Stay curious, don't compare yourself with others

Three engineers at Zoho talk about their work and how techies, especially women, should look at their life and career

Enjoy the small wins
I joined Zoho in 2001 as a greenhorn. Initially, I was reserved with low expectations. However, hard work, innate curiosity, and my willingness to challenge assumptions opened new paths for me and helped me grow. I have been fortunate to work on a diverse array of complex projects, including co-designing Deluge (Zoho’s proprietary programming language), and architecting products like Zoho CRM platform from scratch. To all women out there, I encourage you to stay curious, work hard, be there for your family, and enjoy the small wins – the first code you ship, the first customer, the first idea that you stand your ground for. Concentrate on your own progress, hold onto your faith, and do not compare yourselves with men or other women. I would offer the same advice to men.

Take ownership of your career
Working in the security domain, no two days are the same. I love the challenge of building a security program to fit our organisation’s culture and engineering and scaling our security tools and processes as the business evolves. Being in the thick of a security incident and driving the incident response process successfully is an exciting adrenaline rush every time. As technologists, it’s important to take ownership of your career path. That means expressing yourself clearly and being an advocate for your own interests. Allocate time to building on your interests, both on the professional and personal front. Learn the next new technology, do a course to expand your domain expertise, travel, engage in hobbies. This gives you the energy and focus to tackle the bigger challenges.

Don’t hesitate to ask for help
My passion for mathematics and problem solving made me choose computer science engineering, and fresh out of college, I started my career at Zoho in 1999 as a software engineer. Assumptions and unawareness were some of the most significant challenges I had to deal with. There have been times when I’ve been underestimated, and even overprotected. Thankfully, the culture at Zoho is to have an open conversation to decide based on one’s strengths and bandwidth. To thrive in tech, it’s crucial to get your basics right by consistently updating your skills. Learning and unlearning can happen in many forms, so it’s important to keep an open mind and remember that the next generation is more intelligent. Asking for help from your peers, leads, and subordinates can benefit you more than you think it can.