the years, including, PSPO I, CSM, CSP, ITIL, Leading SAFe, Prince 2 Practitioner, and AWS Associate Architect.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Pune, I did my schooling from Jnana Prabodhini Navanagar Vidyalaya. But I was never an outstanding student who excelled academically. However, my active participation in extracurricular activities helped me bag the ‘Student of The Year’ award in the 9th grade. Also, I won 2 silver and 3 bronze medals in State-level swimming competitions. After graduating in Applied Arts, I started exploring my professional options.

While growing up in my hometown Patna, I always longed for a successful career. Even today, my mom recalls my childhood days, which were slightly different from the rest of the girls around me. I was never much into household games; rather I spent most of the time mimicking an officegoer, setting up a work desk, moving around with files, signing papers and pretending to take calls. This phase marked the beginning of my association with corporate life, and by the final year of my graduation, my passion for technology led me to learning programming.

During my early days in NTPC/TTPS Township, located in the Angul district of Odisha, a 17-year-old me was made to think only about two career options - engineering or medical. While growing up, I gradually became interested in motors and electricity, which marked the beginning of my association with technology. This led me to take up engineering, and post that I joined an MNC as a full-stack developer. With the IT industry booming at that time, I considered this a wise career decision, further building the foundation for a successful professional life ahead. Though I loved coding, I always wanted to lead teams as well. This was a realization that dawned upon me, and I saw a career scope in a techno-managerial role, paving my way for a postgraduate degree in management from IIT Delhi. Apart from being an additional feather in my hat, this degree also helped me get a job at HashedIn by Deloitte in May 2020 as a Project Manager. The initial phase was undoubtedly challenging, but my love for communication with stakeholders, ability to handle critical situations, and leadership qualities helped me sail through the initial hurdles.

Despite hailing from a conservative family in the small town of Sirsa, my father always had a progressive mindset. He encouraged my sisters and me to be independent, and this laid the foundation for my professional dreams and aspirations. Being the youngest of the four sisters, my road to success was not very daunting as my siblings carved a path for me to achieve bigger things in life. Thus, my love for mathematics urged me to be the first engineer in my family, which initially wasn't a popular choice among my kin.

It all began as a kid when I spent hours in my room at Bhilai, designing creative bits and pieces. With time, I continued channeling my creativity through sketching, craft, and other forms of art. Gradually, I perceived that I express myself more comfortably through my creation than my words. Thus, my innate passion for art and creativity made me opt for design as my profession.

With a degree in chemical engineering, the notion of venturing into the world of technology never crossed my mind. However, as the saying goes, "Some things are destined to be -- it just takes us a couple of tries to get there." Despite having worked in the field of chemical engineering for some time, I reached a dead end where my interest dwindled, and my true calling seemed to lie elsewhere. At that point, I reached out to some of my acquaintances in the IT industry and thus commenced my transformative journey of becoming a ‘techie’.