“I started out as a trainee programmer in Kirloskar Computer Services. Today, I influence associate base of more than 4,000 through process framework, training, campus induction, and knowledge management,” says CS Shobha, Senior Director, quality, knowledge management, and training of Dell Perot Systems. With 21 years of experience in software delivery and knowledge and talent management, Shobha is a quality management expert in Dell Perot Systems.

At the time Shobha entered IT field, the general notion in the society was that women should find jobs that fit in with their life pattern rather than choosing a career that would define their life-graph. At that time, computer science wasn’t offered as a specialized course in Indian universities. But Shobha confidently ventured into this field, after securing eighth rank in her bachelors degree course in Karnataka University.

She has donned a number of roles since then, from being an Analyst, Project Leader, and Senior Project Manager to her current role as Senior Director. In fact, the turning point in her career came much before she joined Dell Perot Systems. While working at ITTI, she managed her most complex development project that helped her evolve professionally and introduced her to the world of quality assurance.

Shobha learnt from her mentors in her career the need to connect with people and their aspirations, think out-of-the-box, cascade strategic thinking to operations, and pay attention to detail. Slowly, she molded herself into a leader. Since then, there has been no looking back.

Today at Dell Perot Systems, her role entails ensuring that application solutions are built using a consistent, predictable, and highly matured process framework, which is aligned to international accreditations like ISO 9001, CMMI Level 5, PCMM, ISO 20000, and ISO 27001.