Join us as we explore how fostering understanding and appreciation for women’s inclusion not only contributes to a better world but also ignites a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.
We sit down with Aparajita Pant, Capability Centre Lead- Software Eng & Test at Shell, to shed some light on her own career journey, as a woman in tech – the strides she has taken and the challenges faced.
Listen as Aparajita shares how being a part of an organization that prioritizes support, inclusivity, and diversity has shaped her own professional journey.
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Kayleigh Bateman:
Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in Again. I am Kayleigh Bateman, the Content Director at She Can Code. Today we are discussing breaking barriers a woman in tech journey towards inclusion and empowerment at Shell. I’ve got the wonderful Apparedita Pant, Capability enter Lead Software Engineer and Test at Shell, with me today. She’s going to shed some light on her own career journey as a woman in tech, the strides that she had taken and the challenges faced. Welcome, Aparajita.
Aparajita Pant:
Thank you so much for joining us today, thank you, thank you so much, it’s a pleasure.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Thank you. I know you have a very busy job and we’re very pleased to have you to come and have a chat on our podcast today. Can we kick off with a little bit of background about you, please? To set the scene a little bit about you, how you got into tech and how you found your way to Shell.
Aparajita Pant:
Absolutely. I am currently based in London, but I come from India, basically a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas, and that’s where I finished my schooling. I did my college from the same place. Surprisingly, I did not study tech. I studied petroleum engineering. Then I got an MBA in oil and gas. So getting into tech was not a part of the plan. But then fate had it. I joined a service provider company where I joined oil and gas IT. So my first job out of college was a role with one of Shell’s competitors through a service provider, and that’s where I started my journey. The good thing was, I did not mind getting into IT. I just thought this is my first job, let’s see what it has. Then I never felt the need to leave. Then, basically, I spent two years there. After that I got an offer from Shell and I moved to Bangalore for Shell, again in IT. Then through that, I found my way to the Netherlands for a short-term assignment and then back to India and then now in London for the last two years.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Amazing. I love the fact that you just said fate had it. So many of our ladies say exactly the same thing they don’t have a plan to go into tech, but they just fall into tech.
Aparajita Pant:
Once you get in here, there is no going out. You love it here.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yeah, exactly, so many more people should know that as well, that they don’t have to fall in. We love on here, especially on this podcast. It started just to talk about the careers in tech, so more ladies can think I have a plan to move into tech, that I wanted to do, that. I didn’t fall in. Can I ask you a little bit about being in India, Because a lot of ladies that I’ve had on here that are based in India they’ve always said that there isn’t a problem with a lack of women in STEM in India. It’s just a great career choice and a lot of ladies in India to take up a career in tech because that’s just a really great move. Is that something that you?
Aparajita Pant:
experienced. That’s true. I was based in Bangalore and before that in Hyderabad and Chennai, and all three are like tech cities. They have massive amounts of females working as software engineers. You see so many of them Like relatively. When I was studying, I had lesser females in my class than males. The ratio was always low, but then if you compare it to other countries, it’s still a lot better.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yeah, I’ve had some ladies on here and then they say we come to London and we think, oh, she’s actually there. Yeah, lack of women at work in tech here.
Aparajita Pant:
Yes, absolutely, I was shocked. I was shocked myself, because Bangalore I was so used to having like a girls club and then I’m still struggling to find one here.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yes, I know you’re at Shell and you’ve had quite the career along the way. Can you share with us some key moments or milestones from your career journey in the tech industry, highlighting some strides that you’ve taken to get where you are today?
Aparajita Pant:
Yes, Well, a lot of it has been like I said, fate had it. A lot of choices have been right time, right place. But then let me start from the beginning. When I started my first job, I started as an IRM focus, so I was pretty new to the industry. I knew what was the importance of IRM for oil and gas, but then someone said this is what we need you to do, and I was doing it for 800 people. There were 800 people working for that particular competitor of Shell and I was supposed to tell all of them how important IRM is, maintain the confidentiality, integrity of their applications, and that’s where I started.
Aparajita Pant:
After that, like I said, I found my way to Shell, within Shell as well. I started as a very junior resource, but I was a very junior resource expected to work with very senior leaders, very often chasing them on their cause, basically asking, pestering them for a lot of data, visualizing that data, going back to them and saying maybe you need to reduce costs or maybe you need to fast track your timelines. Now, that’s a very difficult role to do when you’re a fresher or when you’re relatively new, but so I had a lot of hardships, to be honest, in my first role, but I still say it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it was a very good launchpad. Networking is key and that role directly put me together, rubbing shoulders with 20 different portfolio managers who were very senior, and to this day they know me by my name, they remember me I don’t know some positively, maybe some negatively, because I pasted them a lot but that role basically helped me find my way in Shell because I naturally got so many doors open for me and then when I had to find the next role in Shell that is this good policy of job rotation Every four years you can find a new job for yourself.
Aparajita Pant:
You can completely choose a different domain. You just have to convince the hiring manager that you have it in you and you’re capable of doing it. Someone has to take that bet on you and you’re good to go. So I wanted to really go into either automation or data analysis, because at that time they were like the biggest thing in town and luckily, someone took that bet for me and they said, yes, we are looking for a business analyst in the automation team and we would be happy to take you on. And that role was like hybrid. It was kind of a process analyst slash business analyst. I was supposed to work directly with the business stakeholders, understand their processes, help them automate it. So a very critical role again towards the younger half of my career, where I would help people optimize their processes, reduce costs, and basically that role was so good it paved the way for my leadership role because within the same team I got an opportunity to be an ambassador for automation.
Aparajita Pant:
I was sent to the Netherlands to basically talk to multiple other stakeholders about the power of automation, bring in more use cases. That followed, with me continuing in the same team, but a different role, which was a delivery lead. So basically I became like a project manager in that team where I was supposed to accountable for delivery. I was just taking care of three scrum teams who were delivering these projects and from there again, once again, it was time for me to find a new role for myself and then I thought this time I want to be on the other side. I have delivered enough projects. Now I want to be on the resourcing side. It’s time for me to build those skills, people skills. So I wanted a people management role and that’s where this capability center lead role comes in, where now I’m responsible for a bunch of software engineers and testers, who then move on to different projects and are expected to deliver the best results for them.
Kayleigh Bateman:
That’s interesting that you worked with very senior leaders when you were very junior as well, and what was that like? Were they all men? Because I was kind of thinking when you went through to your leadership role, who had you seen as an example, and did you find that a challenge that by the time you reached a leadership role that actually you’d had perhaps lots of senior men as examples and that it would have been a little bit harder for you to figure out your own style perhaps?
Aparajita Pant:
I actually had. I think there was just one or two females in that whole group of 20 or so different leaders that I was working with. It was all men. But one thing that I’ve really wanted to say for a long time I really keep harping about it is when we talk about women empowerment, it is very important that, at least for me, I also want to recognize all the men who helped me through my way.
Aparajita Pant:
So basically, in all my career I’ve never had a female boss, but I feel I’ve always been supported, always. There was never a moment when I had a problem and I wanted to explain it like a personal problem and I wanted to get help and I wanted to explain it, especially in Shell. I’ve always got it and maybe it could be like, I don’t know, reverse psychology, where people went out of their way to help me because they thought I was a female and that I needed that kind of support. So yes, to answer your question, I did not have too many examples to see in the room, but then once I got, now that I am in that kind of position, I don’t want others to not have that. So I try to connect with a lot of junior resources, because it always helps, of course.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yes, it sounds like you had some really good male allies and some sponsors to help you along the way to open those doors. Absolutely, I mean, on that note, can you discuss some specific challenges maybe then that you faced as a woman in tech and how you’ve navigated or overcome them? It doesn’t sound like you had challenges, responses and help from male allies, but did you have other challenges along the way?
Aparajita Pant:
Yes, I had my set of challenges. The first one is, like you said, not having enough female leaders around me for inspiration. So there are certain specific problems that you cannot expect the other gender to understand, Like, for example, when I was moving here, I had so many questions and I always tried to fit my life against and I think this happens with a lot of other females as well, especially who are young, because I keep. I have that network around me where people say we’re trying to fit our career against the timeline. But for me particularly, I was like what if I get married now? That would mean I would have to focus on my personal life, I would have to give more time to my personal life. Would that have an impact on my job? Or shall I be taking such a critical role when something big is coming up in my life? I don’t want to underperform in that role. Those are some of the thoughts that always pestered me. I think if I had enough female leaders around me it would have been different, which actually happened when I started, when I had a little more confidence in myself of reaching out to those female leaders and saying this is something I’m thinking they would be like, don’t be ridiculous, this is a part of life. Like, job is your job and you don’t have to match the timeline ever. You can get married whenever you want to. You can have kids whenever you want to. Job will go on, your career will go on. If you do take a step back now, you will eventually cover it up going forward.
Aparajita Pant:
There was one I think the other one was which still exists, I think at some level, is imposter syndrome Always feeling like am I saying the right thing? What if they think I don’t know enough? I still always feel like the other people around me, especially the men around me, know more than I do, and then I’m always double guessing what I speak. I consciously try to not do that. So I’m before every important meeting. I try to note down everything you know, basically make sure I convince my mind that I know this stuff. I got it, yeah.
Kayleigh Bateman:
How many of us yet have had that feeling of you know you’re sitting in a room and it’s not every day. It’s those feelings of they’re going to find me out, they’re going to know. Yeah, that I don’t know.
Aparajita Pant:
And the funny thing is I thought it was just me, but then, like I said, when I started speaking to these female leaders, I realized so I was speaking to K Rander. She’s like she leads the CC that I work for and she said the exact same thing. She is so senior and she said the exact same thing. So I was like, okay, it really made me feel better and that has really helped me with my imposter syndrome, because I think it’s it’s natural, it’s normally happens to everyone. So, yeah, I’m fine.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yes, just to hear other people are feeling the same thing and can help so much People. Especially if you’re sitting in meetings, everybody might look very relaxed. You might be sitting there thinking it’s just me who’s feeling this way, and the more ladies that share those, those sports and those stories, who people, the more it helps everybody. Yeah, international Women’s Day it’s often seen as a focal point for discussions on gender equality. How has IWD played a role in your career and what significance does it hold for you personally Personally?
Aparajita Pant:
a lot. I mean, initially it was something that was normal. We used to have celebrations and you know people, team days, having parties, lunch breaks, etc. But then eventually, when I started taking this very seriously, where I thought this was important what the good things that have happened to me. I need to share my story. The bad things that have happened also need to be discussed so that we can all help each other, uplift each other. That’s when things started changing for me.
Aparajita Pant:
When I was in the Netherlands for a bit, I joined this community which was it was called V Women in Engineering, and then we started. We basically wanted to do events, we wanted to bring together the community, and that’s when we the International Women’s Day came up and we wanted to do something really big and special and we decided we’ll do a panel discussion with the board members of Shell, so basically the highest people in the Shell hierarchy and I was still I wouldn’t say I was in a leadership role at that time, but then I was the newest member of the community. Someone chose and that was a woman, of course leading that community. She chose me to be the person who interviews them. So I was asked to lead the panel discussion and I was like are you sure? I really wanted to do it, of course, and then there were other people who did not think I would do it right, I was senior enough or I would have maturity enough to do it. But this lady fought that battle for me and she said no, if you don’t give her a chance, how will she grow? And yes, I think that’s my biggest memory of International Women’s Day. It was in 2020. That’s when we invited the board members of Shell. We did a panel discussion. The topic was diversity, equality, equity, and we actually had them share the very best examples from their own career paths. That’s one.
Aparajita Pant:
Taking inspiration from that, I wanted to do something about it myself, but then, of course, covid came in and then there were so many challenges, so I picked up the pieces back again when things were stable, and last year, a little bit before last year, I took this proposal to the head of software engineering saying do we want to build a community of our own? Because we had such communities in Shell, but nothing specific to software engineering. It was all women in Shell, but then women who are in tech or women who are in engineering could have a different subset of problems or they could have their own challenges, they could have their own discussions. And I said, can we build a community? And he said yes. He said get me a proposal and I’ll look at it and then we’ll see. And yes, that proposal was very well taken and we launched the women in software engineering community last year and it’s still going very well.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Incredible and I love the fact throughout there as well.
Kayleigh Bateman:
You kind of mentioned about sharing stories and experiences, but you mentioned the good and the bad, which is so, so important because, especially in this day and age, I think lots of people like to share things on social media.
Kayleigh Bateman:
They like to share how great their career is going, how wonderful things look, especially if it’s somebody that perhaps launched a business and they’ll say you know, actually it’s going really well and these are all the great things that are happening and you don’t hear so much about. Actually, all of these things went really bad along the way and during my career, I found this really challenging and all of those things are actually the things that people need to hear and want to hear, because they keep you going and they keep you thinking. Actually, it’s not just me, as we said about imposter syndrome, it’s not just me that’s feeling that way. We need to hear the bad things as well If we truly do want to help the women in tech community. So it’s great that you you mentioned this. Sharing the good and the bad yes it absolutely brings a sense of community.
Aparajita Pant:
You just naturally gel together and you’re like we’re there for each other. I will learn from your mistakes. I will learn from your experiences. Give me any tips that you have. So, yeah, yes.
Kayleigh Bateman:
And on that, could you share a particular moment or experience where you felt the positive effects of being part of an organization that values and prioritizes support, inclusivity and diversity you mentioned share a little bit there in your previous answer, but can you share some moments or experiences where you’ve really felt the positive effects of being part of an organization like that?
Aparajita Pant:
Absolutely.
Aparajita Pant:
I think about it every single day. I’m thankful to so many people within Shell who helped me in my own journey. But then, to name a few experiences, we’ve me and my husband we’ve had a bit of turbulence in our journey, to say, because I was already working for Shell when we got married and he was in the Navy. But then being in the Navy would mean he would always be in coastal locations, that is, not in Bangalore, and then one of us would have to quit our jobs to be together. And he chose to be the bigger person. He chose to quit his job, studied while I was still working they’re in MBA and then got a job. So he basically restarted his whole career, lost a few years because of me, and now that he had made such a sacrifice for me at some stage, it is now my turn. So, and then there were so many things that had to be worked out throughout this cycle and there was so much emotional support that I had from the organization. There was so much empathy that I had from the organization, from my leaders, from my sponsors, and when I said I moved to UK, it was one such occasion, because after doing all of this, my husband was sent to UK because he works for a UK-based client. And then I said now I cannot be the one holding him back. No matter what it takes, I need to relocate. And then the organization helped me. It, of course, doesn’t happen for everyone. You have to be right time, right place, you have to have the right opportunities around you. But I was lucky so many. I personally know so many leaders who spread the word around, who said this is one person who’s looking for an opportunity in UK, can you help? And then a couple of such people agreed to help. I did the interviews and I finally got here. This is one. This is, I think, the biggest example of the organization supporting me. And then this whole culture, this whole word getting out of people helping each other just it’s so uplifting.
Aparajita Pant:
I was speaking to a male colleague the other day and somehow he I think he had a similar journey. He’s UK-based and he said his wife had a turbulent career. She worked with organizations that were not very supportive and then she’s had quite a lot of career breaks. And he said I’m just trying to get her through this. He’s actually paying his wife so that she can upskill, so she stays at home. She’s reading documents, she’s upskilling herself to keep her motivated. He pays her. And isn’t this the best? It made my day. That’s incredible, yes. And then I came back home and I told my husband this story and then he said you never paid me when I was studying. I think it’s been lovely.
Aparajita Pant:
And then I had so much support from female leaders, especially when I started taking this topic seriously, when I started doing events, when I started reaching out to female leaders for this community that we had set up Women in Software Engineering In short, it’s called VICE. So I wanted to bring in positive examples. I wanted to do sessions with senior leaders who could come onto the stage, talk about their experiences. When I, naturally, when I connect with these leaders, they have so many fantastic stories to share, they have so many learning experiences to share. So everything is just, it’s just so positive for me and everyone is willing to help, so, yeah.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yeah, and all of that, I mean. You really just explained a really great support network there and from lots of different places as well, from home right through to to work. And then you know places outside as well where you build a community, and not just within internally within your organization, but other places as well that you can build a support network, and it is lovely to hear that you found one of your biggest support networks at home and from your, from your husband. There’s a few ladies on here who said that one of the main things that you need to do is make sure that you pick a partner that is supportive and that obviously you are supportive, and back and forth, and they said they couldn’t have done it without them, and you’re another lady that has just just said the same thing.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yeah, and so, as a woman in tech, what advice do you have for other women aspiring to make strides in their careers in this field?
Aparajita Pant:
I think the primary one is be the leader that you’re looking for, because we often look for inspiration outside and we don’t really know there are so many people behind us who we could inspire. So that’s a good starting point. Let’s start there and we will find our inspirations very soon around us. So that’s one. Second is support each other and believe in sisterhood, and I believe this even more after I started this community called. Why is it? Because it is.
Aparajita Pant:
It’s not just about events, it’s about the normal conversations that you have with other females around you. There is so much to learn. There is so much to celebrate. We are really like it’s sisterhood. We celebrate each other’s successes. There are so many people, so many females around me who are talking about me on LinkedIn without me asking them to do it. They just want to be supportive. They play a part in my career now. So I think supporting each other is very important. And, lastly, take control of your career. Basically, be the one driving it. Know where you want to go, take inspiration, talk to those people who inspire you, get their guidance and don’t rely on other people to build your career for you.
Aparajita Pant:
If you need sponsors. You go to them with a plan and help them implement it.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Yeah, I know what you want to do. I think, yeah, there’s that feeling sometimes of I’ve been told before. You know, for instance, managers or senior leaders. They’re not mind readers and they do need to know.
Aparajita Pant:
Yes, exactly, unless you ask for things, how will they get it?
Kayleigh Bateman:
Exactly yes, and I love the fact that you mentioned about remembering to be the leader that you were looking for and supporting each other, because you are right, there are some people who will just think I got into that role, I finally clambered into the role that I wanted and then they almost forget and they pull that ladder up behind them and it doesn’t help anybody else coming through the pipeline to have a different experience to what you had. So, yes, absolutely, I’m so, so important to remember to look back and think how can I give back to the women in tech community? Absolutely, absolutely. How can I help, you know, ladies within my organisation or within other organisations as well? You mentioned everybody connecting on LinkedIn and almost you’re almost not realising that people just reaching out and being supporters of you and how nice that is.
Aparajita Pant:
Yes, it’s just like pay it forward. Someone was kind to me. I want to be kind to the others around me, Exactly.
Kayleigh Bateman:
Well, that is a lovely note to end it on, because we are already out of time for today, but apologies and thank you so much for taking the time out to chat with me today about your incredible journey. It’s been an absolute pleasure chatting with you, thank you so much Lovely speaking to you. Thank you to everybody listening as always. Thank you so much for joining us and we hope to see you again next time.
