Rewriting the Code’s community of women pursing degrees and careers in technology includes the RTC Mentors – hundreds of volunteer mentors who give their time to share their expertise and accelerate student success through a 1:1 matching program.
Many of these professionals work as engineers who offer diverse backgrounds and experiences, which provide the student community access to unique insight into the field and resources for career placement and transition.
The RTC Mentor Spotlight Series is designed to showcase some of our mentors who are passionate about lifting up women in tech.
If you are an RTC member and interested in finding a mentor, navigate to the MENTOR tab in your teamRTC account!
For professional engineers interested in joining our community as an RTC Champion, complete the interest form here.
Mentor Profile:
Name: Sneha Bhalodia
Title: Data Scientist
Company: Twitter
Alma Mater: North Carolina State University
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sneha-bhalodia/
How did you become interested in tech and what experience was most instrumental in preparing you for your role?
Growing up I always enjoyed logic puzzles, and when I started my first programming class it felt like I was solving puzzles using code. I decided to go into computer science which introduced me to a variety of other areas in tech such as data science.
What experiences were instrumental in preparing you for your current role?
All the work experience I’ve had starting with my internships, have taught me about new technologies I’ve never used or a part of business I had never worked in. While I have primarily been in Data Science roles, the business problems I was working on and the cross-functional partners I was collaborating with varied based on whether I was working within Finance, Professional Services, or Engineering at the time.
I have been very fortunate to have had opportunities where teams took a chance on me, whether I was new to finance or had no experience with cloud infrastructure. Being in positions where there were opportunities to learn and be challenged were crucial, especially being early in my career.
What’s your favorite advice you would give someone who is considering a career in your industry or role?
When I was considering a career move in the past, my mentor would remind me to make sure I’m running towards something rather than away from something. I am very grateful for those reminders and have tried to be more patient and deliberate with my decisions. Also, what a data science role entails can be quite varied across industries and companies. Sometimes a DS role at one place may even have a different title at another, so it’s important to evaluate what you’re looking for before making moves.
What is your favorite thing about working in tech? What do you find most challenging?
The most challenging aspect about working in tech is also what makes it the most exciting – things change quickly. Regular updates to a tech stack you’re working with can change your daily workflow that you have to adapt to. While the technologies we use for our daily work are changing, we’re also continuously trying to create either for end users, clients, or internal stakeholders. Even seemingly small changes can add up quite significantly within just a year, both for what we must adapt to and what we produce.