Name: Ritu Bhatt
Role: IT Director, iEngageIT
What does your typical day look like?
Depends on the day. But my day starts with a quick morning team call with India team to make sure and assess any urgent issues. I then get ready and drop my son off to his primary scholl from where I head into office. I usually have meeting till 1 pm and luckily the USA clients starts after 2 pm so if there’s any urgent issue reported on previous day, we are ready with the details.
3 days a week, I pick my son from school at 3 and then work from home. I resume work at 4 and work till 6 pm. I again log back at 9:30 pm and work till 11:30/12am. I also work with our accountant for monthly accounts and with external HR consultants for HR related issues. I also love meeting up with Startups and sharing my journey and learnings with them.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on AI powered RPA systems. As a solution it opens immense possibilities in terms of improving the productivity for business in everyday repetitive jobs which also need decision making and become intelligent over a period. We are building an Intelligent analytics module based on the data mined and enhanced from RPA+AI module of the system. Best thing is that once the system is ready it can be customized and enhanced to work with many jobs across industries.
What inspired you to join this company in particular?
Having worked in tech industry for 15 yrs , I have insider knowledge and first hand experience around huge gender gap within tech teams. It’s not to say that it’s a bad experience for women coders but diverse teams bring diverse ideas and enhance the solutions. I have always loved what I did and was passionate to work towards making it a more inclusive industry. When I realized I had the opportunity to bring about this change from a place where it matters, there was no looking back. In my company, inclusivity and gender balance is not just a policy but part of our ethics, culture and vision and it’s directly driven by myself.
Did you always want to work in this industry (tech)?
Anyone who knows me, knows that as a little girl I was fascinated by the astronomy and wanted to grow up to be an astronaut and go out into the space. I landed my first job as a software developer and was fascinated by it. I loved creating the systems which could bring about change in everyday life of the people. It’s now around 20 yrs that I’m in this industry and after coding my way up the tech teams, I’m still very hands-on and don’t intend to change it in near future.
What’s your favourite part about your work?
Favorite part about my work is undoubtedly when I see the pleasant surprise in my client’s face when we do the final delivery. We as a team always try to add extra value and go beyond to add that extra into the system. Everytime a client realizes that they got more than the promised, the glow of pleasant surprise is worth every late night we, as a team, put into making it happen. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
What would you say to other people considering a job in this industry (tech)?
Don’t consider this if you don’t like to think out-of-the box. Also be prepared to upgrade yourself often and don’t shy away from learning new technologies. If you are a risk taker, much better. My sincere advice, come-on in and enjoy the jorney.
What do you consider to be the most important tech innovation or development in recent years?
Definitely cloud computing. Most large financial/medical and IOT systems plus mobile apps make use of the on-demand and high availability and reliability of cloud platforms. Most systems would struggle to scale and deliver the desired output in the absence of cloud.
What tech gadget could you not live without?
My smartphone for sure. I check my emails on it. I also have Slack app on it which we use for inter/intra team discussions. I also have mobile banking and mobile accounting. I use whatsapp to call team members based in India as well as to call our clients in USA and EU/Malaysia. It also keeps track of my lifestyle / health and I have all the appointment reminders on it.I have social media apps on it as well. And yes, I also use it for calls and sms.
