Shiwangi Shah — Interview #6

Shiwangi Shah graduated from IIT Kharagpur with an Integrated M.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Computing. She was enthusiastic about computer programming right from her first year in college, and spent her time on campus doing competitive coding and working on various development projects. She was also an active member of the Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV) group; and went on to join Amazon as a software engineer.

In her interview, she addresses the issue of the dearth of girls on campus in technical societies like AGV and in fields like competitive coding. It is inspiring to look at this from her perspective, because once she realised what she loved doing, it didn’t matter how many girls were pursuing the same thing — she went for it and continued excelling at it anyway!

What motivated you to pursue a career in software engineering?

In my ninth grade, I was introduced to Java. We were given silly simple tricky problems and I always loved spending time creating new ones and solving them with a simple program. I had developed a love for programming since then but really did not know where to go with it. When I came to KGP, I started developing small projects of my own. The amount of happiness I got when anything I made worked helped me realise this was it.

What do you love the most about your current job?

Amazon is a very big circle of extremely experienced and talented people. Working here has gently taught me not just the technical aspects but also added to the sense of commitment and professionalism that needs to go into one’s work. What I love the most is, having many people around me who I can look up to and learn from.

According to you, what is the most important thing that your years at IIT Kharagpur taught you?

One very important thing that I have learnt not just in KGP even now at office is, not only is it okay to fail, it is important that you take risks and fail. I have failed at multiple things I did at Kgp and it’s only the strength to fight through failures that makes you a more successful person than you were yesterday. The other very important thing I always try to keep reminding myself of is to be very confident about being who you are and always be nice to people. Like Paulo Coelho has said, “It’s always easy to blame others. You can spend your entire life blaming the world, but your successes or failures are entirely your own”

During your stay in Kharagpur, you were actively involved in technical groups like AGV. What contribution did that have on you on a personal and professional level?

AGV was the place where I made friends who encouraged me to explore new things, taught me better ways to implement ideas I had. I have stayed overnights working on not just our robot but multiple other softwares. For me AGV was the collection of people who simple loved their job and inspired me.

The number of girls in technical societies and pursuing activities like competitive coding still remains low in college. Why do you think that happens, and what according to you is the best way to solve the same?

When I came to KGP, I always wanted to start competitive coding. Just after I came, I tried setting up the Topcoder arena for like a month (the kgp network bans the site). I visited the network administrator twice to change this. I still laugh at myself, but I reached out to guys in my batch, with a sense of inhibition, for help. For the first two years, I constantly just tried to be able to create a team of people who would be interested to join for competitive coding and mostly participated alone. I had friends with me who knew me from before KGP and always told me that I should never give up on it. Had I not had the friends I had, I would easily have given up then.

Self confidence is one key factor and not waiting for others to help you out. Once you have taken a decision on what you want to pursue/experiment, I guess Kgp offers wonderful platforms to reach out to people who could help you start. In Amazon, I am a part of a mentorship programme, where one mentor is assigned to a group of 3 female undergrads. We help them with every step on a project they pick. A programme like this for students in KGP would definitely help females get a kick-start on tech and help them explore their interests in the field.

Is there something you would have done differently while in college?

Yes! I’d definitely focus a lot more on my academics than I did.

It is noticed that often due to a lack of female peers in fields like computer science, girls end up feeling demotivated and under confident. What is your advice to girls in college feeling this way?

People who you thinking are doing good also must have started a couple of years back. It’s never too late for anything and everyone who seems successful must have had failures many more times. I have come across many many people at Amazon who come from a completely non-tech background and are very good engineers now.

Where do wish to see yourself in 5–10 years from now?

Speaking for the next 5 years now, I’d love to be working around multiple projects with different roles and learning from each one in these years. Later, I would love to get an opportunity to work on my own tech stack or any other project, and try to reach out a bigger crowd.

Interviewed by Ayushi Mrigen.