Radhika Bansal, A Proud Salesforce Developer
Working on Salesforce has always been a delightful experience and I would love to continue doing so for many years to come. It wasn’t easy for me to achieve my dream of coding and developing applications to make people’s work more enjoyable. I am a small town girl born and brought up in Agra, India, home of the Taj Mahal. Even though I scored the highest grades in computer science at school, and have always been interested in computer related studies, I somehow didn’t get an opportunity to do so after graduating with degree is in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. I hunted for jobs in many different cities across India. As my search went on I found that I was being rejected due to the unfortunately common notion that Application Development was not “women’s work.” But as the saying goes, “Be the change you seek,” I refused to give up. I applied for a post graduate degree in “Advanced Computing” and completed the program, acquiring the very best knowledge and practices from professors who were among the pioneers in building smart computers.
With my Post Graduate Degree in hand, I finally got my desired job in the IT industry, working on the Salesforce platform. I am currently employed as a Software Engineering Analyst, at Accenture India! It seems like Force.com Developer and Salesforce Administrator opportunities are knocking on my door everyday in my role. Recently, I was honored by my team, being awarded as ‘Employee Of The Month,’ as well as being designated as a ‘Pioneer For Lightning Development.’ I love where the Salesforce platform is headed, and I intend to be on the cutting edge wherever it leads in the years to come.
At the SFIndiaTour Salesforce Developer meet-up, in Pune, I had the opportunity to meet Zachary Jeans and Nabomita Mazumdar. They took us through a virtual journey of their success and achievements. Indeed it wasn’t an easy path for them, but as fortune favors the bold, the sky wasn’t the limit for them. Zachary told us about how he went from driving an 18-Wheel Truck across the United States, to driving the #SFIndiaTour. After studying the Salesforce eco-system for a couple years from behind the wheel, listening to podcasts, and crowdsourcing his understanding via Twitter, he stepped out on faith with only $7 in his bank account and launched his company. Now he advises companies in the Salesforce Eco-System around market strategy and marketing. His story made me realize that opportunities are made for those who seek for them, and that once you love your job, you will also love overcoming the challenges that arise in it.
Nabomita, the top 100 Women achiever by Ministry of WCD shared a couple of famous quotes, “Pay it forward,” and, “Always do good to others.” I believe the same. One way I live these ideals out has been to contribute in Braille printing for an orphanage for visually impaired children. I also help organize a Summer camp for underprivileged children. In addition to these activities, I have started leading the Salesforce Women in Tech group for Pune @PuneWit, India, to empower women and engender equality in the workplace. I have been a passionate professional in my team and always love challenges. My belief is we always have everything to survive but it’s our desire and thoughts that makes us feel alive. As such, I make time to enjoy art, and have taken an interest in photography and sketching.
If you ask me about my dream, I have many! I believe that CRM is a part of every business, no matter it is a small Designer shop or a big Industry of telecom. I dream of working around the world, helping people grow their businesses with the advanced technology and simple adapting framework of Salesforce. I want people to take advantage from advances Salesforce has been working on, like Artificial Intelligence and Lightning. With the help of many other people, I hope that my dream of attending Dreamforce in San Francisco will come true.
- Radhika Bansal
