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. When I completed my engineering, Automation tools were the next big thing. I remember J2ME as the upcoming framework for mobile devices without UI, and every aspect of it made me incredibly intrigued. But what is life without some roadblocks? In 2008, when I was ready to kickstart my career in tech, recession hit. Despite being a setback, I was fortunate to come across some great mentors who eventually helped me cut it as an Automation Engineer with Python, J2SE, Perl and Shell as preferred languages. Finally, in May 2013, I joined HashedIn as an Automation Engineer. Due to a culture of Cloud-native Engineering here, I soon took a liking to Cloud. There seemed an obvious overlap between Automation and Cloud DevOps, so Cloud DevOps seemed a clear choice going forward for me. And thus, after so many years of accumulating a wealth of knowledge and experience working for a global clientele, today I proudly call myself a DevOps Cloud Architect. Every time I retrospect on my journey with this organization, I feel extremely fortunate and blessed for being able to venture into multiple roles – QA, Deployment, Product and Team management, Pre-sales, Architect, and DevOps. It is in the DNA of HashedIn to provide everyone with the flexibility to choose their career tracks. Currently, my work also involves on-the-job mentoring and training, apart from liaising between Tech and Business ends of projects. Every day of being a Hasher is a new challenge, and I always believe in keeping the bigger picture in mind and constantly learning. In pursuit of the same, I have completed various certifications like AWS Solution Architect Professional, Google Professional Cloud Architect and Scrum.org Certified Scrum Master. Being a tech enthusiast, I have always been keen to explore a variety of career possibilities. It is my belief that it is interesting to do something new that can add more value to your team, organization, and your career. To have acquired proficiency across so many different roles and getting to work with some of the best minds in the IT industry is something I am immensely proud of and consider as my biggest achievement.

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. I began my career in 2001 when the BPO industry was booming. I remember interviewing for the post of a recruiter in a company, where I was asked about my experience in the industry. Though I had none, I asked the interviewer to let me work as a Process Executive so that I could understand the job profile and figure out the kind of candidates who would be the best fit for the role. This kickstarted my tryst with Recruitment and Human Resources. After spending 2.5 years in core recruitment, I got an opportunity to be an Assistant HR Business Partner, which helped me gain more knowledge about core HR. After exploring a few more opportunities in Human Resources, I decided to take a break and venture into entrepreneurship with a friend in the field of sports equipment and sports management. Sadly, it did not work out as expected, and I was back in the corporate world soon after and joined a boutique consulting firm. It began to seem like Recruitment chose me every time, instead of me choosing it! Finally, in 2019, I joined HashedIn by Deloitte and have been here ever since. Currently, I am a Senior Recruitment Master and manage the entire recruitment function end-to-end. My typical workday includes going through my mailbox, catching up with my team, and devising solutions to blockers, open issues, specific challenges, and handling recruitment drives. I have undertaken trainings on various topics like transverse management and efficient people management. At HashedIn by Deloitte, I have been awarded the Top Impactor title, and in one of my earlier organizations, I was nominated for having driven the most impact in the South zone. Recognitions like these keep me going, and I have never thought of changing my career track. I consider my stint at HashedIn one of my biggest accomplishments to date. Building a high-performing team has been daunting, but I have seen both my team and the organization grow tremendously. HR and recruitment are largely female-dominated fields, and I often call my team the ‘Powerpuff Girls.’ It’s an absolute pleasure to work with women since they tend to be high performers and great multi-taskers. Apart from work, I am a first-division cricketer, and my weekends are dedicated to playing cricket. I own a 20-year-old cricket club wherein I nurture budding cricketers. Also, being an avid biker, much of my life is spent crossing the borders of various places, both in and around India. I enjoy cooking too. I believe in challenging myself every day and that has been my mantra in life.

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. I moved to Bangalore in 2017 and joined HashedIn in March 2019 as a System Administrator. I realized over time that I am more interested in cloud technologies and started brushing up on the skills required for DevOps. HashedIn by Deloitte supported my decision to switch careers by giving me the opportunity to become AWS and GCP cloud certified. In June 2020, I became a DevOps Engineer. I knew that my experience would transfer into my new career and most importantly, I was interested in learning more. I completed three certifications – AWS Solution Architect Associate, AWS SysOps Administrator, and GCP Associate Cloud Engineer. The key driver was future growth potential and my love for facing challenges head-on. I realize that switching careers seems like a daunting task to many, but I am grateful that HashedIn by Deloitte was supportive and encouraged me to take this chance. Of course, working hard and spending hours and hours studying for the certifications was no cakewalk, but when I look back, I am happy that I had the platform to do so. My typical day at HashedIn usually entails attending scrum calls and meetings with my team. Our daily morning discussions on our progress and blockers for our tasks help us plan for the rest of our day. For anyone who wants to switch careers as I did, my suggestion would be to continuously learn about the various DevOps tools in your free time. This ensures that when it’s time to adapt to new tools, you are flexible enough to do so. Apart from work, in my free time I enjoy watching and playing sports, like cricket and football. I am also a big foodie and enjoy cooking and experimenting with food.

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. I joined HashedIn by Deloitte as an Intern in February 2020, and I was trained in various tech stacks such as HTML, CSS, React, Python-Flask, DotNet-GraphQL, etc. During the HU bootcamp. The best thing about the internship was being taught from scratch. It was a journey that started with many new faces and concepts and ended with a great group of friends and sound technical concepts and tech stacks. I am currently a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)-I and I have had the opportunity to be a part of some amazing projects. I am grateful to begin my career with a company which has great colleagues and understanding seniors. So far, I have been a part of two long-term projects and one short-term project. These have provided me with tremendous learning experience and exposure to different frameworks and methodologies. I am glad to have mastered the art of working under pressure and interacting seamlessly with clients. As a Hasher, I have the freedom to grab opportunities that come my way and work on a variety of projects, both large and small. My typical workday begins with taking interviews, followed by attending project calls. The daily morning discussions on our progress and blockers for our tasks help us plan for the rest of the day. I do enjoy my current role but would like to explore other career tracks as well in future. Learning new things has perennially excited me, and I always give my best to whatever I do. I usually try to communicate about my potential blockers to get help on time. These are some of the things that help me succeed and stay positive. In my free time, I am often found hogging on pizza and watching something fancy on Netflix! Else, I usually sing or play a sport as a hobby.

I was born and brought up in Surat, Gujarat, but I originally hail from the town of Bikaner in Rajasthan. Being a Gujarati, I have always been a foodie and apart from playing Garba every year during Navratri, as a kid, I was also inclined towards PC gaming. During my childhood days, I remember playing a lot of games, from Road Rash to GTA Vice City and Cricket 2007 on my small computer with 64GB hard disk. Owing to my interest in economics, I initially took up commerce. But when I was in the 11th standard, a course in Computer Hardware made me highly inclined towards computers and software development. Consequently, I opted for a BCA degree. I clearly remember becoming increasingly passionate about technology during my graduation days. This pushed me to build small websites using PHP and HTML. To upskill myself further, I pursued an M.Sc. (IT) from DAIICT Gandhinagar after my graduation. It was during my post-graduation that I finally got to explore upcoming technologies in detail. I joined HashedIn by Deloitte in 2020 as a Linker. After six months of rigorous internship and a total of 11 months of working as a Hasher, I am now a Software Engineer-II. Our HU batch (HU-17) was completely different from the previous batches, as we were trained and onboarded virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though initially we had to face a lot of uncertainties and challenges, I was blessed with an amazing team of Managers and Seniors Developers, who helped me gain confidence and encouraged me to improve. My most memorable moment at HashedIn by Deloitte was when I was allocated to a project and had an excellent mentor. The entire experience helped me become a better version of myself. My workday usually starts with coffee over scrum calls, where we discuss our daily tasks. Post that, I try to complete the tasks allocated to me. My day usually ends with reviewing the day’s progress and blockers, if any. HashedIn by Deloitte has offered me a diverse set of opportunities to discover, and this has been a turning point in my life. One of the key breakthroughs would be becoming a full-stack developer with a good amount of experience in front-end development. Apart from the technical teams, I am also a part of the Kunakidza team. I have organized fun events and interacted with a lot of linkers to make their HU days memorable. In future, I wish to accomplish many milestones, which would be instrumental in shaping my career. Apart from the Google Cloud certification, there are many more in the pipeline for self-learning. During my free time, I play PC games, specifically Valorant and spend quality time with my niece. To me, being successful in my profession means having a learning mindset, facing challenges, and focusing on self-improvement. During stressful times, I have a unique trick: staying positive by listening to music while coding. I also believe that we, as engineers should never hesitate to seek help from other developers. Learning from fellow professionals not only helps you grow in your career, but also helps develop a newer perspective towards problems.

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. During my engineering days, I was extremely active in extra-curricular activities apart from academics and won 20+ state-level competitions. One of my milestones was participating in a hackathon, organized by the Government of Gujarat, which witnessed participation from more than 500 teams. Our team comprising of eight members bagged the winning title and being the team leader, I got the chance to meet the ex-Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Vijaybhai Rupani. After completing my engineering, I joined HashedIn by Deloitte in 2020 as a Linker in the HU’17 batch and am currently working as a Python Backend Developer. My typical day as a Hasher begins with the customary scrum and a few other calls. I abide by the Pomodoro technique to help me enhance my productivity. As an engineer, I get to explore multiple things in HashedIn, which accelerates my professional capabilities. With the help of my seniors and mentors, I started as a front-end developer and as of now, I am a back-end developer. The experience of working for various clients has helped me upskill myself as a full-stack developer. I have also completed Cloud Native Developer training. Apart from work, I was also a part of the Kunakidza team, recrutiment team, and HU Track helping team. Being recognized as the ‘Hasher of the month’ and a ‘Top Impactor’ has definitely encouraged me to achieve more. “Problems to hain sab ke sath, sirf nazriye ki hain baat”- I believe in having a positive mindset to come out of the challenges that life throws at me. I also abide by our CEO’s words quoted during HU, “Keep Swimming.” I manage to make time for my hobbies and learning new life skills, which include traveling, photography, cooking, playing the ukulele, reading books, and a lot more.

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. My love for science and mathematics made me opt for IT as a specialization during B.Tech. During my graduation days, I developed a huge interest in learning about various topics related to software. I always delved deep into them to explore more and this kickstarted my journey into the software industry. After graduation, I worked in a product-based company for nearly 4 years and getting a hang of the corporate culture was a hurdle that I overcame. HashedIn by Deloitte became my second workplace in 2018, and since then, it has been a splendid experience. Currently, I am a Quality Engineer-III, and my job is to oversee all the QA activities of assigned projects. I also lead the Java track for HU and help in QA/SDET training of the HUEx program. I enjoy my role as I get to find bugs, and suggest improvements, which contribute to the quality of the product. Software testing is all about looking at a product from multiple angles, with different perspectives and testing it with different expectations. My workdays are always productive and involve a great deal of communication. I always ensure to connect with my team members regularly in order to have a smooth sign off before every release. Although I enjoy my current role thoroughly, I would love to consider changing my career track soon. My professional journey so far has both small and big milestones. One of them is working on projects from scratch and finding the most critical issues in the initial phase, leading to successful release of products on time. In my last project, I managed both quality and business analysis, apart from helping the team members understand the requirements, assisting them in RCA (Root cause analysis) of the issues. Receiving positive feedback from clients and team members for the projects I have worked on has been a great achievement. During my tenure at HashedIn by Deloitte, I have been honored with Spot awards, Top Impactor and a promotion. As of now, I look forward to finishing some more certifications. HashedIn by Deloitte’s flexible and diverse work culture has helped me balance my professional and personal lives wonderfully. Apart from managing strict project deadlines and taking up certification courses, I enjoy cooking, and playing indoor games during my free time. Also, during the pandemic, watching movies and TV shows became an everyday thing. Spending time with family helps me stay calm and positive. I believe one should always be focused and self-motivated. Success doesn’t come easy. Every time life threw a challenge at me, I fought back hard. Instead of allowing failure to affect me negatively, I aim to keep learning to excel in my career.

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. During college, I opted for many computer science electives and gradually developed an inclination towards it. Exposure to Electronics and Computer Science during engineering helped me gain an insight into the magnificent world of technology, motivating me to keep exploring it. One of the key milestones during my graduation was receiving the ‘Best Project’ award for improvising and detailing the practical implementation of a microcontroller for a digital lock system in a project-based learning competition at Vellore Institute of Technology. I also hold a certification in Lean Six Sigma and Neural Networks and Deep Learning. In February 2020 I joined HashedIn by Deloitte right after graduation and currently working as a Software Engineer specializing in Front-end development with React. As a Hasher, my work days include learning something new that starts with catching up with the team over daily scrum calls and working on assigned tasks later in the day. Since Hashedin’s culture encourages fun equally, we also keep playing small games to de-stress ourselves, unless we have to skip it for some high priority work. During my short yet meaningful professional journey so far, there have been some achievements that I am proud of. One of them was the successful implementation of Algolia Search across the entire platform with eleven modules, which was well appraised by the client for delivering the functionality on a short notice and time crunch. Also, being an active member of the hiring process I have taken over a hundred interviews and trained many fellow Hashers to do the same. Apart from striving to excel as a techie at my workplace, I am also a member of the Gluecklich team, partaking in hosting, conducting events and organizing fun activities at an organizational level. I have also led many batches of the Kunakidza team for designing fun activities and mentoring freshers. In my leisure time, I sing, play the guitar, or engage in sports. I like to keep myself updated with the latest technologies, so, I enjoy enhancing my knowledge by learning more about Cloud (AWS) and Mobile Technologies (React Native, Swift) so that I can contribute more to team projects. I am lucky to have my furry friend ‘Coby’ by my side. He keeps me on my toes throughout the day and playing with him gives me a sense of happiness and belonging. I believe that success is a game of discipline and I hope I can champion it in the future, I just have to keep swimming.

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. Gradually, I channeled my time and efforts towards learning and got my first breakthrough of working in a DevOps team. I finally secured my first tech job as a DevOps engineer, and after working for two years, I joined HashedIn by Deloitte in 2021. As a DevOps II engineer in this organization, I realized that gaining expertise on new technologies is crucial, and in pursuit of the same, I completed my Google Cloud Associate Certification course. From a Linux administrator to a DevOps Engineer, it has been quite an exciting transition for me. My typical workday as a Hasher consists of working on tasks assigned as per JIRA, creating pipelines, IAC, Cloud, etc. I have been a part of projects where the underlying concepts have been completely new to me. But, I love taking up challenges and tried my best to execute every task with dedication and sincerity. Every day at HashedIn by Deloitte is a discovery, and my journey so far in this organization has been extremely enriching. Besides managing my professional realm, I also indulge in hobbies like travelling, singing and calligraphy to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Though circumstances in my life forced me to almost give up on my dream, my positive approach to accomplishing my goals made me emerge as a happy and satisfied individual. I believe in the saying: “We can’t go back and change the beginning, but we can start from where we are and change the ending,” and this quote has helped me achieve the impossible.

Growing up in a small village of Udaipur, Rajasthan, I went to the only English medium school in Fatehnagar, a town situated 4 kms away from my village. Unlike other prestigious schools in the city, the resources in my school were quite limited. As a bright student and quick learner, subjects requiring a logical bend of mind interested me a lot. After 10th, I decided to opt for PCM for my senior secondary education, with Computer Science as my fifth subject. But amidst the hectic schedules of preparation for the IIT entrance examination, I lost touch with Computer Science. However, my passion for technology was alive, which motivated me to become a Computer Science Engineer. I have always been an enthusiastic individual, eager to explore new possibilities and uncharted territories in life. In the second semester of Engineering, I gained some knowledge on open source, mobile, and web applications. I gradually started developing an ERP software with one of my classmates, and we subsequently delivered it to university canteens and stationery shops for trial. But after a free trial period, all of them refused to pay for the premium version of the software. This made me vaguely realize the hardships of working as a professional techie. During my undergrad days, I attended four International Conferences as an Indian Delegate, such as Future City Summit 2019, Harvard US-India Initiative 2020, 2021, Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations 2021. My love for technology has always prevailed, and in pursuit of the same, I forayed into the Cloud Computing domain. I am an IBM certified Master Cloud Engineer and a Mulesoft Certified Developer and have a certification in AWS Cloud Security. HashedIn By Deloitte is the first company in my professional journey, and I joined this organization in February 2021 as a software engineer. The plethora of projects and flexibility available here allow me to unlock the potential of various tech stacks. I have also been a part of the Mulesoft Community, working on projects related to Integration Tool. As a Hasher, my typical workday consists of coding, Scrum calls, discussions with peers and seniors. Being a fun-loving person, I am a part of teams such as Kunakidza and Glucklich that organize exciting events for Hashers and the new HU batches. Apart from being a tech enthusiast, I am a bookworm, an organizer, a guitarist, a singer, a lyricist and a sportsperson. Aiming to be a “Ōruraundona hito”, which means “All Rounder”, I live by the mantra, “It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome, that’s what defines your career”. The hunger to learn more motivates me to keep going in life, despite the challenges and hardships.

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. I started working at HashedIn by Deloitte in October 2018, when there was no specialized role for a Business Analyst. But the organization’s success story instilled confidence in me, and I was enthusiastic about exploring new possibilities and uncharted territories. With time, HashedIn by Deloitte strengthened my understanding of practically dealing with uncertainties and setting realistic expectations. By donning multiple hats in different roles such as Pre-Sales & Project Management and dealing with constantly changing requirements, I have managed to gain perspective on “what not to do” as a Product Master! My love for technology has always prevailed. In pursuit of the same and to hone my technical skills, I took the AWS Cloud Practitioner and Azure Fundamentals certifications, which gave me a better understanding of the basics of Cloud, its scope and limitations. My typical workday involves daily interactions with the tech team to help me understand the limitations of different approaches to a problem as well as engaging with clients which offers me a better judgement of their needs and priorities, thereby opening new horizons of interpretations. Every day at HashedIn by Deloitte is a new learning, a new milestone. The curiosity experienced at the beginning of any engagement is something I always await. It lets me explore the ride, apply my knowledge and learn from those experiences in retrospect – a learning cycle that is highly productive and exhilarating. It also does make a lot of difference when the organization recognizes your contributions, be it with the Top Impactor award, or with more learning opportunities. Thankfully, working at HashedIn by Deloitte lets me also enjoy my hobbies of watching and playing football, and traveling. I strive to excel in my professional space work, and HashedIn has provided a great platform for that, whilst encouraging and enabling a good work-life balance.

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. I started my journey with HashedIn in September 2020, and I am currently working as a Project Manager. Having been a part of projects across various verticals like manufacturing, retail logistics, transportation, etc., I have realized that while it is important to adhere to client requirements, it is equally important to consider the practicalities of what can be implemented and what can be the plausible gaps during execution. With a supportive Leadership Team, each day is an opportunity to learn something new and explore my capabilities. I vividly remember a project which was assigned to me where the requirements kept piling up. When I was pulled in, I ensured that proper processes were in place, and consequently, I was able to deliver the committed items in a very short span of time. I’m happy that my efforts were recognized and I was awarded the Best Delivery Manager for this project. I’ve also won several awards back-to-back while working on-site. One of the clients has also given me a handwritten note for my work and that was one of the most cherished moments of my professional career. Amidst all the reports, scrum calls, resource planning, and client calls, I often make time for other activities like training workshops, mentoring new joiners, skits, fashion shows, etc. In my free time, I enjoy playing cricket, and a few other outdoor games and cooking. I have been a district-level badminton player as well. I live by the motto of being passionate about whatever I do and being honest to myself. I think failure is the best teacher in life and must be learned from!

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 being a designer was one of the choices available to me, I didn’t want to just beautify things, rather wished to solve problems through my designs. During that period, UI/UX design was booming as one of the most sought-after career choices, and I also felt an inclination towards the same. My knack for problem-solving made me pursue my Masters in Design for Digital Experiences from National Institute of Design, Bangalore. Taking up design as a career has been an informed decision, and I was always fully aware of my professional interest in this field. After post-graduation, I looked for career opportunities in promising startups as I didn’t want to feel lost in a big organization. I wanted to work with a company that would respect my opinions and allow me to make significant contributions. This marked the beginning of my journey into the design industry through a few startups, and I gained a substantial amount of experience in these organizations. Working on multiple projects and with various clients, I gradually transitioned from being a Senior UX designer to a Team Lead. As a leader, I gained proficiency in managing different projects ranging from designing a casino management system to designing the UX for India’s most extensive grocery shopping application. After having my first child and taking a much-needed break in my career, I joined HashedIn by Deloitte in August 2019. I currently lead the Design team at HashedIn, and one of my key responsibilities is managing allocations of designers and ensuring that they get enough opportunities for training and growth. As the Design head, building design capability is my core duty, and I ensure interacting with my team members daily about their assigned projects and deliverables. Every day is a new experience at this organization, and with its flexible working hours, I also successfully juggle between my professional and personal life, which is centered around my toddler. Amidst all this, I also understand requirements from other teams and try to address problems with relevant solutions. Various team-building activities like the session ‘Design Diagnose’ are conducted, where each team member talks about his/her respective projects or discusses current industry trends. This helps designers bond with each other and get to learn new things every day. It also lets me assess their strengths and weaknesses and help them as and when required. Apart from work and family, I practice home gardening in my free time. Also, as an animal activist, I actively participate in the rehabilitation of rescued or abandoned dogs, spread awareness about malpractices in the dog breeding industry, and promote dog adoption. Every time I face a new challenge in managing a team, I try to learn from the hurdles, which keeps me going with a definite focus in life. My passion for working on various problems and ideating about their solutions has helped me strike a balance between my personal and professional life. I hope this helps me sail through the journey ahead.

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. My journey with HashedIn began in 2013 as a Software Development Engineer. Soon after, I started to enjoy writing and executing code to solve problems. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to switch to different roles, from being an individual contributor to an interviewer to a Tech Lead, to finally becoming an Engineering Manager. Transitioning from the role of a full-time developer to a Senior Engineering Management Master required a great deal of determination from my end. My current role demands substantial effort in terms of delivery, and it strikes a good balance between technology and people management, which I like the most. For each of these roles and responsibilities, I have been fortunate enough to learn from the best in the industry and work with a wide array of technologies. As a manager, I have had the chance to tackle new challenges every day, and it has been a great exposure working with different clients to understand their vision. While the role of an Engineering Manager has enhanced my understanding of multiple domains, becoming the Director for HashedIn University in the recent past has also been an enriching experience. Each day as a Hasher involves a lot of interactions with Managers, Architects, Developers, Interns and Interviewees, and clients, which pretty much aligns with my trait of being a “People’s Person”. Apart from that, my typical workday requires the utilization of technology to solve different problems, thereby leveraging my experience and expertise. One such valuable project involved working on a cab service application. The strict timeline and challenging algorithm of the booking logic made it a rough ride; however, with the support of a brilliant team, we could deliver excellent results in just three months. But amidst all the hustle of being a techie, I find time for self-care. During my leisure time, I usually read or play with my beagle – April. Pre-covid, traveling and spending time with friends were two major aspects of my life, and I can’t wait to enjoy them once the pandemic is over. I believe a healthy work-life balance is essential for growing as an individual, and hence, I keep taking vacations and setting boundaries between work and personal life. My hunger to learn new things and giving 100% to everything I do have helped me achieve key milestones in life.

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. My typical workday at HashedIn by Deloitte is all about taking on the responsibilities of managing a team efficiently, interspersed with a lot of scrum calls, meetings, and planning. But amidst these hectic schedules, I devote at least an hour to upskilling myself. Certain certifications like Six Sigma Green Belt and ITIL have added a lot of value to my proficiency and instilled confidence in my capabilities. If I look back at my journey so far, being a Hasher has been a rollercoaster ride for me. From learning new things about project management and delivery to understanding the art of dealing with clients, the past one year has been an enriching experience for me. I have been fortunate enough to manage projects across domains like Retail, FinTech, E-commerce, Healthcare, etc., and have learnt valuable professional lessons from them. While I have miles to go and a lot more to achieve, some of the noteworthy milestones in my career would be completing Professional Scrum Master Certification and learning the theoretical concepts related to Agile Scrum Principles. I cherish each of my accomplishments, as they motivate me to aim higher in life. Besides the hustle of building a career, my free time is devoted to learning chess theories and implementing the same and writing Odia Poems. In future, I wish to progress in my career by working even harder and staying away from negativity!

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. My B.Tech. degree in Electronics and Communication helped me explore technology without being restricted to a specific domain. I remember taking up exciting projects in communication that involved working with Bluetooth devices, building an EPABX system (intercom), and soldering connections to circuit boards. Finally, after graduation, I secured a job in an IT firm and started working on a telecom project. Being my first job, it was an exciting period and a great learning experience for me. My professional journey began as a developer, but I slowly transitioned to managerial roles. While I took multiple breaks in my career, I also got back each time with fresh perspectives and the motive to contribute with valuable work. When I joined HashedIn in 2013, the organization showed immense trust in me and helped me grow into a confident and motivated individual. Gradually, my role evolved from that of a Tech Lead to a Program Manager, and there has been no looking back since then. I still reminisce about one of the biggest turning points in my life while working on an important project. I observed and implemented changes that were resisted by people around me, but the project eventually became a success. With time, project risks and blockers became predictable for me, and helped me deal with critical problems with ease. My tenure at HashedIn has helped me achieve big and small milestones every day and I have managed to master the art of taking tough decisions during challenging projects. My hard work and efforts were recognized by the organization, and I was awarded the “Top Impactor”, which was indeed a proud moment for me. Typical workdays as a Hasher include working closely with my team and guiding them in resolving issues, understanding client requirements and coming up with strategic solutions to help the organization grow. I have realized that this is the kind of work that I was always meant to do, in my own organized and methodical way. This has helped me build a structure within my teams and in projects, making me more proficient in handling engagements and their end-to-end deliveries. Also, continuously learning from my work has helped me successfully run large accounts and organize multiple org-wide events at HashedIn. One of the most critical aspects of being in a leadership role is to always stay connected with colleagues. As a Manager, I encourage a healthy work-life balance for my team and me without compromising the quality or timeliness of deliverables. Amidst busy work schedules, pursuing my hobbies like painting, gardening and yoga have been consistent. Spending time with family keeps me calm and close to reality in these virtual times. My professional life has taught me that life will not always be plain sailing, enticing or fun. There will be moments that are dull and difficult, and during such hurdles, I look forward to accomplishing more. I have witnessed significant breakthroughs in the IT industry, and I am always looking for new opportunities to learn and grow.

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. But, coming from a Tier-2 town in Chhattisgarh, there were only two career options that my family and I were aware of – medical and engineering. Nonetheless, I appeared for the entrance exam for NIFT and scored an All India Rank of 242. But since I was uncertain about the career choices that design had to offer, I went ahead with a B.E. in Electronics and Telecommunication engineering. Though I did well during the degree, my inexplicable love for creation and problem-solving through design pushed me to change my career track. Yes, finally, I decided to follow my dreams and successfully completed a post-graduation in Strategic Design and Brand Leadership. Slowly but steadily, my professional training validated my belief that design has the ability to detect problems and deliver solutions to customers. It can serve what is necessary and predict the possible requirements from a product or service/business, thereby paving way for a sustainable approach. After my Post degree, I have had the opportunity to work on several cross-disciplinary projects and domains from nationally and globally reputed. Amongst these, the most significant accomplishment was the pivotal role of a Design Manager for the corporate rebranding of one of the biggest FMCGs in India. After working for different sectors, I joined HashedIn by Deloitte as a UX Designer in 2020, and it allowed me to explore academia, a domain I always wanted to explore. Working on various training programs and HashedIn’s learning portal, I got the chance to experience the life of a facilitator in a design school, something that has always intrigued me. Apart from being a designer, I prioritize skill enhancement. Various courses available online and regular discussions with other design practitioners help me improve my professional capabilities. Besides maneuvering through various life-changing decisions, I also maintain a healthy work-life balance by following my hobbies like sketching, gardening, cooking and reading. In all these years, my ability to change a product, service, or brand in terms of design has strengthened my confidence and built my willpower. The expedition from a mere design student to a UX designer has been extremely rewarding, and I am glad I chose to turn my passion into my paycheck.