A Balancing Act

Not long ago, Kirtane would have happily chosen her career over family.
Now, the much-respected director has learned that balancing work and personal
life is of utmost importance and this attitude has helped her scale heights

Name: Ashwini Kirtane, Director-HR and Services, Concept Info
Technologies

Job Profile: For the last six years Kirtane has been the director of
Concept Info Technologies and she enjoys her role immensely. She plays an
important role by being the face of the company, solving customer-related
problems, looking after systems administration and keeping the lines of
communication open with HP, who is Concept's authorized partner for servers,
storage and high-end solutions and cluster management.

Background: Kirtane completed her post-graduation in engineering from
the Government College of Engineering in Pune. She believes that the degree in
engineering has helped in creating new opportunities in the technical field. She
is also in the process of acquiring HP certifications in order to gain more
information on the technical scenario. Previously, she worked for Tech Mahindra,
which is a software company and her work profile included taking care of DBA
back-end activity for Oracle users.

Challenges: She makes it a point to maintain a friendly yet cordial
relationship with her colleagues. Kirtane does not believe in asking for
concessions due to her gender. She advises the other women in the male-dominated
software industry to accept the challenges that come their way and overcome
them. She has never worried about the gender-bias in the industry. In fact she
believes that being a woman has worked in her favor as customers are more
courteous towards her. Over the years, Kirtane has realized that a female
professional must be strong enough to break the glass barrier. Only then can she
stand independently and tall.

Strengths: Kirtane believes that she can easily adjust to any place.
However, she also feels that she is a very soft spoken person and sometimes
people around her take advantage of this. She has realized that one has to be
strong enough to accept criticism with a pinch of salt and work towards
eradicating any weakness.

Hobbies: Kirtane is an avid reader of science fiction books and
nothing can replace her fondness for books. Classical music is something that
helps her to unwind.

Inspiration: When it comes to a role model, Kirtane takes inspiration
from her cousin who is based in the US. She explains that her cousin has reached
higher levels of success in a short while, which is why she looks up to her.

Kirtane firmly believes that in spite of her career being the top most
priority in her life, family has to be given equal importance. She recalls an
incident with Tech Mahindra where during the interview she was asked whether she
considered family to be more important than work. To which she replied career.
But post marriage, she has realized that family plays an important part in life.
One only needs to balance both personal and professional lives.

Future Plans: In the future, Kirtane plans to open an office in
Bengaluru and hire more people to work for her. She would also like to focus
more on the technical aspect of things as that is where her true passion lies.

Minakshi Shetty

minakshis@cybermedia.co.in