In a Long Road, Little Bumps are Insignificant Date:   Wednesday , May 04, 2011 Women in technology have always stood apart, carving a niche for themselves in what is believed to be predominantly a male domain. They have faced the challenges thrown at them to emerge as leaders in whatever they set their mind to. One such leader is Jaya Singh, Senior Manager, Texas Instruments, who started her career in the VLSI space, when it was still a nascent industry in India, and women in the field very few and far between. In a candid conversation with SmartTechie, she shares her successful career journey, achievements, learnings and her views on the role of women in IT. The early days Since the early days, mathematics and science picked my interest and continued to be the core area of my education when I went on to do engineering. Back then, engineering was not a popular option amongst girls. Since I happened to be the first working woman in my family, it was a very difficult decision to make. But I decided to follow my heart and graduated from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) in Electronics and Communication. After graduation I joined Duet Technologies, which focused in EDA and VLSI design services. I got into ASIC library domain and started my career. Though the work was challenging, I enjoyed every minute of it. A few years down the lane, I moved to Hyderabad after marriage. There were not many good options available at Hyderabad at that time in my domain of interest. I joined Mentor Graphics and started leading a team in the area of DFT, even if that meant moving away from my core strength area. Although I was enjoying my work in this area, after a couple of years, I decided to once again pursue a career of my choice. We decided to move to Bangalore as it was the hub for most VLSI design companies. When I joined Texas Instruments (TI) after moving to Bangalore, I started with DSP-AEC Systems group which was into DSP based SOC design for the automotive and control market. Instead of being a team leader, I joined as an individual contributor. In many ways this was a fresh start for me and also a turning point in my career. Very soon, I was asked to start a core team for timing closure and back-end design in the same group. Today, many years later, this has become my core domain of expertise. Over the years, the AEC group expanded into multiple businesses and I started managing the Physical Design team for all of them. In 2008, I got elected to the Tech Ladder, which is a recognition at TI for significant technical contributions made by engineers. Last year, I moved into the custom design group in TI which designs chips for some of the complex networking devices. Today I manage a fairly large team, whose core strength lies in physical design and DFT and my role, apart from managing them, involves customer interaction and technical guidance. Management My Way As a manager, I believe that it is important to ensure that all the team members are playing to their strengths. You need to be passionate about your work and every task you take up. This in some way must also transcend to your team. A leader must exhibit that passion in the team. I have been very passionate about whatever I take up and once I get into something I will not be in two minds about it. I always strive to meet deadlines and achieve quality in the work I take up and encourage my team to do the same. Another thing that is highly important while leading a team is instilling the values of the organization in them. The sense of ownership is also a very important aspect. If you can make your team members feel they own the work they are doing and their contribution is extremely important, then they will deliver what you expect out of them. As a manager, I keep observing multiple things that the young professionals can do differently and more effectively. Many a time, they are driven by short term benefits that could blur the long term vision. It is important for them to identify what they are good at. Otherwise, in the years to follow, they will become discontented and it will affect their work and the people around them. They can succeed in whatever they endeavor for only if they have a strong foundation. Women in Technology Unlike other sectors of the IT industry, the VLSI industry is comparatively weak when it comes to the number of women professionals. I would like to see this number increase in the coming years. But I have never felt overwhelmed by this fact. I believe that whatever be your gender, after a certain time it is your work that speaks for you. While as women we bring multiple qualities to the workplace like the natural ability to multitask, compassion towards our team and many more, there is also a lot we need to acquire as we grow up the ladder. I believe there is no such thing as a glass ceiling but all along our growth, we must see to it that we have our career path chalked out, that we continue to sharpen our skills and do enough to move to the next level. Fortunately for me, my managers have always been great mentors. They have been very open and have allowed me to explore different opportunities before I settled on what I wanted. On the personal front, my husband has been a pillar of support, always guiding and helping me in many ways. Also I am a very intuitive person, and strongly follow my instincts. This has helped me throughout my career. Whenever I get into a dilemma on whether I would be able to take up the challenges, I decide to go by instinct. Looking back, I do not regret any of my decisions since whatever choice I made was the best at that point of time and under those circumstances. If I ever wanted to do one thing differently, there was a time I wanted to get into civil services, but never tried. Given a chance, I would like to try that. As women professionals, we have to work that extra mile to be able to manage both work and home effectively. There is however, no sure-shot formula to attain this balance. Whatever you might do, there will always be ups and downs, and choices to make. All you have to do is choose what works best for you. Also, you should never hesitate to ask for help when needed. You can’t be a superwoman. I went slowly in my career when I had a child. I chose a job that was not too demanding and also involved less traveling. There is nothing wrong in this. In a long spanning career of 20 to 25 years, these slowdowns do not matter, provided you come back with all your might. Motivation: The drive to excel It is all about passion for what you do. I am proud of what I do, as in some way or the other, my work touches the lives of people around me. You should do what you want to be known for; so if you feel great being known as a homemaker then you should do it. It finally comes down to one’s own choice. Priorities outside work Outside professional life, my family, especially my son, is my highest priority. I am there whenever he needs me. Apart from that I love reading and try to spend some time every day doing that. I also do a lot of gardening and I’m trying to find time to pick up painting as a hobby once again. Mantra for life * Follow your passion. * Taking a break is fine. * Do whatever you take up with your full heart. Jaya Singh is Senior Manager in Custom Design Group, Texas Instruments (TI) India with over 15 years of industry experience in the field of VLSI Design. Her domain expertise extends to various areas of VLSI design like Synthesis, Timing closure, Physical design, Electrical analysis and Design for Test. She has managed programs from Specifications to Foundry handoff in the past and along with her team, has delivered several SoCs with first pass functional silicon to meet time-to-market demands. She currently leads the Custom Design Group in TI India that is involved in various highly complex and challenging SoC designs. She has been with Texas Instruments for 10 years and is an elected Member, Group Technical Staff. Prior to joining Texas Instruments, she has worked with Mentor Graphics and Duet Technologies.