I am a Software Engineer and a proud technologist, who loves her job. My career journey started 12 years ago, when I first prepared for 3rd year internships in college (IGDTUW, Delhi) and was among the 4 people in a batch of 300+ to bag the prestigious Cisco Engineering Internship. Mind you, it wasn't easy! Confident after receiving my PPO, I began preparing for GATE to further my studies, and managed to score a 99.45 percentile with AIR 716 in my first attempt. I decided to prepare again while I took up my job offer, as I wanted specifically to got to IIT-Bombay or Delhi, which would have required a sub-100 rank. But fate had other plans, I suffered a serious lower back injury right after college and was bed-ridden for months. I had to give up my job offer and start preparing all over again, when placements for freshers were already closed for most companies. I joined a small company that made extremely technically sound applications and followed Industry best practices very strictly. There I picked up most of my development chops, the ability to ramp up quickly on new technologies(and there were A LOT of those!) and the drive to deliver in a fast scrum based agile environment. I got burnt out in a few years, and had to quit my job to prioritise my mental health. In this time, I found myself a wonderful contactual internship with The Wikimedia Foundation through their Outreachy Program. These six months, I went back to the drawing board, learnt all the tech stuff I wanted to, covered up on my weak areas and learning gaps as well as learnt how to balance work and life. Post my internship, I started working full time again with a Bangalore based startup in the rentals space. They had a great team but made some poor decisions. Learnt the ins and outs of startup decision making, and what role technology can play in a startup's growth story. Took this learning to join another Gurgaon based startup, this one in the IOT & Fleet Tech space. It was run by two wonderful individuals, who prioritized the health and safety of their team, while not losing focus on their business goals. Sharpened my skill set here, with a front row seat to business decision making. Worked closely with Design and Product teams, to build what's optimal, and FAST!! I also officially mentored young students on a project with Google Summer of Code during this time. Nearly 3 years here, and covid struck. Big technology companies were hiring and I decided it was time for me to experience how companies and their tech teams operate at scale. Prepared hard for interviews(DSA, LLD, HLD, Behavioural - the whole shebang) and landed at Walmart, India, where I currently work as a Senior Software Engineer, mostly across the full-stack. Loving what I do here, and working towards being promoted to a Staff role. It's nowhere near the end of my story. I have mentored and supported many juniors/co-workers, specially women, in achieving their career goals along the way and continue to do so. If you feel any part of my story can be helpful to you, I'd be happy to dive deep on that aspect and help you overcome any shortcomings you experience in the process. Preferred areas include - Career guidance and helping chart a career graph, Interview Prep Roadmap, resume reviews, guidance with moving up in your career and general software engineering related questions.