Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started?
This is Deepthi Katta. I am originally from India from a small town in the southern part India
called Anantapur. Now, I am a sun-loving Californian! I studied a lot while growing up, call it a
perk or a boon of being born in a professional South Asian family. Education was given utmost importance! Though my family was into medicine, Math intrigued me more than science or the size of my sister’s medicine book scared me to choose math as my major instead. Either was the case, that is where it all started!
I continued on that path to become a computer science engineer at Vellore Institute of
Technology. After graduation, I joined Wipro technologies as a rookie and experienced working for Microsoft as a vendor. When I came to United States, I pursued a Master’s in computer science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I gambled the program with all my might and graduated with honors. My first job here in America was on Sitecore (Destiny?) at a Company called Nowcom Corporation as a Software Engineer. My passion for delivering high-quality and standard solutions took me to my next step of being a technical lead within two years of joining the company. I currently work as Senior Technical Architect at Verndale where I lead cross-functional teams. I thoroughly enjoy solving tough problems and taking the teams involved through this journey of building something amazing that we can all be proud of.
What does a day in the life look like for you?
In a nutshell, never the same! I juggle many things in a day from both the professional and personal front. Like many women out there, I have commitments that I signed up for knowingly or unknowingly, but, I choose to stand by them and give my best.
At home, on the same day, I could be a hero and villain all at the same time. Most of it depends on if I say yes to junk food. I cherish and keep my family really close as they matter to me the most. I can’t imagine a day without my amazingly mature eleven-year-old and rock of my family, my husband. At work, I constantly wear several hats. On any given day, I might be collaborating with various individuals from different streams of software development. On quite a few occasions, I take matters into my own hands to solve any hiccups that come our way.
I mean only if a day of life is filled with an acceptable amount of madness is when I can sleep well.
What would you say is key to exceling in your industry?
I strongly believe that to excel in any industry, it’s important that you love and have passion for what you are doing. Making it huge in the software world is no different! There is a cozy place in this industry for anyone who never thinks learning is a painful chore, loves solving problems in an innovative way, or could get people psyched up to do amazing at what they do to name a few.
What challenges do you see for women in tech today?
I have been blessed and fortunate to work alongside employees, bosses and people who always appreciated me as a valuable resource in the company. They strived in providing a caring and flexible environment which made my productivity twofold. Saying that, I know that is not the case everywhere and have seen first hand my friends quit due to lack of support from their managers especially while juggling professional and personal life. What was really sad is that in this case, the boss was a woman too.
It’s 2021, I struggle to believe that this is still an ongoing problem, but, it’s sadly true. We women have been blessed with the magical power to make humans and we should continue to do so to keep this world going strong. So, everyone around us including those we work for needs to support us during this transition. As they say, it takes a village!
Do you have any advice or tips for women looking to start their careers in tech? What do you wish you had known?
It’s okay to fail! It’s okay to be wrong! I wish I had known this during the early days of my career. I thought I had to be perfect and maintain a score of 100 or close to it at everything I do. Upon thinking hard and noticing others around me, I see that is the tendency across most women. We are deeply wired to aim for perfection!
Let it loose and go, rogue, when you get an opportunity. The amount of learning and confidence that can be gathered by being brave and taking up challenges is just so much better than settling for less. Shift that focus from trying to be perfect to giving your best at everything that comes at you and forgetting the rest. You will see the magic unfold!