Industrial Automation Magazine India

The workplaces are same but the environment has changed

Published on : Sunday 08-03-2020

Were you always interested in engineering or was persuaded to join the stream?

I was always a brilliant child during my young days and science was my favourite subject. Since then I started getting interested in engineering and soon it turned to be my profession. I always believed you should follow your interest and trust me, looking at what I am today, it is like a dream come true. I started my career immediately after graduation. In terms of career, I have chosen the perfect career for myself. When I was a child, engineering was something I always wanted to do. In my current company I have completed more than 11 years now.

Unlike routine office jobs, this can be quite hectic. What do you handle the demands of such a career?
Yes, at times there are pressures to meet deadlines, and being in Quality Assurance, customer comes first, always. Travelling for test performance at a 3rd party laboratory certainly creates more pressure. There are times when it is a challenge to balance work at office, travel due to work and the many things that demand attention at home.

Yes, indeed – a working woman is still expected to manage the home as well. How do you adjust to such a routine?

Well, I am a career oriented hard working women who manages home and work simultaneously. The family is as important as the career if not more! I have a daughter who is 18 years old and pursuing Pharma Tech. When she was young, I had to take care of her needs, which was a difficult challenge, but now when she is grown up and facing her own challenges! There is a new challenge every day, but life is fun.

Finding the ideal work-life balance when the job demands long hours at work. Is the family supportive?
Being in Quality Assurance, several times there are projects that need to be completed and offered to the customer with deadlines. There are times when I have to spend extra time to prepare documentation to meet the requirement of a project. And invariably there are calls from home, expressing concern about safety at the late hour I am expected to reach home.

I had always thought that I will have to leave my job once I get married. But the support from both caring families and their love made it all easy, giving me the much needed confidence. My mom has always been a support system, or as I call it, my backbone. My life is incomplete without her around. My own family comprises my husband and daughter, and it is a blessing to have a daughter who is just a mirror image of yourself – though just 18 years old, she seems like my mother! Always supporting and a lovely friend in my life.

Any regrets and second thoughts about an alternate career?
 

Well, the career I chose is exactly what I wished for, and is absolutely perfect. So I never thought of this at any point of time.

Have you ever missed a career opportunity or a promotion, just on account of gender?
I am working with a company where women are respected and given equal value, because of which I have had no reason to explore this point.

Are workplaces today more sensitive to gender issues than say, a decade ago?
The workplaces are same but the environment has changed. Women today are more educated, understand how to work in a team with the other gender. Especially in multinationals/global organisations, today there are equal opportunities for women.

Are there areas at work that still restrict women when it comes to leadership role?
Not many areas are restricted, but yes there are few restricted areas especially in industrial environment of factories. Again I feel it is a mind-set of a person in terms of leadership role, but I feel women do not have such a mind-set and can perform in any field with some exceptions. In my experience, you work in a space where you interact with most automation biggies with no bias or discrimination.

Any advice you have for the youth – your own daughter for that matter?
I always taught my daughter to be independent and self-sufficient. She is still a student and hence in the process of charting her career, but I always tell her do what makes you happy. Choose a career that will make you feel as if you have chosen your favourite hobby and make a success of it. What advice I have for my daughter, the same I would like to give to all the young generation!

How would you describe your life in just three words?
Job with substance!
 

Heena Patel has spent over 11 years at Baumer Technologies India Pvt Ltd, where she has always been appreciated and supported by her seniors at every single stage. She believes work becomes easy when you have supporting and guiding seniors around. Working as a Manager Quality Assurance demands a lot of work pressure and hard work as one cannot afford to make any mistake. To Heena, working with an MNC company is a big achievement, and she believes in this Loretta Young quote: “A charming women doesn’t follow the crowd, she is herself”.