Though in my childhood, I did not know what programming was, I was always a curious child. I would always be on the lookout for more opportunities to quench my thirst for knowledge. In fact, when I was in 6th grade, I got published in the New York Times! I had sent in some unique questions that piqued me, and to my surprise, they decided to publish it in their ‘How To’ column. The snippet of that column, till date, remains to be one of my prized possessions. I do believe that curiosity fuels the quest for knowledge, which if quenched, makes us a wise person.
I first got acquainted with a computer, when I took admission in the Computer Science branch at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. My first personal computer, gifted to me for my academic pursuits, became the subject of my exploration. Hours would pass by when I would sit on my computer. Initially, I used it to listen to music and watch movies.
When programming languages were introduced to us in college, that is when I truly started understanding the power of computers. Once I became a senior, I interacted a lot with my juniors, and they looked up to me for advice – that was how my tryst with mentoring began. I never knew that guiding my friends and helping them navigate through college life would be the beginning of my mentoring journey; at that time I was not even sure what mentoring was.
Currently, I work with Microsoft as a Senior Software Engineer. I have had a beautiful twelve-year journey with this company. I started out as a Site Reliability Engineer, it was something I was passionate about, and as for my work, we were most certainly working on exciting projects! Our work revolved around customer experience, where we built tools for users, and we strived to improve reliability of these tools – which impacted the engineers in terms of reducing their workload. So, our work served a two-fold purpose – it enhanced the user experience tremendously and improved the efficiency of the engineers. I work on projects aimed to betterment of customer experience, and I must say, I enjoy the process thoroughly.
If I were to talk about my tryst with teaching, I can say that it runs in my family. My father was a teacher, many members of my extended family were teachers; I grew up in an environment where learning and teaching were of paramount importance. Ever since I can recollect, I have seen people around me teaching selflessly, they dedicated their lives to spread the light of knowledge. I think the whole concept of articulating your thoughts and explaining them to someone else, is very intriguing. I was not just drawn to teaching, it was ingrained in me, which is why I took up mentoring.
My mentoring journey at Scaler came about as a result of a referral by a colleague, who willed me to apply, given my experience and mentoring expertise. My onboarding process at Scaler was very smooth, and soon enough, I settled into the exciting routine of learning, teaching and unlearning. My experience with the Scaler Team has been seamless.
Most of my mentees have immense experience, and each session I have with them is enriching in itself. We plan each session meticulously, to ensure that we make most of our time together. I prepare and research before every session, so that I constantly upskill myself. The discussions are extremely crucial for me as well, because I learn immensely from them.
Over the course of a session, there are moments which stand out, where the mentee acknowledges the efforts of the mentor, and I feel that those moments make it all worthwhile. Mentoring has contributed to shift in the way I perceive things, now I look at things through multiple angles and delve into the layers of different problems, which helps me in solving them in a better manner.
My Scaler Journey has made me realise that having a mentor is indispensable, in terms of the impact it leaves on your life. The one on one sessions, the constant guidance and the mere fact that there is someone looking out for you makes a huge difference in terms of how your career progresses.
I believe that focus, dedication and hard work is the perfect combination to unlock the doors of excellence and success. If a learner has clear goals, is willing to work hard towards them and is putting in efforts, then sky is the limit.