Neha is Prachi's classmate from her engineering days in Pune. After a master's degree from University of Florida and a year long job stint at USA, she moved to India and pursued her career with TATA group for a while. She's more than an awesome engineer, she's a fantastic writer as well. She started writing as an effort to better her emotional well-being. Her blog is a testimony of the brave journey she has undertaken to talk about the taboo topic of emotional health in the clutter of career advancing media brigade.
Before COVID-19:
Q. We would love to know you and your journey so far.
N. I attended a space camp at the NASA space center in Alabama when I was 16 years old. That is pretty much when I decided I am going to be an engineer. Keeping in line with that, I went on to become a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer. I completed my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in Pune, India and went on to pursue my masters in Aerospace Engineering in USA. After my masters, I worked on a project involving research on composite materials for a few months before joining a non profit communication hardware organization as a junior mechanical design Engineer. After working with them for a year I decided to return back to India to pursue an opportunity to work in the aerospace industry, something that was always a dream of mine. I worked with one of the leading aerospace companies in India as a structural design engineer. Throughout my academic and professional career I have always worked in all men teams and carved a niche for myself. Engineering has always been a passion and will continue to be so in some form or the other.
Q. What is your profession? What do you do for feeding your kitchen and your soul? These two may be different as well. You can give us how you spend your typical day if that’s more suitable to your profession.
N. I am an Engineer by profession. For my soul, I write. I write about social stigmas and emotional well being. However, writing and engineering are both my passions and hopefully I can combine the two someday.
Q. We would love to know how you came to be who you are now. What were the most important turning points in your childhood that made you YOU?
N. As mentioned before, the space camp was a deciding factor about my whole choice of career. Other than that, I have had to face many obstacles on a personal level that made me who I am. Facing and overcoming those obstacles has made me a stronger person. I suffered from sever asthma as a child which affected my self confidence. As an adult I went through depression which was extremely draining. My journey in the USA was quite a roller coaster with more downs than ups. Overall, my turning points have always been the curveballs which life has thrown at me and more often that not, due to circumstances, I have had to face them alone. However, I am grateful because this is what has given me character and clarity about my future.
Q. Before COVID lockdown what was the first thing on your mind to do in your business/life? What move you wanted to make to grow? This includes short term goals.
N. I was planning to study further. The plan was to go back to school.
Q. What was your 3-5 year plan before COVID? We would like to know your long term goals before this unexpected phenomenon.
N. Studying further for another year and move into a technical management position.
Q. Among the people you have worked with who do you admire and why? Past and present people included.
N. As I mentioned earlier, due the field I am in, I have always worked only in all men teams. However, all my mentors till date are amazing men who have pushed me and encouraged to break out of my comfort zone and never differentiated based on gender. One of my Professors at University of Florida and all my managers so far, even during internships, have all been inspirations. It is difficult to pick just one. The one thing all of them have in common was they put a lot of faith in my abilities. Even when I did not have the confidence in myself, they pushed me. They are all great leaders.
Q. Any experience with best and the worst bosses/employees? Any story? Don't worry! We'll change the names of those individuals! ;
N. Recently I had a boss, not my direct supervisor, but my boss's boss. His style of management was that of raising his voice on absolutely everyone, insulting and humiliating them publicly, instilling fear in them all in the name of getting work done. I have never seen or met anyone like him. But I'm pretty sure after working with him, I can work with any kind of difficult colleague or boss.
Q. What new culture you wanted to bring to the profession you are working in? (before COVID-19 of course!)
N. Dissolution of hierarchy. I mean not dissolution of designations and seniority. However, this underlying belief that the opinion of a person who has been in the workforce for a longer time is valued more may not always be true. I think ideas and solutions can stem from any level or department of an organization and it is important to treat everyone equally.
Q. You must be having a list of fun things/soul feeding things you wanted to do before this pandemic changed the world. Your top 5 things on bucketlist? (before COVID-19)
N. Just one thing. Travelling!
After COVID-19:
Q. How are you holding up the fort of your home and your profession in these trying times? How are you entertaining yourself if you have more free time on your hand now?
N. I have started my own blog and social media page. I am going to use this time to voice my opinions and try to spread awareness regarding emotional well being, mental health and self empowerment. All the hardships I had to face taught me a lot of lessons and I would really like to help anyone else going through the same. Simply because I had no help and I wish I did. So I would like to make use of this chance to give others what I could not get. Other than my writing, I am a fitness enthusiast. I have been working out more and trying different types of home workouts.
Q. What changes are you experiencing in your job? What changes you had to make in your working style?
N. No changes except the fact that it is all virtual now.
Q. Everyone is talking about how this virus is going to permanently change the way we live now. What do you think will be the biggest change after this Pandemic situation is over?
N. Other than the economic changes, I think the biggest change is going to be in how we treat others. This period is helping us learn a lot about ourselves. It has helped us get our priorities straight. Also, not taking simple pleasures of life like going for a movie for granted. I believe seeking recreational activities outside might reduce because we now know how much can be done within the confines of our home.
Q. Do you think this will affect area/industry you are working in? If yes, why and on what scale? If no, why not?
N. It will affect every industry in some way or another. Aviation industry has definitely taken a hit with complete ban on movement of people. Its going to take some time to get it back up. Travel will still be with restrictions.
Q. Some of us are optimistic that this is just a small bump in our progress story and won't majorly affect how we lived. Do you agree? Do you think we can get back to where we left before this pandemic?
N. I absolutely agree. And I strongly suggest limiting interactions to other people who agree as well. If we don't stay hopeful, how do we survive? We will spring back after this is over. May not be exactly the same as before but it will just be different. As humans, we will adapt to this different. We always do.
Q. If a kid walked up to asking for your advice for starting his/her venture and you only had a few minutes to give them your best tip, what would it be? Considering the pandemic.
N. Think about your venture as the end consumer. What would you want to buy, watch, hear? Make consumer friendliness your priority.
Q. If this situation is going to change the way you work, what change you want to see in your work now? What will be the best way to make that change?
N. I think the only change will be working in a more optimized way, without all the high end technology and facilities available. It will make me a better engineer. An engineer must know how to make things work in any situation.
Q. Which direction you think that we all - as a world - responsibly need to act and think? You can say in whichever sense you feel is most important.
N. I think all our problems would be highly reduced if not entirely solved if we as human beings learnt how to practice empathy.
Q. Do you think you need to re-modify the bucketlist? Why and how?
N. No. I don't think any of us need to re-modify the bucketlist. This is just a slight glitch, a delay if you may. You don't need to change the destination every time there is an obstacle. There is always another path you can take.
Q. We should not ignore the silver linings that you noticed in this scare. After all, hope is what makes the world go round. What positive thing you experienced during this pandemic?
N. This pandemic pushed me intellectually. It made me think of ways to challenge myself intellectually. This is how I gathered the courage to start writing publicly and now everyday I try to think of ways I can make this small venture of mine more useful. It also revealed who are my true well wishers and although it was hard, gave me the push to distance myself from people who were dragging me down.
Q. Do you think you and the world need to set new milestones? Will sustainability and earth-friendly business practices be an important factor now? How will you ensure you fit in this new picture in your respective profession?
N. I plan to study Sustainability in engineering management during my higher studies. While I am confident that sustainable practices are going to be an important factor of every business in the future, I want to learn the tools to implement them and help organizations do the same. We need to set new milestones in terms of what is our end goal? As engineers we have the skillset and ability to come up with design solutions than can solve several social issues. Look at the need for cost effective and easy to manufacture ventilators that has suddenly come up. We have to think smart and make smart. Focus less on products for luxury and more on products for survival.
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