I never planned to be in tech.
Growing up in Mumbai, I loved acting. Directing. Theatre. That was my life. Tech wasn't even on my radar.
Then my brother moved out and left behind his computer. Out of curiosity, I started tinkering. And something clicked. Not "oh this is cool" clicked. More like "wait... I actually love this."
My professors noticed and encouraged me to switch fields, from business school to science degree in IT.
Graduating Into Nothing
I graduated right into a recession. No jobs. Like, no jobs.
I was lucky to land one. It put me into an R&D group working on clouds. This was 2009. Cloud computing was still viewed with a lot of skepticism in India. Senior folks stayed away from it. But I saw the potential and dived in.
"Get Married First."
In 2013, I was 25. AWS was hiring in Cape Town, South Africa.
The first thing I was told?
Get married first. You can't go alone.
In my culture, women don't just move to another continent by themselves. You go from your parents' house to your husband's. Moving abroad alone wasn't even a question.
But I couldn't let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I fought.
I begged.
And I joined AWS, the company I'd been reading blogs from, attending webinars from, and learning from for years.
I landed in Cape Town as a Cloud Support Engineer with two suitcases and knowing exactly one person there: the HR representative who hired me.
Over the next decade, I grew through multiple roles across continents, including becoming a Solutions Architect supporting customers throughout Asia.
Finding Community on Weekends
The part I loved most wasn't in the meeting rooms.
I'd go to meetups on weekends. Talk to people. Answer questions. Share what I was learning. I started writing blogs, creating videos. I helped grow AWS User Groups across South Asia. I spoke at large-scale events throughout the region.
Nobody asked me to do those things.
I just loved helping people understand something that felt difficult.
And community gave back. Those meetups gave me confidence. Mentors. Friendships and opportunities I never would have found alone.
The Role That Was Meant for Me
When the opportunity came to become a Developer Advocate, I couldn't say no.
Everything I'd been doing on evenings and weekends had been pointing in that direction all along. All those meetups weren't a side hustle. They were a signal. My career was telling me where I belonged before I had the title to match.
Coming Back and Learning Out Loud
Then I went on maternity leave. When I came back, the world had changed. AI was the topic. And despite 15 years in the industry, I felt left behind.
So I started a series called Learning AI Out Loud. Just sharing what I was learning, what broke, and what I'd figured out.
And community responded. They welcomed me back and told me it made them feel less alone.
A pause is not a full stop. Your timeline isn't behind. It's just yours.
I Did End Up on Stage
If you're reading this in the middle of your own storm... wondering whether the break you took, the detour you made, or the time that passed has cost you your future...
It hasn't.
I went from a girl in Mumbai with an uncertain future to representing one of the biggest technology companies in the world. I've lived and worked across continents, built communities, spoken on stages, created content, and helped thousands of developers along the way.
None of it happened according to plan.
The funny thing is, I did end up on stage after all. Just not the one I expected.
💜
