Return To Work Series featuring Sandhya Govindaraju
Indian Women in Computing is excited to present a blog series that is dedicated to recognizing amazing women who have embarked on a brave journey to return to work. We are spotlighting their journey and accomplishments true to our mission to amplify, grow, and connect.
Do you know any marvelous Indian women in computing who have returned to work? Send us a tip to iwicwebsites [at] gmail [dot] com
#womenwhocode #returnship #IndianWomeninComputing #womenempoweringwomen #womenintechnology
After 13 years in the industry, Sandhya Govindaraju was thriving at the envious rank of Principal Hardware Engineer at Oracle. Suddenly in 2017, she found herself without a job after a series of layoffs. This unexpected break in her career forced her to rethink her career path. Was VLSI design her true calling? She decided, no, it was software engineering. Over the course of the next 2.5 years, she took classes at a local university, worked as an unpaid software engineer, and relentlessly applied for jobs and interviewed till she got a full-time software engineering position. In this interview, Sandhya opens up to #IndianWomenInComputing about her #ReturnToWork experience.
After more than a decade in the industry, being made redundant must have felt like a tragic loss. Can you tell us what was going through your mind?
Yes, it was a challenging time. I had always been working or studying until I was laid off. I came to the US for a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin right after finishing a Bachelor’s degree in India. After graduation, I worked at Sun Microsystems and Oracle, the top companies in my field, for a grand total of 13 years. When I was made redundant, along with 1200 people in the organization, it was the first time that I was without a job.
Unfazed by the layoff, I immediately started interviewing for similar hardware engineering positions in different companies. I thought this was a temporary setback in my professional career in hardware engineering. However, over the course of many unsuccessful interviews, I came to the painful realization that my skills were out of date with the industry. It was a low period in my life. The rejections had demotivated me. If you had met me then, I was not even half as confident as I am today.
What did you decide to do next?
After some soul searching, I realized a few things about myself. First, having a professional career was important to me even though our household could be comfortably run on just my spouse’s income. Second, I wanted to remain in a technical role but I was not particularly attached to the field of VLSI design, my previous specialization.
Transitioning to software engineering seemed like an attractive option. For one, there was an abundance of free resources online to teach yourself coding at home. Comparatively, upskilling in VLSI design could only happen in a company with the resources to maintain a VLSI lab. There were more software engineering jobs too.
“I knew that starting from scratch would be a demanding endeavor but once I made up my mind about moving into software engineering, I was willing to do the hard work to get there.”
Starting in a new field is challenging, especially in software engineering with no prior coding experience. How did you successfully overcome this hurdle?
I knew that starting from scratch would be a demanding endeavor but once I made up my mind about moving into software engineering, I was willing to do the hard work to get there. I was fortunate that I had constant support from my family on this journey. They cheered me on and gave me the space that I needed to carve my path back to the industry.
I had dabbled in Python before so I started practicing programming in Python using open-source resources. Eventually, I enrolled in the Data Science and Visualization Bootcamp at my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin. I had savings from my previous job to afford the twelve thousand dollar price tag on the bootcamp and I think it was worth every penny. The courses kept me on track and there was a cohort of people completing the course with me. I would study during the day when my family members were in school or office.
To get real-world experience on my resume, I also tried working as a freelance software engineer at a small company. I soon realized that it was distracting me from my courses and causing unnecessary stresses without adding enough value in terms of experience or income. I quit the job and focused on studying, networking, and interviewing.
After being out of the job market for two and a half years, hours of studying to re-skill myself, and numberless interviews, I got a software engineering job. I remember that in a short span of three weeks, I had three onsite interviews lined up. This position at Enthought was one of them and I finally made it through to the other side. This is at a much lower level than my position at Oracle but I was prepared for that since I was changing my field of specialization entirely. I am a much more confident person now than I was even a year back and I am enjoying my new work.
“The fear of failure can be paralyzing. I ask these women to be strong and brave because hard work pays off. ”
Your story is truly inspiring and one that many women might connect to. What advice would you have for them?
I truly have been there. I understand that returning to work is tough, and people are hesitant about choosing a field. I understand the work required to get a job in the face of so many rejections seems daunting. The fear of failure can be paralyzing. I ask these women to be strong and brave because hard work pays off.
“Choose a field, stick to the decision, and reach out to the internet, friends, or family for resources.”
I encourage them to start somewhere, anywhere. Choose a field, stick to the decision, and reach out to the internet, friends, or family for resources. As I mentioned, software engineering is a great choice because of the wide availability of free resources like YouTube channels and support groups like Indian Women in Computing.
