Geetha is a woman technology leader at Fidelity Investments India who truly exemplifies success that is driven by domain knowledge mixed with healthy doses of passion. In this interview, she shares her journey at Fidelity, for which she is eternally grateful.

Tell us about your journey so far.

I completed my initial studies in Mysore and then moved to Bangalore with the fourth rank in a diploma program in computer science. I then joined a computer institute in Bangalore, with a dual role of lab instructor and faculty member and both learnt and taught various programming languages along the way. I seamlessly transitioned to corporate training and was in a comfort zone in the training and development space when the software development bug bit me. Before long, I took on the role of a software consultant with short stints in a few IT firms. This initial phase of my career was loaded with learning, more learning, and teaching. Every two hours of teaching would require at least 20 hours of preparation – a phase I completely enjoyed.

The software development firm where I had my longest stint before joining Fidelity—four-and-a-half years—was a product company. The company was developing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise-class, mission-critical information systems for the drug development markets within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. I was part of the team involved with building a clinical trials supply management suite from scratch and was privileged to have been part of the initial process.

We were full stack developers involved in the entire lifecycle of building the product suite, right from analyses of the end requirements to development, building the technology architecture, testing, and eventually deploying the suite in production. It was an amazing journey, and the memories and friendships we made were to last for a long time after. The experience I gained in software development, which required implementing all that I had learnt, was invaluable.

While I was working, I continued my studies and completed bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in computer applications. And here I am today.

What was your reason for joining Fidelity?

While I was enjoying my career journey, which was being shaped beautifully through several experiences, and had great friends at work, a lot of changes were taking place on the personal front.

I was happily married, had a two-year-old, and had to balance my new family priorities with work expectations. The commute to work itself was reason enough to want to move to a workplace that was closer home, which was Fidelity. Additionally, a few other colleagues from my previous firm moved to Fidelity as well in the space of just a few months, which was quite fortuitous.

My extended family in the US had painted a beautiful picture of Fidelity even before I joined. After six interviews spanning four months, I joined this company as a senior software engineer, owing to my Oracle Developer Suite expertise and an Oracle certification that I had. The wait, along with inputs from family and friends, had already made it the dream company that I wanted to join.

After I joined, I got opportunities to work on many other technologies as well.

Take us through your journey at Fidelity so far.

Throughout my career of over 17 years here, I have had the opportunity to work across multiple teams and technologies.

I joined Fidelity as an Individual contributor and worked on various reporting and visualization tools. I also signed up as a Learning Catalyst soon after joining the firm, teaching several cohorts on Oracle PL/SQL. The satisfaction at being able to give back knowledge to others was immeasurable.

Within just one-and-a-half years of joining Fidelity, I was placed in a wonderful project to lead the transformation of outbound emails, for which I went along with family to our Covington, US office for an extended period. It was my first visit to a different country, and I was so grateful for this opportunity to experience and explore a different culture. I will cherish this experience and the learning opportunities that came with it forever.

During a critical phase of the project, my father-in-law had a cardiac arrest and passed away. The support I got from my managers and the organization was truly unforgettable. I came back to India along with my family and was able to return to the US within 15 days. My entire extended family is grateful to Fidelity for all the support and care I received.

Owing to personal priorities, I eventually had to return to India and worked as part of data centers of excellence (CoE). Very soon, I became a domain expert and enjoyed learning various reporting tools and data-related technologies, supporting multiple business units.

From the data CoEs, I moved on to supporting the Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company (FILI), which is part of the Personal Investing (PI) business unit. This was a key career milestone. I enjoyed interacting and working with PI leaders and all key stakeholders. It was a wonderful experience learning about the PI domain and launching several products as well. It was only natural that I would soon join PI – a group that I have stayed with till today. I have played various roles here, from scrum leader to technology lead, project manager, and many more. When the PI organization underwent an agile transformation, I too transformed from being an individual contributor to becoming a chapter leader.

After a memorable five years in FILI, I was privileged and humbled to lead a massive transition effort in the wealth management space across the US, China, and India.

Accomplishing such a complex transition effort meant wading through a lot of ambiguity, and that too during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The entire experience of setting up teams in India taught me many lessons which no book could. The fact that we were able to complete the project one month ahead of schedule was testament to our tremendous teamwork and supportive leadership. In fact, the opportunity to work with several leaders across shores taught me many leadership skills.

Some of the other initiatives I have been involved in include being an Anita Borg Institute (ABI) Ambassador from Fidelity during the Grace Hopper Celebration, India (GHCI) 2017 and interacting with senior leaders from several peer organizations, teaching IT skills at government schools as part of our Fidelity Cares program, leading hackathons as part of the Women in Technology Special Interest Group (WITSIG), driving employee experience initiatives, and more.

I would also like to call out the immense support Fidelity provided its employees during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic. The organization truly cares for its employees and puts us first – it really walks the talk on this. I have personally experienced this, especially as my mother went through difficult health challenges during the severe second wave. I had to take one-and-a-half months of leave owing to my mother’s health complications, and the support and comfort I received from my manager and colleagues are truly unforgettable. Not only did I experience the amazing benefits such as medical insurance that the company provides, but also the way my manager and team rallied around to provide me support was heartwarming. In fact, my manager told me, “Health comes first. Please don’t worry about work,” which I will never forget.

What would you say are the attributes that define you as a successful leader at Fidelity?

I would say it’s the space that Fidelity gives us to innovate and always do what is the right by the customer that is key to successful growth as an employee at Fidelity. Fidelity’s leadership principles have become my own core philosophy both at home and work, including taking ownership, coaching others to their full potential, and working together in a collaborative manner across the organization. Thanks to this enabling environment and the efforts Fidelity takes to help us understand the ‘why’ behind ‘what’ we do, we are able to bring our best selves to work and innovate every day. I am extremely grateful to this organization and the many leaders who have helped in my transformation journey. I am who I am thanks to Fidelity.

What have been some of your most memorable moments at Fidelity?

The moments are many, including the opportunities Fidelity has provided me to grow and constantly innovate, while working across different technologies and teams. On the professional front, the opportunity to lead high-impact projects that have required bringing all my decision-making and project management skills to the fore has been highly satisfying.

On the personal front, I would like to call out the amazing support that Fidelity provided during the COVID-19 pandemic, the support I received during my father-in-law’s demise, as well as when my mother fell very ill during the pandemic and I had to take extended leave to look after her.

What is the best advice you have received as a professional?

The best advice I have received is that one should be a lifelong learner. My passion for doing so led me at one point to pursue a general management program for IT leaders at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, which Fidelity funded completely and for which I am eternally grateful.

What are the attributes you look for in a person you would want to hire for your team?

Apart from skills, I look for a winning attitude, learnability, the ability to constantly innovate, dedication, commitment, and the ability to look at challenges as opportunities. I strongly believe that attitude and not aptitude will determine your altitude in life.

Name a hurdle you were proud of crossing.

When I moved from being an individual contributor to a people manager’s role, I had much to learn about how to manage people and teams. I received a lot of guidance and support from my own managers in this journey. I learnt that to get the best out of your team, you must constantly motivate and encourage them. A team’s output and performance depend largely on its manager.

A favorite quote or saying…

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

Views expressed are as of the date indicated and may change. Unless otherwise noted, the opinions provided are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Fidelity Investments.

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