Gayathri Vaidyanathan, Director of Software Engineering at Lowe’s India.
She took a seven-year hiatus from her job in 2010 and returned to it with an internship at Target. Her hard work has undoubtedly paid off.
Gayathri Vaidyanathan took a seven-year career hiatus beginning in 2010. She was at an interesting moment in her career, with over 12 years of expertise, 10 of which were with Lucent, and cutting-edge projects in an industry that was seeing rapid growth.
Others would consider such a gap as a death knell, particularly in a fast expanding industry such as information technology (IT). Vaidyanathan recovered and rose to become Director of Software Engineering at Lowe’s India in just four years.
“After my sabbatical, I needed to continue my career as an intern at Target. My office was in Bengaluru, and I would fly to Hyderabad on weekends to spend time with relatives.
Doing something purposeful Despite her “dark” days of self-doubt, Vaidyanathan persisted. She recognized and admitted that being a homemaker was a very hard profession, but she wanted to be true to herself and accomplish something meaningful.
“This meant that I engaged intellectually and was able to present a value proposition that was distinct from what I do at home for my family. Aside from being financially independent, it was critical to give honor to my capabilities, which I had trained and developed.
“Your family will undoubtedly support you in an instant,” she says. “I think it’s crucial for everyone to identify what makes them happy, since you only have one life, and there should be no
She was a technical specialist when she left Lucent, and when she joined Target, she stepped into a new realm, retail. While there were synergies, she acknowledges that there was a lot of learning, relearning, and unlearning to undertake. She believes that starting as an intern accelerated her professional development.
Vaidyanathan’s career has been marked by ongoing learning progression since its inception. She became the first engineer in her family after earning a BE in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Guindy, in Tamil Nadu in 1998.
She also earned an MS in Telecommunications and Software Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Social and environmental challenges Vaidyanathan was the only other female engineer at her first position, and she describes the early days of her career as difficult.
In terms of opportunities, she emphasizes that there has been little bias thus far, but the problems have been both societal and environmental.
“It was not easy for women at the time to work 16-18 hours per day, as they do today, if the job required it. Access to resources and the internet was not as widespread. Even having internet connectivity in the office was important.
And staying for longer hours was the only way to get access to these,” she explains. While at Lucent, she was a member of the Bell Labs’ India Product Realisation Centre in Hyderabad, undertaking cutting-edge work.
Champion your cause. While many women enter the IT business, few advance to top positions. This, Vaidyanathan believes, can be due to life events in which women continue to be the primary caregivers for children and the elderly.
“However, when life events occur, there is the issue of prioritization and time management. Sometimes you don’t have to pick between the two, but you can learn to prioritise. On some days, job takes precedence, while on others, family comes first.
“Women should be able to make these decisions without feeling guilty and to advocate for what they want,” she argues.
