Journey of an Engineer - Neetu Verma, a Mother of two is passionate about technology and dancing

We sat down with Neetu Verma, Senior Product Manager at Denave India Pvt. Ltd and ended up being inspired by her story and her perspective towards life and work. Read about her journey in her own words.

Hi all, I’m Neetu Verma, Senior Manager – Product, at Denave India Pvt. Ltd and a mother to two kids. An avid reader, passionate dancer and a closet philosopher, pretty much sums up everything about me. A mother and an engineer – the journey have been riddled with anxiety and enthusiasm, both in generous doses while striving to achieve a work-life balance and making room for new responsibilities in the best possible way.

Unsure about career choices, just like any high schooler, being a software engineer became a choice only to ensure that I am not left out of the ‘trend’! A definite no-no when you are evaluating career choices. Thankfully this ‘in-the-air’ decision without mapping my interest and the knowledge of the field didn’t hamper my journey towards it. Prior knowledge does provide an edge, but nothing that perseverance, interest in analytics and an eye for the details cannot match. That said, a preliminary level of evaluation in terms of expectations and reality would hold you in good stead when opting for career choice.

Gurgling down an insane amount of coffee while coding away feverishly into the nights, onsite stints abroad and ‘good’ salary to top it all – that’s how I had envisioned my life as a software professional. Well, all of it did come true. I worked with Infosys & Patni-iGate as a developer and rose up the ladder to become a tech lead. And then motherhood happened.

The good thing about technology is that it is such a vast field and an ever-expanding one that there is never a dearth of opportunities that cannot be mapped agreeably with your capabilities and reality - a hard-core technical role comprising coding and designing, a delivery role comprising of people, client and project management or a dovetailed role of Business Analyst (BA) comprising technical and managerial skills.

I found I enjoyed the role of BA with its requirement of critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving, requirement elicitation and analysis and effective client communication skills. After working full time for 8 years I switched to a part-time job to meet the responsibility of my second child while not breaking the connection with the continuous technological advancements in my area of work.

I am now in a full-time job with Denave for 3 years and have dabbled into Product Management that has helped me expand my skillset and diversity of experience. At the same time with employee-friendly policies of kids@workplace, flexible work-time opportunities at Denave, I am in for a long haul!

Achieving work-life balance, sooner or later, depending upon your life stage becomes your priority. I have learned that being informed about the career choices basis your interest rather than what is ‘trending’ helps in making informed decisions. Even when you need to take a break for a variety of reasons, ensure to enlist some time for yourself to study, get into relevant online courses and keep yourself updated with evolving domain knowledge, to help you spring back into regular work whenever you choose to. With some trial and error and patience, you will find the sweet spot that works best for you, as I did.

You can follow her on SHEROES.