Balancing for the better with VMinclusion Taara

This is the story of Chittra .M, a technology professional with more than 10 years of experience, who left her job to travel, only to return to the workforce with VMinclusion Taara

Not All Who Wander Are Lost — J.R.R Tolkien

This quote from Tolkien’s poem pretty much sums up my life. My life’s course has been anything but linear and conventional.

I started out with a passion for technology that led to a degree in engineering at PSG College of Technology. I bagged an internship with EMC Storage Systems (now Dell EMC). Eventually, I moved to VMware where I became a subject matter expert in storage and server virtualization As I progressed up the career ladder, I found myself leading product releases to successful closure, handling customer relations, manning demo booths and more. One of the highlights of this time at VMware was my engagement with Women Who Code and organizing WWConnect17.

I’ve had the good fortune to have worked with employers that believe in inculcating a truly inclusive work culture and as a result, my decade long career flourished. Life was good, but was it good enough? After ten years on the job, I felt this inexplicable urge to follow my other dreams. I wanted to see the world, I wanted to travel and follow the sun around the globe. Leaving my career behind was a tough decision, but I had an unexplainable urge to follow my passion to travel around the world. As a follow-up, I started my travel blog documenting my experiences as a solo woman walking the lesser-traveled roads. But I always knew that I wanted to return to work someday perhaps after I had my fill of the world. I missed the dynamic energy of my office, and colleagues and missed the everyday challenges and excitement of the tech space more than I thought I would.

Two years later, I was ready to hang up my traveling boots and get back to work. But for the first time in my life, an element of doubt had crept into my mind. “What next?”, “Will I be good enough or do I need to start afresh?” “Will the industry be open to hiring someone who quit to travel or follow their passion?” “What happens to all my skills honed over ten years, will they be dismissed? And most importantly will my skills be relevant after all two years is a long time in the tech world.

I wanted to return to work confidently, restart my career and at an equal footing as my peers who had not taken a break. I knew that in a fast-paced disruptive space like the modern tech sector, I needed a refresher course to upskill. In a world where job roles are constantly changing and becoming redundant, you need that extra edge, learning those cognitive skills and competencies has become more crucial than ever. I knew that all of these could only be ensured if I invested time in upskilling myself. The big question was how I do I go about this and where do I find courses that fit into my requirements.

Luckily for me, right around this time, I came across VMinclusion Taara, a unique return to work program by the former employer that seemed to be tailor-made for me. It offers online upskilling and certification programs in the latest digital technologies Datacenter Virtualization, Cloud Management & Automation, Networking & Security, and Digital Workspace. The best part — the courses are online, allowing me to learn at my own pace from wherever was convenient for me and was absolutely free of cost.

VMinclusion Taara has helped me redefine my professional skills and paved a new path for me by future-proofing my career and has honed me with skills the industry cannot afford to lose. The program has been instrumental in enabling my profile ready for the job market and has brought me up to speed with the industry’s present trends. VMinclusion Taara has opened a new vista of opportunities and helped me deal with ambiguity about my career, given me a strong supportive foundation to start off my career again. The best thing about this program is, it sends off a strong message to your potential employers about your commitment to redirect your life and career.

Online courses that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, practical experience through fantastic hands-on labs and the priceless opportunity of returning to work as a VMware certified professional — what’s not to love? Trust me, ladies, it is one of the best return-to-work programs in the industry and if you are considering a triumphant return to the workforce then you need to check it out today. I am thankful to VMinclusion Taara for allowing me to balance the two loves of my life — travel and my work in the tech industry.

Thanks to VMinclusion Taara, today I am back to being a working woman. Yes, with three months of completing the VMware certified program and updating it on my profile I started receiving interview calls. And today, I have resumed my career as a System Engineer at one of the top multinational companies in the country and life couldn’t be better.