When women become leaders, they form a united voice that speaks for entire generations of like-minded female professionals. Women who operate in management roles have the ability to create a supportive business environment, empower through mentorship and positively influence the professional performance of fellow women.

In our quest to support women empowerment, we’ve challenged some of our colleagues in Oracle India to share the stories of their business path: the drive for career success, the challenges they faced in the IT male-dominated industry and their mentoring vision to other women technologists.

Inspire to Aspire

Avid reader, fitness enthusiast, singer, hands-on mother and on top of it all – senior manager for Oracle India, R&D Horizontal Applications department. Meet Anandhi Sridharan, one of the many women leaders that serve as positive examples for supporting and raising the visibility of women in technology.

 Anandhi has been part of Oracle’s Retail Business Unit for over 6 years, prior to operating as the Head of Information Systems & Technology for a retail start-up implementing the Oracle Retail suite of products.

As she explains, a career in tech is something she never perceived as a challenge, but more of a passion that grew step-by-step:

“Retail as a business has seen enormous shift in the recent years with the influx of e-commerce & technology changing the landscape of how business gets executed and customers are served. It is one of the verticals where insightful usage of data and analytics plays a crucial role in customer retention and loyalty, and this is set to increase. This is a great passion for me and I enjoy building products that enable retailers. Recently, Oracle Retail is also shifting its Analytics business to the Cloud and going SaaS – definitely another change I am enjoying being part of.”

Even so, being a fully dedicated manager did not get in the way, at any moment, from achieving personal fulfillments.

“Oracle offers flexibility in terms of work location, work timings and, in specific cases, work roles to help manage balance. I remember when I was a new mother getting back to work, I requested for and was provided the choice to Work From Home for part of the day for a few months”, Anandhi explains.

                      “The simple fact that I enjoy what I do and that what I do makes a difference brings me immense satisfaction.” 

Anandhi’s take on women’s capacity of overcoming stereotypes still trending in tech-related fields is optimistic. However, she doesn’t fear to pinpoint the lows, as well.

“Being a woman in tech, the challenges faced might be similar to many other fields. I also think it is maybe harder for women to network within peer groups without being considered too pushy where memberships are predominantly male.”

Her ‘weapons’ of choice in shifting perspectives for women in tech?

“Be passionate, be yourself and bring yourself unabashedly to your work. Also, find mentors and friends to lean on in times of stress. Speak out when something is not right.”

Steady, the recent media focus on the women in technology movement is changing the general perception, enabling women from all STEM fields to have a voice of their own. But, on top of that, women who support and empower other women make the biggest contribution.

“I connect with my fellow women at different levels – they see that loving your job makes it satisfying. In many cases, I reach out to them letting them know there are solutions to all kinds of work problems.”

Drive, Determination and Passion

Srilakshmi Ramachandra is the Director of PeopleSoft HCM Development within Oracle India and manages a team of more than 40 people. Her career journey with Oracle started almost 10 years ago, in 2005, along with the acquisition of the PeopleSoft company for which she was working starting 2002.

Descending from a family of engineers, Srilakshmi has always been fascinated with the power of technology to positively transform people’s lives; a career in tech followed as the natural next step after graduation. In her own vision, technology can open doors not only to innovation, but also to diversity.

“I work for Global Payroll team - I manage payroll product for JAPAC and EMEA regions in addition to the Core framework. This means that I get to interact with folks from over 20 nationalities. The cultural diversity and people interaction that my job brings is inspiring in itself. I love my job and the folks that I work with.”

“As long as one can stay on top of technology and is confident, gender doesn’t come into picture at all” 

Srilakshmi talks about her career in tech with passion, drive and most of all, a great dose of confidence. She believes that “as long as one can stay on top of technology and is confident, gender doesn’t come in the picture at all.” Furthermore, she explains: “I have never ever felt any bias towards my technical abilities due to my gender. Perhaps I have been fortunate to be surrounded by excellent colleagues.”

 And even though she is actively involved in her management role, Srilakshmi always makes room for family time and leisure activities.

“My husband is in the HealthCare software field and we have a 7 year old daughter - so, things can get hectic fairly easily. However, I do make it a point to find time to read because it helps relax and widen the horizon of thoughts”, she explains.

Achieving that well-desired work –life balance is possible, as long as women find “a good support system”, Srilakshmi suggests.

“Women have the additional responsibility of managing home, in addition to their work. So, we need a good support system that will let us focus on work. Once a support system is in place to take care of the home needs, it is no different for a woman as opposed to a man.”

Successfully filling her role as a woman in tech leader, Srilakshmi understands the immense power of mentorship in helping shape and breed the advancement of women in IT:

“I have many women in my organization at various stages of their career and personal lives. They know that whatever their personal situation - child care/ elderly care/ remote working - we will always have a career path for them within Oracle. Workwise, I can see the satisfaction that their job brings when the code they write is put to use to solve a payroll problem. The feeling that you are able to solve a problem for a customer and improve their quality of their work-life is unmatchable.”

What is the best career motivation advice she would offer fellow women that are interested in joining the IT industry?

“Never let your gender come in the way of your dreams. There is always a way - we just need to find it.”

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Oracle is Proud Silver Sponsor of the Grace Hopper Celebration India (GHCI) 2015 Conference.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is the World's largest gathering of women technologists.   

About the Author:

Passionate about turning simple ideas into creative stories. Truly in love with storytelling, Ramona Costea has been active in the media writing and publishing business for over 8 years. She is now a Copywriter for Oracle’s Global Recruiting department, where she continues to experiment with social media and improve content strategy. Her specialties include content writing, online marketing, employer branding and social media. 

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