Return To Work Series featuring Sudarshana Sharma
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
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Sudarshana Sharma was on a high-growth career path in the Telecom industry. She had some great projects under her belt with Samsung, Aricent and Tata Consultancy Services when life threw her a curveball. She took a career break to focus on her family for 6 years. When the pandemic hit, she felt terribly isolated and decided to return to work. Armed with new Python and Cloud Devops skills, she landed a returnship at Grubhub on her very first interview.
Why did you decide to take a career break?
6 years into my career as a Software Engineer, I was going places and so was my career. The telecom industry was doing great and I had lots of interesting projects under my belt. My husband and I had just received the possession letter for our brand new apartment in Gurgaon. I just felt all the dreams and prayers I had garnered in my heart as a small town girl from Assam, were coming to fruition. All my life goals and career goals were getting fulfilled, so I decided to go to the next phase and start a family. My company had a great maternity policy, so I decided to take a break for 6 months and pick up where I left off.
But life had other plans. Concerned that my 6-month old baby was not hitting his growth milestones, we got him tested. An MRI revealed brain damage. My son had severe vision issues—he could barely see and therefore couldn’t interact with the outside world at all.
My life completely changed after that. I could not imagine going back to work when my baby needed so much care to help him live a normal life.
Over the next few years, we had more bad news. Tests couldn’t reveal the cause of brain damage but confirmed epilepsy and cerebral palsy. I looked for good therapy centers, but I didn’t depend on them. I became my son’s speech therapist, his physical therapist and care-giver. Looking back, I have no idea how I coped. I had no other choice but to keep moving forward.
We made the terrifying decision to have a second child to help build a support system. We were relieved that my second son was healthy and developing normally. We moved to the US when my elder son was 4 and with the help of therapy and wonderful teachers, he now interacts well with his therapists and aides and is in fairly good health.
“I could not imagine going back to work when my baby needed so much care to help him live a normal life. ”
What made you want to return to the workforce?
I was so busy taking care of my family that I was totally unprepared when the pandemic hit. There was no school, no playground. I had nowhere to go and no one to talk to. I felt terribly isolated and out of options. I also realized I had some time on my hands despite being a busy mom. I decided to upskill and took an online course in Python.
Doing well at Python increased my confidence, and since everyone was working remotely anyway, I felt that I could, too. It was a major “aha” moment for me.
How did you go about your job search?
When I started applying, my past experience and my new Python skills were a good fit for a role in Devops. This was a new field to me, but I saw that my past teammates were now in Devops too and I felt I could transition too.
I took a Nanodegree program for Cloud Devops Engineer from Udacity. I highly recommend this course because it was half the price of other boot camps and offered placement options with many companies who partner with them.
Although I had completed my course, I still wasn’t receiving any interview calls. It was a chicken and egg problem—I was too experienced for entry-level roles and my career break was a no-go for more experienced roles. Where could I start?
I then heard about returnships and loved the idea of not having to apologize for my career gap. I applied to the Grubhub returnship through Path Forward. I finally managed to convert my very first interview into a returnship job offer! To be honest, 6 months ago I never thought it was possible. I have been at Grubhub for a month now, and I love the work culture and the support I’ve received from them.
“I highly recommend the Nanodegree program from Udacity because it was half the price of other boot camps and offered placement options with many companies who partner with them.”
What were your biggest learnings?
At first I thought I had lost touch with my career because I had a break of 6 years. But then I realized I was more creative and mature now. Since I was under no pressure from constant reviews, deadlines and goals, I was able to look at myself with a fresh perspective. I gained so much knowledge about how I could handle situations better in the future.
“Being a mom helped, too: it helped me improve my time-management skills and be disciplined about making changes in my life.”
Do you have any words of advice for other returners?
It is never too late. If you feel that a career path is right for you, you should follow that path and see where it leads, because if you don’t try it will never happen. There is always a learning curve with any change, things will fall into place if you try.
