Every successful woman is backed by the most supportive family
Published on : Monday 01-03-2021
Jaya Chanchalani, Project Manager – Industrial & Utility Business Unit, Nexcharge-Exide Leclanche Energy Pvt Ltd.
What prompted you to pursue a career in engineering?
I hail from a small town of Rajasthan and belong to a traditional business family. Because I always wanted to do something different and during childhood was indulged in things like opening a remote control, playing with toy cars, etc., I had identified early on with my inclination towards the engineering field.
Having obtained the qualification, what was the experience in getting a job?
I would not say I had to face difficulties in finding a job in the core engineering field; however, I must admit the pay scale on which I was hired for my first job was relatively much lower than what my peers were getting in the IT field. At times, financial benefits were tempting but because I had a passion to work in the core field, I continued moving on in a focused way.
Is a career in engineering more demanding vis-à-vis other options?
Well, according to me, it's very difficult to compare which career path is demanding. Every person has their own motivation and career path. Since practical execution in engineering is much different than theory, it takes time to connect the dots between the two. Also, we live in a dynamic world in which technology is changing faster than we have ever thought, hence it takes lots of effort to keep ourselves abreast of the latest advancements.
Often projects demand stay away from home. How is that experience?
As it is said, every successful independent woman is backed by the most supportive family, so this has been the case with me. Though at times parents raise their eyebrows if the project sites are at a remote location largely because of the associated safety concerns; however, fortunately, they have supported me to follow my passion with full zest.
Have you ever missed a career opportunity or promotion due to gender?
Unfortunately, yes, there are still some companies in our country which consider gender as selection criteria. They still have the notion that a woman cannot justify field jobs; also there is a cultural barrier in some countries, which are not open towards accommodating a women colleague with the same dignity.
Are workplaces today more sensitive to gender issues than a generation earlier?
With many policies and initiatives from the government and companies' side to safeguard women working in corporate, today it appears that workplaces are very much sensitive to gender issues. After maternity leave policies and sexual harassment policies, companies are extending one more step with bringing policies like period leaves (Zomato). These are positive developments.
Is there a glass ceiling when it comes to leadership roles in engineering?
I personally do not believe there should be a glass ceiling when it comes to moving up the ladder to a leadership role. However, with family expectations on raising the children and managing the household chaos, a woman faces a lot more challenges than her male counterparts. Additionally, even organisations have this perceived notion that women will not be able to justify the leadership role because of family responsibilities.
What has been the experience with seniors at works and the management?
Though I have been fortunate enough to get supportive mentors at the workplace, there have been times I have been underestimated because of my gender. Maybe because of the external factors like acceptance of clients for a female point of communication or assumptions that it is difficult for women to keep on traveling. Largely, a female executive is considered to be settled at one place and will not prefer traveling/re-locating. Too often this paradigm leads to less support from seniors to provide progressing opportunities.
How did the Covid pandemic affect your working routine and what are the learnings?
The Covid pandemic was obviously a testing time both mentally and physically. Managing all by yourself without any domestic help, with no compromise on workload was a big challenge. On top of it, since I was working for a government client, I had to attend daily office after a short while in the middle of pandemic stress. Managing breakfast to lunch for everyone with all safety measures before, during, and after office hours was extremely stressful. But I think, overcoming it has made us a better manager of my task and that has been great learning both personally and professionally.
What would be your message to those seeking career guidance?
I would like to advise that one should identify their key strengths, focus on developing skills around them, persistently follow their passion and stick to it even if the path is full of hurdles. In a few of the cases you end up having a slow start than your peers but small baby steps in the right direction are much better than doing something which doesn't link you with your destiny. Also, I would suggest each one of you be candid about issues faced – bring-up, discuss and resolve. Don't hold things for long as it will bring lots of stress and unhappiness in your life.
Would you like to share information about your other achievements?
Secured Gold Medal (1st position) in a class of 60 students (55 male and 5 female) – PGDM in Infrastructure Management, Adani Institute of Infrastructure.
Coined a term, ‘Infra-neurship’, which captures the essence of the need of entrepreneurship still in building infrastructure.
Co-Presenter and Co-Author of a Research Paper on ‘Emerging Cryptocurrencies: Energy, Environmental and Ecological Challenges Ahead’ at an International Conference on Contemporary Challenges and Futuristic Approach for Creating Substantial Society at Pandit DeenDayal Petroleum University (PDPU), Gandhinagar (15-16 February 2017).
Mentor – My mother for motivating me to grab opportunities coming on my way and not getting affected by societal pressures.
Role Models – Dr Ritu Karidhal Srivastava and Indira Nooyi.
What are the three words that best capture the essential you?
Passionate. Persistent. Learner.
Jaya Chanchalani is a technocrat and an Infrastructure Manager who has a passion for developing and making the world a greener place to live. She believes in doing every responsibility with full zest and commitment, because of which she could manage to pave the path from Design Engineer to Vertical Head in a short span of her professional career. After acquiring substantial experience in Designing, Planning, Import Clearance and Execution of a Project in Electrical, Automation and Control industries she decided to move out of her comfort zone and eye bigger opportunities. Since she always wanted to drive sustainability using advancements in technology with her Project Management Skills, Masters in Infrastructure Management acted as a catalyst which helped her to link dots for a career path in the making of greener and cleaner cities.
After her masters, she had worked with AECOM India Pvt Ltd for Dholera Special Investment region – India's first and largest Greenfield Smart City program approved by Government of India as Associate Project Planner handling various nitty-gritty involved in Project Planning, Scheduling, Monitoring, Cost Management, Risk Management, and Program Management Information Systems. Dholera SIR is one of the biggest 'next-generation technology' enabled Smart City. It is benchmarked against 'best in the world practices' in smart and sustainable infrastructure.
After pondering about the major steps which should be taken by the country to meet future energy demands affordably and sustainably, and the desire to learn more about advancements possible exploring lithium-ion battery storage system made her take up a career in make in India based start-up Nexcharge-Exide Leclanche Energy Pvt Ltd as Project Manager – Industrial & Utility Business Unit. Nexcharge envisions to fast-track the world's transformation towards sustainable energy solutions by developing technologies that increase the amount of renewable energy, helping reduce India's reliance on fossil fuels, which very much goes with her core passion of making the world a greener place to live.
Jaya Chanchalani,
Mobile: 9782973521. Email: [email protected]
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